CURRENT MISSION

From Istanbul through Turkey and the Caucasus to Central Asia and beyond.

ABOUT ME

I visited Istanbul while studying abroad in Germany and liked it so much I decided to start learning Turkish; I've now been in Istanbul for over 2 years, and still find it a weird, interesting, exciting place. I've switched from teaching English to working as an editor at a magazine here, and I'm saving up to travel Central Asia come 2013.

PHILOSOPHY

"At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies — 'God damn it, you've got to be kind." - Kurt Vonnegut

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Before I joined Couchsurfing, I worked as a radio producer for Here on Earth, a show on Wisconsin Public Radio. I produced a program on Couchsurfing and the Hospitality Club. You can listen to an archive of it here: http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/archive_070705k.cfm

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I'm indebted to the hospitality and general awesomeness of hosts in Reykjavik, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Vienna, Budapest, Szögliget, Pecs, Hamburg, Dublin, Galway, and Cork, Istanbul, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Antalya, Russe, Plovdiv, Prilep, Pristina, Shkodër, Mostar, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Graz, Kuala Lumpur, Yerevan, Kiev, Tunceli, and a bunch more places. I've had the chance to host a few people in Germany and Madison, which was rewarding.

Interests

Biking, hiking, sounds, overly-serious film, irony attempting to help us all get over "irony" and actually feel things, vegetarian, spicy food, high adventure, low adventure, smoking cigarettes when the weather's just calling for it, cats, high tides.

• cats
• dining
• cooking
• vegetarian
• clubbing
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking

Music, Movies, and Books

I like travel literature; Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky is a recent favorite, guilty finished all of Game of Thrones recently, big tough contemporary literature like David Foster Wallce's Infinite Jest and Roberto Bolano's 2666.

Films: Sucker for period pieces and sci-fi. I've been watching more TV than films lately: In Treatment, House of Cards, Battlestar Galactica are all on my watch list righ tnow.

Music: Weird experimental stuff, 80's synth rock, 60's psych, modern western classical.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I spent a bit more than 40 days traveling from Turkey to Germany over land using CS and HC about 75% of the time. That was back in 2008 and I've been going since. The generosity and diversity of humanity never stops impressing me.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: English well and Turkish to an intermediate level.

Learn: Russian; how to cook (God I'm bad at it), everything you know about the world.

Share: some laughs

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Armenia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Turkey, United States

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