Eli Gerzon's Photo

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Overview

  • 32 references 26 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English; learning German, Japanese, Spanish
  • 40, Other
  • Member since 2006
  • self-employed social media consulting
  • Self-educated, language and history loving, world traveli...
  • No hometown listed
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

REASONS TO STAY WITH ME:
- Born and raised in Boston, I have some good recommendations and friends here
-I like to talk about a lot of stuff
-I know a good place to go swimming
-I live 1 minute from the Minuteman Bikebath, 15 minutes from a great view of the Boston skyline from a hill, and 25 minutes from Harvard Sq

REASONS NOT TO STAY WITH ME:
-My apartment is very small: just one room. So you'd be sleeping in the same room as me on a sleeping pad on a rug
-I like to talk about a lot of stuff
-I live 55 minutes from downtown Boston, 80 minutes from a great view of the Boston skyline from the harbor in East Boston, 90 minutes from the Arnold Arboretum

ABOUT ME
I used to travel a lot. I still do! I'm the managing editor at a small news outlet covering labor issues in Massachusetts. I'm genderqueer and use they/them pronouns. I like to play a bird based board game called Wingspan. I like to ride my bicycle.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I heard about couchsurfing from a fellow American traveller in South Korea in 2005 but I didn't really use the site until 2011 when I stayed with some great people in the West Bank, Palestine. Then I moved into a new apartment and was excited to host people myself. Right now all my stuff is in storage in Boston and I'm traveling around.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I found out about Couch Surfing years ago but didn't start using it until 2011 when I stayed with people around Bethlehem in the West Bank. Then I got my own place near Boston and have been hosting people ever since.

Interests

  • culture
  • writing
  • causes
  • education
  • walking
  • traveling
  • surfing
  • business
  • teaching
  • history
  • tours
  • mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books/Authors: John Steinback, The Princess Bride, Ender's Game, Lord of the Rings, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, James Baldwin

Movies: The Matrix, Big Lebowski, Pom Poko (from Studio Ghibli but not Hayou Miyazaki), Princess Bride, Star Wars, Wedding Crashers

TV: The Wire, Family Guy, The Daily Show, Colbert Report

Music: First Aid Kit, Mos Def, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Talib Kweli, Ani DiFranco, Dar Williams, Paul Simon

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One time I was walking down the street and found $10 dollars.

Also, I herded sheep in the mountains in Norway with glaciers within sight. I was in Oaxaca City when protesters took over the city and kicked out the governor and local government in 2006.

Teach, Learn, Share

The past year I've been studying a lot of world history and find the human stories, the causes and effects, and the trends fascinating. Would love to talk and learn about history with Couch Surfers!

I can share some ideas about education very much along the lines of CouchSurfing University: where the world is your school, and everyone is a student and teacher. For over a decade I've been studying, writing, and speaking about self-education, world travel as education, and homeschooling, unschooling, and worldschooling. Homeschooling is when a child does not attend school full-time but instead becomes educated in various ways. Unschooling is specifically when a young person follows their own interests and doesn't use a curriculum. That's what I did for high school. Thousands of people have been doing this for decades (mostly in the U.S., but it is spreading), so yes, it really does work! I made up the word "worldschooling" because I think it's more descriptive and puts the focus on learning from the world.

The past few years I've lead travel tours to Mexico and Japan for homeschooling/worldschooling teenagers. It's been a really big education for me as well as the teens on my trips! I've learned a lot about working with young people and gained new perspectives on education, travel, authority, and leadership.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, England, France, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Northern Ireland, Norway, Palestine, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States, Wales

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Norway, United States

Old School Badges

  • 2 Vouches
  • Pioneer Badge

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