changing referances

It frustrates me that people can change their responses.



And he changed it to this



- I'm sorry that his Dad died, it sux. But if your not feeling social why are you couch surfing, or why don't you inform your host before hand? Why come along to events and not say thanks. I know why, because he didn't want to spend any money. When I had no more room left he wanted to sleep at the airport he barely ate because he didn't want to spend the money. If my dad had died recantly and I was couchsurfing I would make the effort to appreciate my host. otherwise I would keep to myself and stay in a bloody hotel.

As for cleaning the dishes? He ate the pasta BY HIMSELF inside while we all sat outside. Then he washed HIS plate only. The only reason he helped the other couch surfer with the dishes is because she flat out asked him to help her, and she was already halfway through them and he didn't even lift a finger until she asked him.

Did I forget to mention how he left the front door unlocked all day even though I said lock the house if you leave. When I asked him why he said "oh i didnt think I had to lock that door" WHAT??!!

Or that I said he had to leave by Saturday and 5pm comes round and he is STILL sitting at my house I had to give him a ride to the airport to get him out. The fact is if he had done something at ALL we would have found the room for him but honestly he wonders why he deserves a neutral? What positive things did he do? He didnt do anything. He didn't engage with anyone, share anything with anyone ...sigh. He basically seemed to use my place as a hotel.

I was nice on my referance because I don't think he is a bad person just a little disillusioned by what couch surfing is. I left out a lot of stuff but now with his excuses its just made me annoyed.

The traveller sees what he sees, The tourist sees what he came to see.

Is it just me? Couchsurfer host extraordinaire and I am feeling more anti-social than an emo with a good hair day. This sort of thing happens to everyone even bubbly, over social me.

I feel a little bad for ignoring my surfers a bit. But I am taking them out to Litchfield tomorrow. Speaking of I told my Belgian surfer that if he was interested I would take him as well just chip in for fuel/food and he asks what’s there, so I say waterfalls and stuff and he acts like he doesn’t want to go! Then I guess he sees pictures and he says “yea looks nice I’ll come” Weird, I guess the word of a local on how pretty it is, isn’t enough. I just know when I was couchsurfing whatever my host suggested I was interested in. I consider myself a traveller not a tourist, my mind is open to the experience of so many different things and couchsurfing brings that opportunity closer.

When surfers don’t want to do things I suggest it makes me feel like I am a bit of a hotel. Like passing up on one of my coveted snake hunting missions. Sure it sounds dangerous but its really not and hunting snakes or frogs in the middle of the night really breathes territorian. Speaking of I had a Belgium couple & Canadian couple just recently who were really great and easy to get along with. I took them out to hunt some frogs and we ended up traipsing around Holmes Jungle in the middle of the night through a little creek (only around in the wet) surprisingly successful trip with three baby dwarf frogs and one marbled marsh frog, now relocated to my backyard. Also two lizards also relocated. With the abundance of natural wildlife I’m hoping it brings in more snakes like some of the tree snakes who feast on frogs. Not that I want my frogs to die but I would be quite content with a self preserving ecosystem in my backyard. I think when I get back from the US I will see if I’m allowed to build a pond in one of the corners. That combined with my cricket farm means reptiles galore.

I am well aware snake hunting is not for everyone but one French guy who had a pretty extreme phobia he wouldn’t even touch Dj who is the most placid of all snakes came along just to watch me jump into a river and pull them out. Anyway as my original point is why are you a couch surfer if you don’t want to hang out with your host. I had this Austrian couple stay with me and they were kind of boring, I see why some people refuse to host couples but I think I have had more good than bad. These guys kept to themselves and were more interested in visiting the museum which is open every day and they were here for a week! Then coming down to the waterfront in the city for a CS meeting.

Back to feeling anti-social I did write that a few weeks ago I have since gotten over it. Right now I am just trying to save my money for my big trip overseas thank god I don’t have to pay for any accommodation. I know you shouldn’t rely on couch surfing but I already have a ton of CS friends over there that I am pretty secure will find a floor for me! My flights are insane. I have a red-eye to Sydney then four hours later I’m off to LA then six hours after that I fly to Utah where I arrive Midnight Friday March 25th and my awesome friend will pick me up. Apparently after the 30+ hours of transit and whatever sleep I manage to get Saturday we are straight out for some Kite-Boarding. Since I haven’t snowboarded in AGES my leg muscles despite all the squats I am doing to prepare will probably be jelly by the end. 90% of money saved will be spent on snowboarding.

a busy week of hosting.

I have an influx of surfers coming in the next week which is good timing with the Cyclone & clean-up last week it was nice to have the time to myself but I’m looking forward to immersing myself into the travelling lives of others once again. The weather looks to be clearing up and it will be nice to have a day, or two of sunshine! I miss the sun. On Thursday we were 300mm of a February record rainfall. There is still a week to go and it rained all weekend!

So incoming I have Diana from Indonesia, despite the close proximity she is my first surfer from Indonesia. Then Seamus a guy from Belgium who is about to embark on a hitchhiking trip around Australia. Jenna and her partner Brian from Canada (I love Canadians!!!) and last but not least Paul and his girlfriend from Australia. Paul is a musician playing in one of our local clubs.

If the weather is nice I will probably head out to get the hilux a little dirty with some 4wding in the mud. One of the best things about the wet season. I also have my CS meeting at Duck’s nuts on Sunday. Its going to be a busy week I think.

