CURRENT MISSION

To live as truly as possible

ABOUT ME

I believe that everyday life or unextraordinary things always has the potential to be great. I always have restless feet to travel, to explore things and to have different experiences in an indepth/ involved way.

PHILOSOPHY

If you are going to loaf, do it in style (e.g. don't feel guilty about it, active rest is an important part of productivity). I am still trying to practice this well myself.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I like the idea of couch-surfing very much because of the elements of trust and risks involved that I think are essential to everyday life and existence and is healthy for the soul.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have hosted before and I have had so many amazing couchsurf encounters of being hosted and meeting up with people in Rotterdam, Glasgow, the Czech Republic, Norway, Malta and USA people who I may not have thought to or otherwise have met. The people who have made life richer and the experience as a whole, an antidote to the automaton type of tourism. I rather be a conscientious traveller if that's possible, my interest is in learning about different cultures and understanding different perspectives.

Interests

Lots. I love plants, growing, permaculture, getting my hands dirty and ethnobotany. Hiking, looking at wildflowers. Cooking, creating and eating. I also like to draw and have a real soft spot for performance and dance from when I use to do them, and still dabble in from time to time.

• arts
• performing arts
• dancing
• cooking
• gardening
• traveling
• drawing
• hiking
• surfing
• tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

My interest in these are diverse and not set. I have been culturally sheltered/ depraved in the earlier part of my life (except for bad cantopop), and more indulged now later in life.

Music, a brief sample - rockabilly, early black rock 'n' roll from the 50s, Jonathan Richman, Elliot Smith, The Cheap Suit Serenaders, raw voices like Etta James and Bessie Smith.

Books - I tend to go for classics but not averse to total trash occasionally. Some of my faves are Under the Net by Iris Murdoch, Chroma by Derek Jarman, Down and Out in London and Paris by George Orwell, Underground by Haruki Murakami, poetry by Charles Bukowski, Wild Swans by Jung Chang and many more. I also like graphic novels by artists like Joe Sacco and Marjane Sartrapi.

I watch films all the time. I like a lot of films by directors Spike Lee, Werner Herzog, Errol Morris, Stanley Kubrick. Love films like Tampopo, Goodfellas, Trading Places, Groundhog Day and Down By Law.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of what I like, and I am open to having my interests expanded even to things that I think I don't like.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Working at an ultra conservative art college in Oman and getting the predominantly female students to take notice and appreciate the crazy landscape that they had, and to dig up their school lawn and make a sculptural rock garden!

Teach, Learn, Share

I think that the best teachers are the ones that learn with 'the students'. One never knows who one can learn from or teach someone, sometimes what is learnt and taught is unexpected. I can share with you my passions - growing, cooking, knowledge of good places to eat in certain parts of Britain (including London, Brighton, Manchester and Newcastle upon Tyne), my experience of organising/ facilitating art projects and my lore of unusual or obscure things.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Norway, Oman, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Netherlands, United Kingdom