Hello community!

No idea how to get started here. I like to describe myself as a sociable nerd with lots of enthusiasm for life. I love people but I can also work on spreadsheets for hours on end. Because I am impulsive, I have thrown myself at many things; different sports, instruments, courses, hobbies, etc. I am fairly open minded but opinionated as well.

I am from Rotterdam. As a child I wanted to become an inventor. Then I thought it would be coffee machines (I was around five or ten) but life had different plans. I studied Industrial Design (Engineering) in Rotterdam and Antwerp, Belgium. By surprise I have spent most of the last decade designing and implementing products for the global south. I have found purpose in bringing renewable energy solutions and essential appliances to those who can use it well. It is not directly the most profitable market so I am current at my third company because the other two experienced bad financial weather. I combine product design, IoT, data science, operations, finance etc.

Travelling is my second nature. Work brought me to different countries in Africa and Asia many times. I managed to visit the majority of European countries and some countries abroad. While volunteering in Prague, Czech Republic, I met my (American) wife. She taught me to appreciate the great outdoors. We love to do a through hike or go with our camper van to a lake.

I am vaccinated.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

One of the many things that makes travelling so great as it is, is contact with (local) people. Sure, this can be done with hostels, but it's even nicer at the people's home. With CS, I host people, and I also hope to stay abroad at you :) Also, I'm a big fan of all the alternatives to traditional services that spawned the last ten years; carsharing, couchsurfing, flatshares, open education and so on.

Sometimes I'm at home, but very often not. I like to travel if I have some free days. For that reason, it's often impossible for me to host people for 5 days in a row or something, and you might get bored of the city as well ;)

Hosted Simon from Germany in February, Kim & Sina from Germany in March, Dmytro & Stas from Ukraine & Kuan from Kazakhstan in March, Thijs from Belgium in March and Riccardo & Nino from Italy / Luxembourg / Belgium / London (make up your minds, dudes ;)

Surfed at Lokman in Fez in March, Anas & Karim in Tangier in March, Ibra in Ceuta in March, Lorenzo in Vienna in April

Interests

The obvious thing to mention is discovering the world by meeting people from different cultures and travelling. At some point, I started to arrange my own trips and holidays, and I discovered how interesting the world and the people behind the Dutch borders are. I've seen many great places in Europe, and took a year off after finishing my masters.

I also like sports; to do and to watch. I cycle a lot on my road bike (and as means of transport, of course, I'm Dutch), love football (the one actually played by foot), had a sail boat, played korfball (basketball for losers), played floorball (ice hockey for losers), speed skate sometimes, was a boy scout, bouldered intensively and so on.

And I like to make some music (not gifted, but I enjoy it), photography, sometimes a computer game and more.

• design
• photography
• education
• traveling
• bouldering
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• sailing
• sports
• soccer
• teaching
• engineering
• climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm always surrounded by music, and my taste in it constantly develops; I'm a musical chameleon. In general is the music that I like a bit older than me. Some genres and artists I like a lot momentary: folk (Bob Dylan, Neil Young), rock (Coldplay, John Mayer, Pink Floyd, CCR) blues (Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, Rolling Stones), jazz (Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday), Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, electronic music (Paul Kalkbrenner, Minilogue) and much more.

It would be no problem for me to write a book about the films and directors I like. Some years ago, I started the IMDb top 250 films, I only have 35 left. I like the classics on that list, both the many Hollywood ones as the world cinema. Some of my favourites are; The Godfather (1&2), LOTR, Scarface, Once upon a time in the west, The Good the bad the ugly, no country for old men, intouchables, double indemnity, pulp fiction.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We bought a house that was not updated much since the 80s. I was in between jobs and renovated the whole place. Completely rewired the electricity, installed modern heating systems, replaced the drain, demolished a wall, stripped a lot, built a new bathroom and kitchen and more. I kept some of the characteristics of the house. I had never done more to my house than a paint job or a new floor before I started so I was quite happy that it all worked out.

I walked the Camino from Lisbon and averaged a marathon a day. That was hard but also rewarding. Another time I did the 50 mi Zion NP through hike with my wife which had to best vistas. Because we were always behind schedule we had the most beautiful camp sites.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Lots of stories and I am happy to help where I can.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tanzania, Ukraine, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Kenya, Netherlands, Portugal