CURRENT MISSION

Finish my PhD . . .find a job . . .go see more of the world!

ABOUT ME

A British born Palestinian who doesn't believe in borders, how convenient. I suppose that makes me a citizen of the world, feels cliched, but hey ho.

I'm finishing off a PhD in atmospheric science. I submitted my thesis recently, so back to hosting. I am also a residential advisor in university accommodation, this involves making sure again :-)things run smoothly for students on a day to day basis, but it does sometimes involves fishing first year undergrads out of pools of their own vomit.

While in the past I could be found on one of Manchester's main thoroughfares (Oxford Road) peddling books at a second hand bookstall I have now started a more office based job as a researcher looking at the impact of war on public and environmental health. The aim of the project is to examine the scope for holding states responsible for such harm! It's interesting yet challenging since as a species we still don't fully hold ourselves responsible for the death and destruction caused by war let alone look at the chronic effects!

PHILOSOPHY

Do many little good things day by day but always have something big lined up too, while reminding myself that it's OK to just sit back and enjoy life sometimes.

Live the good life and fight the good fight

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Always happy to break some bread and share my space with travellers in need. Love learning from folks passing through on their travels and hopefully the transfer goes both ways :-)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

So far hosted quite a few people and loved it! Learnt something new from each of them, and hopefully gave them a good experience of Manchester along the way!

In the past year or so of hosting I've met some pretty cool people and made some good friends along the way.

Same goes for couchsurfing New York and BOston in 2011. I had the most amazing couchsurfing experience. My hosts and people I met were so generous and welcoming that I felt I was at home all the time.

Interests

Photography is a big passion, my own camera is broken which is a big shame, but I've been lucky to have been loaned an amazing Nikon D70 by a friend, so making the most out of that at the minute!

Cooking! Very experimental and very tasty! Enough said

Cycling, I own about 3 bikes (One of them is a tandem) so if you surf with me you could potentially get free transport!

Social sciences, have a large interest in this, borne out of thinking about the problems plaguing the world all of which have a large aspect that can be attributed to social issues. That said I'm a professional natural scientist but that's more of a job.

Music making, tapping into a hidden singing talent and wanna learn to play the guitar!

• books
• singing
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• running
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• fishing
• chemistry
• languages
• science
• social science

Music, Movies, and Books

You can never make a comprehensive list of this, but here's a taster. Hopefully it'll be updated, probably not:

Contemporary history (The Great war for Civilisation - Robert Fisk). Fiction (The Satanic Verses, God of small things, 100 years of solitude). Science fiction (Hitchikers guide to the galaxy.

Films: Star wars (the originals), Back to the future

Music: Jeffrey Lewis, Billy Joel, Red hot chilli Peppers, Soad Massi, Katie Melua and for the classicaly inclined Dvorak's 9th symphony for the new world.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Travelled by night to the Abu Simbel temple in southern Egypt to catch the sunrise, the sunrise was epic, but so was going through the desert at night and seeing such a high density of stars!

Teach, Learn, Share

Bicycle maintenance
Arabic
English
Photography
Chemistry
Cooking

Hah! I just realised that I've not put down anything to learn. Hmmm, I suppose I know it all! Nah, well let's see:
Guitar: Obviously
Languages: Spanish, French, Hebrew (know these to varying degrees, but would love to learn more)
Cooking: Anything you can teach me will be a grateful addition to my repertoire of experimental cooking techniques.

Share: Food, love, laughter, Wisdom and Fun times!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Spain, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, Palestine, United Kingdom

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