CURRENT MISSION

To figure out my current mission :P

ABOUT ME

I'm an American who moved to the Netherlands in 2009 to be with my boyfriend. I have an MA in Comparative Gender Studies in Culture and Politics, and hope to find some kind of positive way to put my passion and knowledge to use. I am a sensitive girl, but usually much too stubborn and proud to admit that. I care too much about most things, and probably waste a lot of time worrying about things when I should be doing something about them instead. One day I will master this! In the meantime I keep busy with learning Dutch, growing a veggie garden, reading various feminist literature, dancing around my house, enjoying my friends and boyfriend, trying to remember to Skype my folks back home, and traveling when I have some money to spare.

My Be Welcome profile: http://www.bewelcome.org/members/sarahkb

PHILOSOPHY

Ani Difranco sums it up:

"I look around, and I think this is good enough.
And I try to laugh at whatever life brings.
'Cause when I look down, I just miss all the good stuff. And when I look up, I just trip over things."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Been a proud surfer and host since 2007. I love doing both and I take this community and the spirit it was built on pretty seriously.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Couchsurfed through Europe for almost 9 months, hosted in the U.S.,and now I host in the Netherlands.
Some significant CS experiences: First CS experience was in Dublin in April '07, when my friend and I had no place to stay at 9:00 at night and our host graciously invited us to stay with him, although he was already hosting 4 guys!
Summer of '09 I hosted 6 beautiful surfers from various countries who were traveling together to raise money to go volunteer together in Africa. That was quite memorable!

Interests

Combating social inequalities (racism, sexism, homophobia, imperialism). I am quick to engage in conversations about philosophy, history,feminism, and social issues. That said, I am kind of allergic to people who get defensive and insulting when talking about any of these things, even if I agree with them. I like drinking beer, laughing until my face hurts, chilling out and doing nothing, and catching an occasional show. I think I wouldn't live long without music and my favorite books.

• culture
• books
• literature
• dancing
• womens rights
• cooking
• recipes
• beer
• drinking
• gardening
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• music
• world cup
• gender studies
• history
• languages
• hitchhiking
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

FILMS: Four Rooms * Eternal Sunshine * Adaptation, Slumdog Millionaire * Donnie Darko * Waking Life * Amelie Poulain * Lost in Translation * Little Miss Sunshine * Darjeeling Limited * Science of Sleep * The Royal Tenenbaums *Black Swan * Milk * The Squid and the Whale * Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas * The Philadelphia Story (not to be confused with Philadelphia)... Much more.

MUSIC: Ani Difranco, Tori Amos, and Bjork are my ultimate! Opera and classical; Radiohead * Arcade Fire * Dresden Dolls * The Ditty Bops * The Walking Hellos * Mano Negra * Paul Simon * Gogol Bordello * Balkan Beatbox * Yann Tiersen * Ali Farka Toure * Bob Marley * Alanis Morissette * Kate Bush * Anais Mitchell * Joni Mitchell * Jesus and Mary Chain * Ella Fitzgerald * Bob Dylan * Rusted Root * The Violent Femmes * Reindeer Section * Le Tigre * Soundtribe Sector 9 * Velvet Underground * Daft Punk * Devotchka * Portishead * Fiona Apple * Edith Piaff * The Fugees * Erykah Badu * Grateful Dead * Van Morrison * Janis Joplin * Hendrix * Zeppelin * Beatles * The Doors * String Cheese Incident * Siouxsie & The Banshees * The Cranberries * Medeski,Martin,& Wood * Pink Floyd * James Brown * Chuck Berry * David Bowie * New Order * The Submarines * Jamiroquai * Ladytron * Keller Williams * Pink Martini * Regina Spektor * Sublime * Pearl Jam * Nirvana * Hole * The Be Good Tanyas * Tegan and Sarah * Phish * Yo La Tengo

BOOKS/AUTHORS: Books I've recently read:
* "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
* "Shame" by Salman Rushdie
* "Wide Sargasso Sea" by Jean Rhys
* "Everything is Illuminated" by Jonathan Safran Foer
* Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi
* "Bicycle Diaries" by David Byrne

It appears that I enjoy political satires and travel novels.:P I also enjoy anything by Inga Muscio; Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman; Anything by Bill Bryson, Kurt Vonnegut, Anne Rice, David Sedaris, and I am a shameless Shakespeare and Virginia Woolf nerd. :P

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- hitchhiking contest to the Cliffs of Moher
- night sky meteor shower in Utah
- election day 2008!
- peace march in Washington D.C. one week after 9/11
- Mont St-Michel
- the dinner table in Rome
- traveling around a Croation island by scooter
- hitchhike from Slovenia to the Netherlands in one day
- hitchhiked in a hearse
- Russian dasha!
- living in Holland while the Dutch team played in the World Cup 2010

Teach, Learn, Share

I am particularly interested in languages, although I am lousy at learning them - at the moment I am learning Dutch and I will take any opportunity to improve it. I also want to learn to cook because I am useless in the kitchen and I would like not to be. ;) I can teach the few recipes I do know (typical American stuff like Pumpkin Pie), how to bake bread, and a bit about gardening.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United States

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