Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None yet! I look forward to participate!

Interests

Reading, traveling,

• reading
• traveling

Music, Movies, and Books

Jochen Hellbeck (2006) Revolution on my Mind: Writing a Diary under Stalin. Harvard University Press. This impressive book is based on the diaries of people who lived throughout the late 1920s and the 1930s and shows how the Soviet state did not base its rule on repression alone. It challenges our liberal imaginations and ideals of autonomy and private fulfillment and shows through the diaries how some Soviet citizens "coveted a morally and aesthetically superior form of life and were eager to inscribe themselves into the unfolding revolution."
Orlando Figes. (2008) The Whisperers: Private Lives in Stalin's Russia. This book tells the stories of peoples whose lives were destroyed by the repression of Stalinist Russia. It are stories that deserve to be remembered and need to be told, but Figes offers no new perspective on society and the self in Stalinist Russia like Hellbeck does for the Stalinist period or Yurchak does for the post-Stalinist period.
Alexei Yurchak (2005) Everything was forever until it was no more. Princeton University Press. An incredibly interesting book that brings a much-needed and nuanced perspective on the Soviet experience.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A most amazing thing that happened to me in December 2005 was being invited by a Russian pilot to the cockpit of the plane which flew from Mashad to Yazd in Iran! I spent the whole flight talking with the pilots who were surprised to find a Dutchie in Iran who could speak Russian too! Actually, it were the people of Iran, their incredible friendliness and hospitality, that made my two visits to Iran the most memorable experience I ever had.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bulgaria, Moldova

Countries I’ve Lived In

Finland, Iran, Netherlands, Russian Federation