CURRENT MISSION

Explore.

ABOUT ME

Hello! We are Kris and Betsy, and we hail from the beautiful state of Michigan (USA). We've been nomadic for quite awhile, though, living and traveling in SE Asia, the Middle East, and now Europe! We moved to Vienna in August 2011 so that Kris could study Building Science at TU Wien. Betsy works as a primary school teacher at an American school in Vienna.

PHILOSOPHY

Be here now (working on it...)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We share our skills and stories with local and traveling CSers in various Vienna events.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

A fantastic hiking trip in Syria, another in Vienna, and some nice get-togethers where we met great people.

Interests

biking, hiking, swimming, sewing, building, creating, theater, reading, board games, community

• fish
• writing
• theater
• drinking
• board games
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• swimming
• teaching
• emergency services
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Between the two of us, we like most music. We agree on the Beatles, classic rock, and Celtic music.
Kris like fantasy, sci-fi, and non-fiction books. He enjoys comics a lot, too. Betsy likes good stories that are well-written, and thinks that finding an author she enjoys is pretty much the best thing ever. (Some favorites: Amitav Ghosh, David Mitchell, Dave Eggers, Rohington Mistry, Lewis Carroll, Michael Cunningham, Tom Robbins, Victor Hugo, Paolo Coelho, Khalil Gibran).
We like Firefly, Game of Thrones, and Parks and Recreation.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Drove through the Syrian steppe to the Euphrates to visit a Mesopotamian palace, then drove north along the river to visit a queen's fortress and a Byzantine desert town. Met some fisherman along the way who gave us tea to drink and showed us how they fish. We were followed by secret police the whole time, but were told that it was for our safety.

Teach, Learn, Share

Kris: bike repair/maintenance, sustainable building practices, and a lot of computer stuff (can you tell who is writing this?)
Betsy: sewing, jewelry-making, paper bead-making, and also she knows how to teach little kids to read :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cambodia, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Jordan, Laos, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, Turkey

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

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