CURRENT MISSION

Going out and adventuring again after having had a busy office life for a while.

ABOUT ME

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man (or woman) than a secure future. The very basic core of a mans living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

I try to get as much as i can out of things. Its not always easy, but its good to remind yourself that there is a lot to see and learn and that you are not the centre of the world.

I would consider myself open minded (but who doesnt on this website, lol)... I love good talks and people that can change my perception of things or give me a new angle to look at things or teach me new things about culture, history politics etc... and i LOVE all sorts of sports.

Traveling is not only a hobby for me, but a state of mind. It has helped me understand the world and its people much better and keeps amazing me with the diversity of people I have had the chance to meet. I therefore travel as much as possible.

I'm preatty easy going, I like to chill and just look at things. I'm in love with my piano and that would probably be the only reason to stay at home, but besides that I'm a driven person, I can never stay at one place too long. I want to see the whole damn planet.

I like to go out, have a beer or two, go to live concerts, party with a lot of different people.

PHILOSOPHY

People are always talking about freedom. Freedom to live a certain way, without being kicked around. Course the more you live a certain way, the less it feels like freedom. Me, uhm, I can change during the course of a day. I wake and I'm one person, when I go to sleep I know for certain I'm somebody else. I don't know who I am most of the time.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Crashed on couches all over South America, the USA, Europe, India, South and East Africa and Japan. Hosted in Switzerland, England and Japan.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've probably been hosted around 80 times and have hosted myself about 15 times, so I guess quite a bit of experience. I also traveled with different other couchsurfers from just a couple of days up to 3 months and have been to many couchsurf meetings.

Interests

Rock climbing, Snowboarding, Surfing, Capoeira, Wakeboarding, Cliffdiving, Squash, Tennis, all kinds of other sports, reading and literature, beer, my piano, languages, cultures, politics, human rights, social activism, philosophy, going out, art, independent cinema, having fun with friends and being out in nature. LAUGHING (mostly at myself)
Lately a lot of photograpy.

Obviously TRAVELING. In as many different ways as possible, trying to get out of my "comfort zone" when I'm travelling.

• wildlife
• arts
• culture
• books
• literature
• concerts
• capoeira
• human rights
• wine
• beer
• instructor
• walking
• partying
• politics
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• piano
• surfing
• scuba diving
• skydiving
• snowboarding
• wakeboarding
• sports
• rock climbing
• tennis
• racquetball
• paragliding
• history
• languages
• hitchhiking
• squash

Music, Movies, and Books

That would take WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY too long, but I can try to make a quick summary:
Books: Books by Hesse, Goethe, Schiller, Zeh, Mann, Dostoyevski, Sartre, Camus, Bukowski, Plato, Marlow, Musil, Foster Wallace, Houellebecq, Neruda, Wilde, Murakami, Gibran, Tchechov etc.
Also a lot of non-fiction on human rights, development, international trade, politics, history and so forth.

Music: I love to play the piano, I listen to a lot of "under the radar" stuff, but also some mainstream things: Dispatch, Modest Mouse, The Decemberists, Cold War Kids, Alt-J, Ben Howard, The Raconteurs, Death Cab, Bon Iver, David Ford, Wolfmother, Appleseed cast, Explosion in the sky, Sublime, Old school hiphop, etc. etc. and classical music as well.
Playing and listening to more and more jazz lately.

Movies: Waking Life, before the rain, white cat/black cat.. movies from Almadovar, Haeneke, Allen, Kusturica...I love independent movies and festivals... but I also like Fight Club, Stay, LA crash, The thin red line, the big lebowski etc...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Everyday on the snowboard or rock climbing is an AWESOME day... so I try to spend as much time doing that as possible.... spending a whole winter in the awesome powder of Japan.... rock climbing in Thailand, Mexico and all over Europe...cliff diving is always awesome...

I love Yosemity National Park, I'm going to be a hermit there one day =)....

Riding my motorcylce 4500km through India and riding over the two highest motorable roads in the world by myself.

Hitchhiking 1500 km through Chile. Riding a motorbike through Peru. Surfing in all over Central America. Climbing in Marokko, Teneriffe, Thailand, Skydiving in Florida. Paragliding in South Africa.

Walking amongst elephants and all kinds of wildlife in northern Zimbabwe. Working in the townships of South Africa. Hitchhiking through Mozambique.

Oh... and I almost forgot... I can touch the tip of my nose with my tongue while shaking my eyes, a VERY usefull skill in todays world!

Finding the most hospitable people in the world on Couchsurfing, sometimes even makes me believe in humanity again =)

Teach, Learn, Share

Teaching:
Well, I used to be a snowboard instructor in winter, so if there is snow and some boards around, i'm sure i can teach you a flip or two (or a turn if that suites you better ;-)
Other sports, as far as know how to do them. Was teaching capoeira for a while, so I can teach you some kicks or handstands or the like
Languages: I can teach you the mysterious language of swiss german (if you speak german it will only take a year or so, if you dont, it might take up to 10, so you better get ready for a long couchsurf).

I love to learn new languages and always try to pick up at least some words in the local language, when I dont speak it.
Traveling has broadend my horizon alot, and I'm always gratefull for new angles and perspectives to look at the world.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Well, they can pick my brain. I can give a lot of advice on traveling in different countries/on different continents. I love to give book tips to avid readers . We can go do sports together and I can teach of some of the ones I know if the right conditions are around.
Always glad to invite my hosts for a beer/glass of wine/tea etc.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Palestine, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somalia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, China, Colombia, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

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