CURRENT MISSION

Meet new people, make new friends, and enjoy

ABOUT ME

After working for a long while (13 years to be precise) in the IT industry, I got sick and tired of the corporate world. And pursuing my dreams, I started my own business in tourism, organizing experience based boutique cultural tours. So, I know professionally what traveling is; and I know what a tourist would expect :)

I do a PhD in Business Administration, since 2006 (long time eh?). Writing my dissertation nowadays. Hope to graduate within a couple of years :)

I am an amateur musician (clarinet and kanun) Requests coming from musicians will have high priority :)

I travel as much as possible. I've been to quite a lot of places around the world so far. If I had the chance I'd travel much more. I consider myself as a "professional tourist" :)

I love to see/do/taste new things As a monkey in Chinese Astrology, I'm quite curious for anything

I do my best to live a healthy life (no cigarettes, eating natural things, exercise 5-6 days a week) I've been following the Paleo Diet since 2009. So this might mean two things for you:
1) If you are so kind to bring me any gifts, please do bring the things that I can consume :) I do not eat sweets (no chocolates, no deserts) and I do not drink alcoholic drinks containing sugar (like cocktails, liqueurs, etc.)
2) There's no bread, jam, marmalade, cereals, mayonnaise, ketchup at home. If you fancy those things, please buy them yourselves.

I enjoy drinking alcohol at a social-drinker level (2-3 times a week, especially on the weekends). If you are a non-drinker (i.e. no alcohol at all) there might be a frequency mismatch between us ;) When I offer you a drink please never ever tell me "Oh no thanks, I'll have a glass of water"!

PHILOSOPHY

Being happy is my motto. If you're happy, nothing else matters. "Carpe Diem" is cool, but "sustainable" happiness is even better ;)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Wherever I go, whoever I talk to, I mention about the CouchSurfing system, and try to establish a consciousness/awareness.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Until now, I have hosted 32 groups of surfers from 21 different countries (56 people in total), surfed two couches (in Krakow and London), met a lot of surfers abroad, and attended plenty of CS meetings/parties all around the world.

As you can see, I have more experience on the hosting side of CS (not intentionally, it just happened like that).

Since I joined CS, I have met so many nice people and built so many nice friendships. I'm really happy being a part of CS and I believe I'll continue to be a part of it forever.

Interests

Well, I'm quite open to learn anything new. I have tried many things like windsurfing, horse riding, para gliding, skydiving, skiing, hiking etc. But my main hobby is music. I both like to listen and play music. I play the kanun (a traditional Turkish instrument) and the clarinet, mainly Turkish classical music. So I can play for you if you come over. And I'm a huge Jazz fan. I want to learn how to play Jazz with clarinet; that's why I switched from the Turkish G-clarinet to a Western Bb-clarinet; but I still have a way to go. I like to listen to live music, mostly Jazz. So I can take you to the Jazz clubs in town.

Fortune telling by reading the coffee cup

And people say that I have the skills to read from the coffee cup. I like doing it when I'm in the mood for that.

• architecture
• cocktails
• coffee
• paleo diet
• exercise
• dieting
• running
• partying
• drinking
• clubbing
• reading
• traveling
• music
• live music
• classical music
• jazz
• hiking
• windsurfing
• skydiving
• skiing
• business
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

When it comes to movies, I have a weird attitude:) You know, there have been so many movies shot till today, and I know that I cannot watch every single one of them. So I usually rely on the awards & reviews. I usually watch only the moview which got some awards or great reviews.

But I also love watching documentaries, mainly on world issues like global warming, terror, monetary system, food and GMOs (mostly conspiracy type of stuff such as Michael Moore, Alex Jones, Zeitgeist, etc). I also like watching movies of most kinds, if not all.

And I try to read as much books as possible. It's interesting how I changed the types of books I read throughout my life. When I was a teenager I was really interested in "evolution of human" and how intelligent could animals get. After that, I got interested in political issues. And recently I've been reading a lot of business books. 4 Hour Workweek is a must for every CSer:

I listen to many different genres of music: jazz, blues, rock, metal, Latin, Turkish classical. When I go out, I prefer to listen to live music (in a bar, at a concert, etc.) but I also like hanging out at clubs where they play dance-pop music. I do like electronic music too, but it's not my favorite.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well the best experience in my life was living abroad for more than a year. But as a single event, I think it was the skydiving I tried.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you how to play the clarinet and kanun.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Belgium, Turkey

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