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About me
I did a free tour of Berlin for open-minded people: the anti tour - http://www.antitour.de
Talkative, sometimes controversial, keen for adventure. I'm gay. Most people don't notice, and hopefully even if they did it wouldn't matter. I go by the name of Rufus, Fergus is just what it says on my passport.
Personal philosophy: try not to rush, accept things as they are, appreciate the simple things. Search for adventure but be ready to let it find you too. If you stop learning you stop living.
I came to Berlin in 2010 after graduating from university, and my life has been a bit of an adventure since ... and I've learned some German.
I'm a freelance web developer to pay the bills (but I don't really find it that interesting), and the rest of the time I'm trying to experience and learn more from this fascinating world we inhabit.
I love learning and teaching. You don't have to be an 'expert' to teach. Maybe we can organise some kind of skills exchange?
I can teach you:
- Berlin history: come on the anti-tour http://www.antitour.de/
- English: native British English speaker, with some TEFL training
- Programming: experience over many years, principally the Python language
- Creating web sites: HTML, CSS, and how to put everything together
- German (beginners): I taught myself to B2/C1 level
I'd like to learn:
- Languages (beginner): French, Spanish, any sign language (I know a little ASL)
- Languages (complete beginner): Chinese, Russian, Japanese
- Music (beginner): saxophone, singing
- Music (complete beginner): DJing, guitar, drums, piano, blues harmonica
- Physical (beginner): climbing, martial arts
- Physical (complete beginner): wrestling, slacklining
Spoken languages
- English Mother Tongue
- German Intermediate
- Spanish Beginner
- French Can only say Welcome!
- Japanese Can only say Welcome!
My interests
- Hobbies:
Experiences wide and far, reading, saxophone, harmonica (blues harp), meditation, singing, cycling, rowing, computing, open-source-y things, relaxed bars, electronic music, intelligent discussion
- Books:
Walden, Siddharta, Douglas Adams, Orson Scott Card, psychology, Stephen Fry!
- Music:
Electronic (electro-pop, synth-pop, techno, electro-indie), Prog rock, Female singer/songwriters
- Films:
Groundhog Day, Brazil, Monty Python's Meaning of Life
- Organisations I belong to:
BeWelcome, Couchsurfing (not sure how long for).....
Travel experiences
- Past trips:
2008: did the clichéd Interrail thing with 3 friends from school across Europe. We tried to see as many capital cities in 30 days as we could, but that inevitably meant that we only spent 1 or 2 days in each country, and lots of time travelling. I got from Paris all the way to Istanbul, Turkey (including a nice stay in Bulgaria to visit a friend of mine whose family are from there) and then back West to Valencia, Spain.
2009: Just a quick visit to Berlin to see a pal of mine who was studying there for a year.
2010-2011: Spent a year in Berlin. Also visited Hamburg, München (Munich) and Szczecin (Stettin, Poland) very briefly. A short trip to Pisa / Florence.- Planned trips:
North America - there are lots of places I've been recommended but I don't have concrete plans. The things that stand out in my head at the moment are Vancouver, Chicago, Portland, Washington DC, San Francisco. Basically I'm trying to recreate the feeling of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Jack Keroac's On The Road.
And then onto Mexico, Central and Southern America to develop my Spanish, maybe some Portuguese.
Japan! A small island that for long periods in its history has been really ... well ... insular, and has also had periods of rapid accumulation of other cultures. Love the language, and want to experience this totally different culture.
Accommodation
- Max number of guests:
- 2
- Maximum length of stay:
2 nights is a good place to start. If we get on well, and I don't have too much stuff going on, we could extend that.
- I Live With:
My Mum at the moment.
- Please bring:
Yourselves? Bedding?
- I can offer my hosts:
Hopefully you'll find me somebody who is interesting to talk to, and who has appreciation of the value of human existence.
- Other information for guests:
-
To any gay BWers: please don't expect more than a couch, if you know what I mean. ;)
- Public transport:
Just need to hop on a train.
- Restrictions:
-
No smoking,
No drugs - Other restrictions:
Latest comments
Good
from anef - 2012-11-27 21:51:13
it was really nice to meet and host Fergus. Is an interesting guy, very easy going as guest and he brought me some really good perspecrive about the bad way that couchsurfing "expands".
Good
from heypopey - 2012-10-25 23:38:50
Rufus is an independent and curious kind of guy. He likes to challenge himself by learning new skills and languages, while travelling. I personally liked the fact that he was "technologically educated". He also is a good debate opponent, I was clearl... more
Good
from noonc - 2012-09-18 06:56:45
Fergus is an extremely open character with a big heart. You can figure this out when hanging out with him and debate things in between the center of the galaxy and ursum minor. On several occasions we crossed ways in Berlin and we always had an inspi... more
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