CURRENT MISSION

live my dreams

ABOUT ME

I don't take life seriously, but still love to do a lot. I get easily excited by crazy ideas, and I get distracted easily and forget things often. I'm a trifle sarcastic and constantly making jokes.

But I do try to make the most of life.. I take part in many organizations, have a huge number of potential hobbies, and I am passionate in my career as a linguist. I am curious about almost everything so I hope you have something to share. :)

Oh, and I have really weird dreams sometimes. Some of them sound like a cool novel, and some of them sound like I should get locked up.

I've been feeling more introverted lately, and am only hosting people who I feel I might have some sort of connection with. If you are declined, please don't take it personally, but I am also getting quite a number of requests per day and it's a bit much for me at the moment.

PHILOSOPHY

Don't let an opportunity pass you by. I've got regrets in my life, but in the past few years they are surprisingly few. I'm much more comfortable with a mistake than with a missed opportunity.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting or guesting occasionally, but I seem to have this unfortunate tendency to get requests when I am going somewhere else.

I have travelled to a lot of places which are not always high on the general travel list, so if you need advice for some countries I don't mind answering (e.g. how to cross the border at Turkey-Iraq, or how to successfully mail something international from Kyrgyzstan).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Quite a lot, and generally all positive :D

Interests

Picking up my things and taking off for a while. Politics. Philosophy. Biology. Cognition. Linguistics. Nature. Psychology. Human relationships. Playing on playgrounds. Music. Travel. Playing squash or ping pong (both of which I'm a bit rusty at). Good beer, with a distinct Belgian leaning (My favorite is Rochefort).

• books
• dancing
• cooking
• recipes
• beer
• vegetarian
• politics
• traveling
• music
• racquetball
• table tennis
• biology
• languages
• psychology
• squash

Music, Movies, and Books

Movie-wise, I quite like sci fi, and I'd like fantasy movies more if they didn't butcher 90% of them. Good dramas or comedies are always an option.. and I admit a soft spot for heist movies.

Books, most of the time I'm reading either linguistics literature, travel books, politics, or sci-fi/fantasy. If you know a good book, I'll always take recommendations. I try not to start a book if I have other things I have to do, because I don't get anything done.

Musically.. I've got over 2000 albums of various genres of music, and probably can connect with most people on some level or another. Favorites are metal of various sorts, world music, and then fusion music is always cool. I used to play the pan flutes but I ended up running out of time to commit myself to it. One of these days I'll go move to Peru or Bolivia for a while and devote some time to it. If i don't get distracted along the way.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Far too many to count. Ask if you want to hear any stories, as I have a lot!

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm studying for my PhD in linguistics, so lots of things with languages, cultures, travelling, etc. I've taught English for 8 years and Articulatory Phonetics for 4, so if there's some sound in some language that you've had trouble with I probably can give some pointers. Likewise with anything in English.

I can also teach you how to say cheers in Nama. It has a click in the beginning, and is written "!Gai as". It's fun :)

I also love cooking, and sharing recipes. I'm not personally vegetarian, but I can still handle vegetarian cooking just as easily as cooking with meat.

If you happen to speak Arabic, I'm starting that soon and would love to practice. Particularly Sudanese. Also would love to learn how to dance better, as I have a somewhat poor natural sense of rhythm. And if you know how to fix things, definitely feel free to teach me!

Oh, and like I mentioned earlier, I can give advice on some border crossings or cheap flights.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Malta, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Brazil, Ethiopia, Finland, South Africa, United States

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