Growth and learning, wise action, liberating, curiosity, love and solidarity are key parts of my lifestyle.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

CS is a simple and courageous way to learn. To welcome and be welcomed, to share stories, skills, knowledge and wisdom, friendship, safe space--the foundation of the cs experience which to me is about solidarity and kindness.

"If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together."
- Lilla Watson

"Live the life you love and love the life you live."
- Bob Marley

“One of the reasons… that our youth is so badly educated—and it is inconceivably badly educated—is because education demands a certain daring, a certain independence of mind, you have to teach young people to think… and in order to teach young people to think you have to teach them to think about everything. There mustn’t be something they can’t think about. If there’s one thing they can’t think about, then very shortly they can’t think about anything... Now there’s always something in this country of course one cannot think about—what one cannot think about is the negro.”
- James Baldwin (1961)

“No one should deny the danger of the descent, but it can be risked. No one need risk it, but it is certain that someone will. And let those who go down the sunset way do so with open eyes, for it is a sacrifice which daunts even the gods. Yet every descent is followed by an ascent; the vanishing shapes are shaped anew, and a truth is valid in the end only if it suffers change and bears new witness in new images, in new tongues, like a new wine that is put into new bottles.”
- Carl Jung, Symbols of Transformation

"What presides over the poem is not the most lucid intelligence, the sharpest sensibility or the subtlest feelings, but experience as a whole."
- Aimé Césaire

"We're all going to die, all of us; what a circus! That alone should make us love each other, but it doesn't. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities."
- Charles Bukowski

“We're all just walking each other home.”
- Ram Dass

Interests

Solidarity, art, music, love, graffiti, mysticism, heartfulness, psychology, lgbtqia+, reciprocity, fair trade, nature, seeking a zero waste life, animal care, health, food prep, dance, theatre, film, meditating, law, peaceful activism, language and cultural knowledge....... etc. etc. etc.

Music, Movies, and Books

Well this is a rabbit hole... with diverse interests, always transforming, it feels odd to name favourites.

Instead of favourites I'll list some of what I'm currently listening to/reading/watching in no particular order:

Musics
- Ablaye Cissoko
- Roberto Musci
- Hermanos Gutiérrez
- Ryo Fukui
- Keith Jarrett
- Ahmad Jamal
- Cameron Winter
- Wau Wau Collectif
- Nala Sinephro
- Little Simz
- Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes

Reads
- "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer
- "Still Here" by Ram Dass
- "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi
- "The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love" by bell hooks
- "De Dónde Eres?" by Yamile Saied Méndez
- "Go Tell It on the Mountain" by James Baldwin
- "The Machine Stops" by E.M Forster
- "Not Too Late" edited by Rebecca Solnit and Thelma Young Lutunatabua
- "No Planet B" edited by Lucy Diavolo
- "Hunting by Stars" by Cherie Dimaline
- "Trauma Stewardship" by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

Watches
- Notre Corps (2023), Claire Simon
- Perfect Days (2024), Wim Wenders
- All Night Long (1962), Basil Dearden
- Occupied (2020), Pingal Pranav Reddy
- Monster (2023), Hirokazu Koreeda
- Kokomo City (2023), D. Smith
- The Seed of the Sacred Fig (2024), Mohammad Rasoulof
- The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962), Karel Zeman
- Orfeu negro (1959), Marcel Camus
- Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos (1976), Bruno Barreto
- Road Games (1981), Richard Franklin

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm amazed by authenticity, love, and Beings who are struggling, supporting, celebrating and standing in solidarity with each other and all kin.

Teach, Learn, Share

-sharing authentically
-music, films, languages, art, cool readings
-love a good hike/mountain climb
-clean and cook (yummy recipes? yes please!)
-eager to learn more about gardening, sustainable living, vegetarian and vegan recipes, health and nurturing, psychology, art, activism (in whatever you're passionate about!), local history, alternative living

What I Can Share with Hosts

Want a buddy to go outdoors, create art, jam sesh, visit a gallery, market, theatre, picnic, rock-climbing, slacklining, dancing, plant seeds n gardening, forage, dumpster dive, walk, meditation, climb trees, volunteer, community group, bookstore, study/work session, convention, protest, demo, Pride, festival, art shop, concert, history tour, cook n eat etc. ??? I'm generally happy to do all these things!
I'm interested in creativity and kindness. Happy to do nothing together too (quiet and kind comradery is also rad and I dig comfortable silences, and other forms of communicating just as much as action and verbal). We're all unique and if you feel neurospicy and/or deeply sensory, I can relate ✊🏼 Basically groovy with interactions that are based around more than just drinking and talking shop.
😌✌ no worries if you're chill and just want to do your own thing. CS is not a hotel. I'm clean, tidy, and will happily help with any errands and chores while enjoying the feeling of being cosy at 'home'🏡. I love sharing a meal (and cleaning up afterwards), enjoy a glass of wine, tea, language exchange. Speaking and practicing English, French, Korean, Arabic or Spanish (or learning about whatever language is spoken wherever I am!) Jammin and dancing.

A note for hangouts and general cs meets:

I've had a string of cs hangouts lately that have prompted me to make this note....

Often when being around travelers it's easy to get stuck in the "Where are you from?" fog. And stereotypes abound... zzz 🥱 also, many people find this question challenging/complex/irrelevant, and sometimes there isn't an 'insert country' response.
Rather than this, I suggest being more creative and curious--For example: What drives you to travel? Any cool stories? Any meaningful events happening in your life? What's a big lesson you've learned? Have you explored anything fun recently? Where might you feel like a local (may be a better question than where are you from), or how have language/s shaped you, or what do you think/feel about culture, or what interests or inspires you? etc.
Let's connect with our shared humanity. Let's strive to liberate ourselves. Details about parts of our multifaceted and wonderful identities and stories come out organically anyway as we simply learn about each other in more interesting ways :)
With kindness and solidarity 🪷✊🏼

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Ecuador, England, France, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Turkey, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Poland, Senegal