CURRENT MISSION

Find joy in every day, even if just in the small stuff; don't hesitate to try new things, even those that seem bizarre; do deeds to make others smile, and the list goes on...

ABOUT ME

I grew up in California riding horses, enjoying nature and attending as many music festivals as possible! A couple of years ago I graduated from the UC Berkeley mechanical engineering department, then lived in Bulgaria and Serbia (with lots of traveling around the Balkans) as a green building consultant for a real estate services company.

Today, I work for a nearby school district as their Sustainability Consultant, working to reduce energy consumption in the buildings and to teach the students about saving energy, water, recycling, composting, and more. I love my job!

While I was a university student, I worked with an amazing project in slums of Mumbai, India on drinking water, hygiene, sanitation, and health education called "Haath Mein Sehat", or "Health is in Your Hands". I made 5 trips to Mumbai, spending over 13 months living there. Also, for a summer I worked for USAID in Madagascar (Fianarantsoa) on a similar type of project.

I play the banjo! This is my public disclaimer.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My best friend and I are going to be biking through South America for three months in February to May, 2012, and we cannot wait to make new friends, share stories, and have an incredible journey!

The idea of couch surfing is fabulous, and I have hosted over 40 people in the past couple of years. It has always been a great experience. I first started hosting couch surfers when I lived in Sofia, Bulgaria, and then in Belgrade, Serbia. Every experience has been a good one!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Always the experience has been positive, and I look forward to doing more couch surfing myself some day in the near future.

Interests

I love exploring new places and meeting new faces! I've been to many countries, and can't get enough of traveling. I usually take my banjo with me, and often extraordinary events evolve out of this.

• horses
• beauty
• music festivals
• festivals
• education
• dining
• cooking
• walking
• drinking
• traveling
• cars
• music
• cycling
• surfing
• teaching
• engineering
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

Blues to jazz, funk to rock, classical to tribal, metal to Americana...I never say never to anything until I've tried it. Even if I don't like a particular music, I respect the fact that it probably meant something to the creator. This, to me, is what music is about.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was in Mumbai in July, 2005, when the city received 1 meter of rain in one day. My colleagues and I lived about 17 kilometers from the town center where we worked. We ended up walking home through waist (and sometimes neck) deep water, taking over 6 hours.

It was shocking, maybe even horrifying, to see the damage done by the water. Every single ground floor of every building was flooding to the hilt.

But at the same time, in the midst of such a tragic event, I saw small beauty. For starters, we made friends. As three Americans in the 'rivers' of Mumbai, we could not have asked to meet kinder, fairer people. Millions were walking home that night through the water, and not a single person was discriminated against when food was being handed out, no one went without assistance as we climbed over walls and cars.

Furthermore, I couldn't help but think to myself, "What if this happened in the US?" Ironically, two months later it did; and it wasn't pretty.

What I experienced that night (and the ensuing days) was the inherent kindness of a people who have hardship beyond imagination on daily basis, and yet still have the basic fundamental ability to see when is a time for competition and when is a time for compassion. Mumbai bounced back within two days, and for the most part, I could hardly believed it had actually happened.

Teach, Learn, Share

Cook food. This the most direct way to a great couch surfing friendship! Not to mention a good couchsurfing experience :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Panama, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

Bulgaria, India, Madagascar, Serbia, United States

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