CURRENT MISSION

educatemeself

ABOUT ME

These boxes usually start with a kind of vital statistics, like age, place of origin, occupation.

I'm 190cm tall, 38" chest, my femur is the longest bone in my body, I usually wear plain black socks.

I'm not some kind of irritating politician type who could spend all day shaking hands with strangers and talking about their lives, but all the same I do generally like meeting new people and finding out about them. Especially people who put me at my ease and invite confidence and relatively interesting and deep conversation. That doesn't mean to say I always want to talk about politics or philosophy or the 'serious' things in life. I have quite an anarchic sense of humour which I love indulging. I think I'm quite funny but I guess public opinion on that is divided.

I like laughing at the absurdity of the world. I like noticing the contradictions in things that people think and say and do - including myself. If you think your nationality should define your attitude to world affairs/politics we probably won't get on that well in the long run.

I'm not a massive partyer or club goer. For one thing I've not got the money. But really, most of the time I'd rather hang out at home with some music and some cans of beer, or go to the pub and do a very similar thing.

1986 - 2004 Manchester, England
2004 - 2005 Makerere, near Moshi, Tanzania
(I was a volunteer English teacher).
2005 - .... London, England
(with lots of bits of travelling here and there interrupting this, including a month living in Paris summer 2009, and again summer 2010)

I've just begun the research for my PhD in History. It's on the cultural history of Manchester and Lille from 1860 to 1914. If you want to know more, ask.

I speak French quite well, but I'm still trying to improve and practice more - so I would especially like to host French couch surfers! (Vous pouvez m'écrire en Francais.)

PHILOSOPHY

Oh this is a hard question. I really couldn't say. I suppose I'm easy going about other people's ideas, cultures, practices and lifestyles. That doesn't necessarily mean I'm free of neuroticisms myself.
It's really easy to be very trite when trying to describe a philosophy so i'll probably leave it there.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting and surfing, mostly hosting. Sometimes I take people who request to surf with me (and I'll always reply to you if you write a proper couch request, even if it's just to say no), and also sometimes take people from the London Emergency Couch group.
Recently when I've had surfers to stay I've been really busy with my university work (despite the lazy student stereotype), so I haven't really been able to hang out with surfers or show them round London. In that sense, I'm probably a better host for more independent minded guests who are ok with doing their own thing while in London. That won't always be the case though, depending on exactly when you come.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Over 20 people have spent some time on my couch/my floor/and even my flatmates bed when he wasn't in it. It was fun nearly all the time.

As a guest -
Andrew in Baltimore, USA
Lynn in New York city
Lucy in Glasgow
Jessy in Lille, France

Also stayed with and hosted strangers in situations outside of CS network. One of my best ever experiences, at least in a travelling context, was when a complete stranger took me home to her family and gave me their spare bed for the night when I missed my connecting bus in Tanzania. It's a favour I want to repay to someone else some time in my life. CS references etc are very important but ultimately it's about open mindedness and trust.

Interests

Exploring new places, especially on foot or bicycle.
Poetry. I like reading poetry, but especially I love writing and performing my own poems at open mic/slam nights
Languages
Reading
Music
Travelling/hitchhiking
Wwoof
Humour, conversation, friendship
The outdoors. I love walking, and the English Lake District is one of my favourite places in the world. I want to walk across England, or at least from London to Manchester, some time when I have a few weeks to spare.
Things that are against the norm

• writing
• poetry
• diy
• beer
• running
• walking
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• music
• outdoor activities
• surfing
• teaching
• history
• languages
• statistics
• hitchhiking
• volunteering
• wwoof

Music, Movies, and Books

Neil Young, Belle and Sebastian, The Smiths, Joy Division, The Fall, Ewan MacColl
Orwell, Szerb, Zola, history books.
cultural theory. Reading Georg Simmel recently for an essay and he's fascinating
Simon Armitage
Most of all John Cooper Clarke (poet)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Hmmm. Of course it's pretty arbitrary to pick just one, but the sorts of moments that really stick in my mind are ones like this one.
hitchiking from a friend's house in Tanzania, I got a lift with a big lorry. We climbed up onto the very top, where there was a sort of metal frame. I sat up there with my friend, bumping along this dust road. We were high up of course, and we were also on a high plateau looking out over a plain on a clear day. in the distance was a blue sky and mount kilimanjaro. that was cool

Teach, Learn, Share

I've worked as an English teacher in Tanzania at a secondary school, in the UK at summer schools for privileged teenagers from Europe and Asia, and in London teaching refugees/immigrants/asylum seekers from around the world. If I come and stay with you I'll happily help you with your English if you like. I'd love it if you could teach me a language too.
Also I have cut my brother's hair a few times and the results have been fairly succesful. If you like I could cut your hair in exchange for you hosting me (although this makes most sense if you want either a mohican or a shoreditch-type wedge cut. I haven't really done anything else.)
Basic general home DIY, painting, stuff with wood, etc. I already have some skills in this area I can share. I'd also love to learn more.

Countries I’ve Visited

Botswana, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, Spain, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, United States, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Tanzania, United Kingdom

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