Hello! My name is Tobin, and I'm brand new to couchsurfing.com, but I've been participating in the act of couch surfing (And couch hosting) for my entire adult life. I love meeting new people and exploring new places, and I equally enjoy hosting guests and showing new friends the places I know and love. I work as a Stage Hand with the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees Local 16 in San Francisco.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

It's pretty recent that I have a job that affords me the luxury of any sort of travel that requires a plane ticket, but unfortunately most of my money tends to burn up paying for flights and I don't tend have a whole lot left over to cover the costs of lodging. Which is fine, because one of the most enjoyable things about travelling is making new friends along the way!

Interests

I love playing guitar and am starting up on mandolin. I love music and nothing quite picks me up on a bad day like a good song. I love reading about history, politics, and geography. I love learning new languages and practicing through conversation with native speakers. My native tongue is English and I can pretty reliably get by in Spanish (It would be more accurate to say I'm highly conversational rather than fluent) and I've started to pick up some Portuguese through my friend in Brazil. There's not a lot that I don't at least find interesting.

• cooking
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• surfing
• freelancing
• geography
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many to name but here's what I'm into at the moment:

Books:
Stage Rigging Handbook by Jay O Glerum
Brasil: Uma Biografa by Lila M. Schwartz and Heloisa M Starling
Heaven's Net is Wide by Lian Hearn

Music:
Criolo
Kendrick Lamar
Greensky Bluegrass
Chris Stapleton
Gary Clark Jr.

Movies:
Treme
Cartel Land

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hopped freight trains up and down the west coast, which was one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, like I mentioned, I'm pretty much down to talk about most things with most people. As far as teaching I'm happy to help people improve their Spanish, learn some guitar, etc. Stage Hands are expected to be jacks of all trades to some degree, so I have lots of random bits of technical knowledge with varying degrees of applicability outside the live entertainment industry. (I.e. basic electrical skills, knots, some carpentry etc) which I'm happy to share, although no one should take me as an authority on those kind of things. I love learning about places, their history, etc. and I really can (On a good day, when I have the energy) converse for hours about all sorts of things.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Other than the above mentioned conversation, willingness to learn and teach and talk and explore, my extensive experience being a broke guest has taught me that the best way to not wear out your welcome is to pitch in. Always happy to wash a dish, always happy to help cook or throw down some cash to help get a pizza, and just generally disposed to be helpful in whatever (reasonable and doable) way I can to avoid coming off as an oogle. (If you don't know the word look it up-I imagine if you've been hosting people for a while it describes pretty well a type of person you're used to)

Countries I’ve Visited

Brazil, Mexico

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States