CURRENT MISSION

Teach Catalans English while still finding some time to travel the continent.

ABOUT ME

I need to update this now that I'm in Abu Dhabi, but until then here's my old Spanish profile...

I quit my job in Healthcare IT after six years to move to Barcelona and become an English teacher. The normal career path, I think! During that time I had the good fortune to work in Canada, Spain, and France, and all over the United States. The highlight of my six years was moving to Paris for a year to help get that office running.

At the moment I have 16 or 17 students, from the age of 6 to 50, that I teach every week. Probably my best class so far was the one in which I played Scrabble for an hour against a student. It's quite a change from past work, but in a good way. A pleasant, relaxing, more enjoyable way. Plus, it gives me time to do a lot of other things.

I'm a proponent of all things music (especially live music, or anything blues), an avid reader, an eager but average writer, a whiskey enthusiast, and a Chicago Cubs fan. I wish I had a dog and a nice, winning lottery ticket, but I settle for a pipe full of good tobacco and a bicycle (although mine was recently stolen off the mean streets of Barcelona).

PHILOSOPHY

I've never given this much thought, so I won't try to add anything enlightening or entertaining.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surf and host around Europe.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I´ve surfed with many great hosts, and hosted many great surfers. I can´t say I´ve had a bad experience with CouchSurfing - everyone has always been very friendly, and I´ve always gained something out of it, whether that be a unique perspective on Croatian independence or some Italian music to queue up on an iPod.

Interests

Finding a new record player. I miss having one.

Perfecting my Spanish and beginning French or Italian classes, biking around Barcelona, wasting time online reading about sports, scheming the next adventure, hiking without proper boots, writing, wishing I had a BBQ grill, reading the mountain of books that I´ve had shipped over via Amazon.com, and enjoying cerveza outside.

Also - experimenting with various recipes. I've learned how to make a couple mean Catalan sauces, and am always interested in learning local recipes. The markets of Barcelona are a bonanza of good stuff, so it´s quite easy to make something nice if you´ve got the time.

The joys in life are concerts in Barcelona, finding new bands or rediscovering old ones (for example, I've finally started listening to Radiohead - why didn't I start sooner...The Bends is brilliant). C/ Tallers in Barcelona is a vinyl lovers dream, and I have spent many an hour in those record shops. I used to have a www.Meetup.com group here called "Listen Up: Vive la Musica," which was dedicated to drinking beer with friends prior to a good concert. I may resurrect it now that I´m back in Barcelona for a second year, we shall see..

• dogs
• writing
• books
• concerts
• recipes
• beer
• bbq
• running
• drinking
• reading
• traveling
• music
• live music
• blues
• cycling
• hiking
• sports
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite movie is probably Braveheart or Before Sunset, and I´ve recently started watching Wes Anderson movies a lot. Other top movies of mine include Boy A, Sicko, the Bourne trilogy, Blood Diamond, Vanilla Sky, Saving Private Ryan, Amelie, and Tarantino movies.

Favorite book is "Speak, Memory" by Nabakov or "The Great Gatsby" by Fitzgerald - both heavily referenced in a very good non-fiction called "Reading Lolita in Tehran." John Irving books are always good, like "World According to Garp" or "Ciderhouse Rules." I've read "Tale of Two Cities" about 7 times now. Oscar Wilde and World War I history (and history books in general) have found a welcome home on my bookshelves as well.

Music - any and all! My top 5 bands of all time would probably be Dispatch, Led Zeppelin, B.B. King, Sublime, and Metallica. Since living in Barcelona I´ve picked up some trance tendencies, like We Plants Are Happy Plants and the infamous Tiësto. According to my Last.fm profile I listen to a lot of Arctic Monkeys, Gaslight Anthem, Damien Rice, State Radio, and Okkervil River.

http://www.lastfm.es/user/sublime257

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well, I'm not sure how amazing it is but I enjoyed floating around in the Dead Sea. This was after I smeared the supposedly powerful Dead Sea mud all over myself. The photos are quite entertaining.

Teach, Learn, Share

Only 3% of what is published in English is a translation from a foreign language / author! Pick up a copy of a nice translation and support the translators, publishers, and authors!

If you're interested in Catalan authors (and who isn't) this little article may help you:
http://www.barcelona-metropolitan.com/articles/the-written-word

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Ireland, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United States