A traveling Iranian-American writer, musician, flâneur and student/teacher looking for the spirit of the thing and the next adventure!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I’ve greatly enjoyed my new experiences in hostels and at Workaway hosts so far, and Couchsurfing is the next thing I want to explore. I’m eager to continue meeting great and interesting people while continuing to learn from them, from others, and from the different places I travel to. Cultural exchange is something I’ve grown to love, and Couchsurfing is perfect to continue doing it.

Interests

The arts, philosophy, critical theory, good food and drink and even better company.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• music
• philosophy
• food
• adventure
• exploring
• cultural exchange
• wisdom
• discourse

Music, Movies, and Books

I enjoy a lot of different genres of music but particularly prefer international styles (especially from the Middle East, Africa and South America), jazz (Charles Mingus, Yusuf Lateef, Chet Baker, and Miles Davis, mainly), Western classical music (Chopin, Debussy, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, etc.), and anything else I haven’t heard before.

I love Iranian New Wave films such as those by Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, Masoud Kimiai, Bahman Ghobadi, and others. I also enjoy French and Italian films from directors like Truffaut, Godard, Melville, Fellini, Sorrentino, etc. In the English-speaking world, I enjoy movies by Wes Anderson and Adam Curtis’s documentaries, too.

My preferred American/Anglophone writers include George Orwell, WS Merwin, Ursula K. Le Guin, Henry Miller, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Patrick Leigh Fermor, Stanley Kunitz, Kurt Vonnegut, and others. Internationally, I’ve enjoyed reading the works of Ryszard Kapuscinski, Italian Calvino, Pablo Neruda, Mahmoud Darwish, Gunter Grass, Fernando Pessoa, and classical Iranian writers like Ferdowsi, Khayyam, Rumi, Hafez, Sa’adi, etc.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, I went on an adventure to stay in a bothy (a mountain hut) on the North Atlantic coast.

Teach, Learn, Share

I teach English, so I’m happy to share my knowledge with you of the language and love to talk about authors and books. I would love to learn more languages, so please teach me!

I do play guitar and sing and also DJ, so if you like music, I’d love to exchange my tastes with you or maybe play a few songs. I’m always looking for more good music to discover.

Otherwise, I’m also happy to talk about the US, Iran, music, culture, and trade travel stories!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I’ll share my stories and bring an open mind, an ear for good and stimulating conversation, and passions for music, writing, food, and learning. Also, I’m happy to cook a dish or two and share a drink (alcoholic or non-alcoholic)!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

England, France, Iran, Luxembourg, United States