I`m currently based in Bonn, but that might change again this summer, as my area of work is in international development cooperation, focus on sustainability and climate, especially related to mobility and cities. So far I had the opportunity to work in places like Brazil, Saudia Arabia, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Georgia. Who knows where the next job will be - maybe in Beijing, maybe Kampala, in... - or maybe I´ll stay around in Bonn a bit longer. Job offers for August or later aren´t out yet.
As I my last job was related to far too much time at a desk or in conference, and I didn´t want to directly jump from one project into the next, I took the opportunity to take some time off, and travel the world once more.
And maybe re-connect to the Couchsurfing Crowd. I had hosted while working in Georgia, surfed while travelling in Iran, but used only warmshowers on the last trips, which where by bike only. And for some reason no one requested to stay at my place in Bonn :( - everyone prefers Cologne, 30 min by train, for some reason ;)

A passport about to expire mixed up my travel plans quite a bit, but now, with a new passort, I plan to go by train Hamburg-Copenhagen-Stockhol-St. Petersburg - Transsib to Beijing in March, travel China (e.g. Chengdu, Wuhan, Shanghai), Japan (Osaka by ferry, cycling Wakayama800, Kyoto, Tokyo), South Korea (ferry to Donghae, Cross Country cycling tour Seoul-Busan, Jeju) until end of May.
I´m not into "checklist tourism" (10 things you have to see in...), and I´m getting a bit too old to hang out and party all the time - but I am super interested meet interesting people, learn about my host city or region, have good conversations.
As I work on things like climate change and sustainable transport, I could share some knowledge from that area. But explaining what a "huddle" at a "COP" is, why the global "emmission gap" is super improtant, even if you can`t see it or fall into it etc. is probably a bit boring, or at least confusing, to people not working on climate .
I can also share knowledge about cargobikes. But people tell me that´s a niche interest as well. Mmh.
Cargobike fans in Germany do "Schokofahrt" twice a year: > 100 cyclists from over 30 cities, picking up 12000 bars, or about 1000 kg, of fairtrade, emission free choolate from a sailingship-cargo comapny in Amsterdam.
"one ton of chocolate" usually get´s people´s attention :)
Ok, enough talking. If you read this, you´re probably either looking for a host in Bonn - sorry, I´m travelling myself til June - or I have asked you to host me. If you could do that, I might even bring some of that emission free chocolate along, for the first week at least (Copenhagen, Stockholm, St. Petersburg) - unfurtanetely this chocolate is soo good taht it won´t survive more than a week travelling on trains ;)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Well, where else can you find a crowd of nice people like this? Even connect with like-minded people, sharing the same interests.
PS: why doesn`t have anyone else have "cargobikes" as an interest ;)

Interests

• books
• concerts
• environment
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• music
• live music
• cycling
• china
• japan
• japanese culture
• south korea
• cargobike

Music, Movies, and Books

One guy did a "Around the world in 100 bookstores" trip. Wrote a book about it. That one is a favourite. And >5 of the bookstore are on my list for the next trip. I´m sure the next favourite book is in one of them.
https://www.facebook.com/Bookshops.Around.The.World/
Another guy traveled to China. Discovered an underground music scene. Made a documentary about it, with a crowdfunding campaign to fund it. I had backed the campaign 5-6 years ago, forgotten all about it, stumbled upon that guy again on twitter. Still there. And now I have a beer (or 2, or ...) and a punk concert in Chengdu on my list :) http://www.theworldunderground.com/
Apart from stories like that, I´m not really a "my personal TOP 10" person.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Did I mention cargobikes yet? I actually didn`t participate in the first 4 #Schokofahrt cargobike+chcocolate trips - but I did a cargobike tour to he sailingship cargo company in Amsterdam and back to Bonn, about 450-500 km total- in summer. 35 degrees Celsius and chocolate don´t go along that well, at least not for a 3 day bike tour. Luckily the sailingship brings coffee beans and rum barrels as well, so I did a cargobike+coffee+rum trip. That was fun :)
Shortly afterwards police tried to evict tree houses of climate activists in Hambach Forest, who try to save the forest from fdestruction by open pit lignite mining. It was in international news for a while. I didn´t join the treehouse group, but I tried to support logistics, bringing food and water to the activists. If you should have an interetes in the civil society proteste to speed up climate action, phase out coal, I might be able to share some stories from that.

Teach, Learn, Share

Did I mention cargobikes.... ok, yes, i did.

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Belize, Bolivia, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Afghanistan, Brazil, Ecuador, Georgia, Venezuela