What exactly do you look for when you browse peoples profiles to find a place to surf? I offer a mattress on the floor with a fan if your lucky and I still get tons of requests. But I think my place can be a little unique sometimes. There is one guy in Darwin who gives people an air-conditioned room, with a queen bed and makes a little welcome gift as well as feeding them. I guess living at my house is sort of coming into a gypsy commune. My adventures are a little out of the ordinary, from snake-catching to playing in the mud, to scottish dancing with my mum (not me but surfers have gone). I don't offer the comfort of your own hotel room but I do have a really relaxed friendly lifestyle and many people have commented on how happy they are at my place. My german couple last week said it was like home. They even called my mum Mara-Mum. My adventures are a little whack and I can't wait for the dry again I think I will be camping every second weekend.

Aftermath.

Just in case you cared but we survived the cyclone, LAME. Lost a few good trees, volleyball was cancelled and I only got two hours off work.. whilst my mother and sister got two days. But all the bad is negated because a new frog moved into my garden



He is a Desert Tree Frog and he makes a hell of a noise.

Cyclone Carlos.

Well sitting at work right now and Darwin is right smack bang in the middle of a Cyclone, only Catagory one but destructive winds are up to 130km/h. My work won't let me go home until 2pm. Lucky for me my road home is relatively clear but a tree is down on my street going across the road.

All flights in and out of Darwin were cancelled.

Keep safe!

couchsurfing is a reciprocal thing

When a host opens their couch to a surfer nothing is expected in return except respect of them and their property. However the more a surfer offers the more beneficial the experience becomes. It can begin with cultural exchange and good conversation and ends with a thank-you meal or a six pack of beer. It really doesn’t matter I personally never expect anything from my surfers except that they come to my house independently. They clean up after themselves and they interact with me on some level.

I just recently had a French couple staying with me, perhaps my first French in a while. I find it a little hit and miss with the French. There seems to be extremes SUPER AMAZING & Total take advantage of my hospitality. That being said my German guy previous took advantage of me.. So who am I to judge based on what country they are from?

Lucky for me my last French couple fell into the SUPER AMAZING half and I was treated to great company with good food and of course, great wine. The funny thing was I almost passed them up because of their profile. They had no references except two they had written about six months ago to other people. It makes me think that there is something wrong with them. There are a few people on my profile I haven’t left references for because I didn’t like them all too much, so when I see other references not returned I wonder why.

That brings me to another point I FUCKING HATE IT!!!! When you have a mutually good time and they don’t leave a reference in return. Couchsurfing is a RECIPROCAL thing. It depends on a referencing system and being so fucking arrogant and lazy as to not to give one back is just rude. I personally refuse to host people who don’t return the majority of their references. I guess I needed to vent a little there. I don’t care if they have 100000 positive references if they never left any in return they can sleep in a homeless shelter for all I care.

So on my weekend including awesome French couple I also had two Aussie guys from Victoria on their way back from Vietnam, A Highly excitable German couple about to embark on their Australian working holiday, and A German girl studying in Manly, Sydney. Friday night I had also had a Swedish couple & a Canadian girl. Saturday night we played Pictionary which turned out to be a bit interesting when English was not the first language of most of the players and it turned into a few heated arguments about the translation but all in good fun. It was a pretty intense weekend with a lot of people around.

Spent Sunday out at Litchfield with the Aussies & German couple. Was another instense wet season experience with rushing waters and thundering falls. There was a snake in the water at wangi but I couldn’t quite work out what it was. I was pretty tired from the entire weekend though, but we swam for a few hours in Buley Rockhole and the boys entertained themselves jumping off things.

Anyway I will leave you with a great “cheap” recipe. Tastes good, is healthy and won’t break the budget.
SUPER tuna PATTIES
1 can of tuna
½ cup of breadcrumbs
2 eggs
Cup chopped fresh spinach
1 grated carrot
1 onion diced
Teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 fresh lime juice only
Any other spices you like. I’ve thrown some basil in it was good!
Mix everything together then shape into patties voila YUMMY. The patties freeze well and are delicious hot or cold!

Crazy Kiwi Surfer

What is wrong with people that need 1 million friends on thier facebooks/couchsurfing profiles I prefer quality over quantity any day. Sure when I first started I scraped the barrel a bit more to buff up my awesomness but now I just want to have the real referances. The genuine people.

I have this Kiwi girl who I met briefly in a bar as she was being hosted by another one of my surfers she has about 100 friends/referances. I didn't really like her because she requested me to pick her up at the airport at 1am and I told her at the bar (ok I was drunk and aggressive) that I thought it was rude to expect a host to do that. She brushed me off, fair enough then I walked off and talked to other people. She then went home and bitched about me to my host's roommate. Fine, we obviously didn't get along and I thought that was that.

Lo & Behold the NEXT FUCKING DAY she adds me a friend and leaves me a stupid neutral two line referance saying how great I am. Is she serious? I asked her to delete it and she ignored me, didn't even reply.

New years comes round and I get this message from her

"happy new years!!
where are you now?
love from saigon, vietnam
maxin"

Quite obviously a spam message to everyone on her list if she really cared she would know that I was still in Darwin and would have at least put Hi Amanda!

To which I reply

"you are the fakest person I have ever met. I don't know you, you don't like me as you made it clear to other people, why bother with this. All I asked was that you deleted your referance to me and I will delete my own so I can forget I ever met you."

Once again I get ignored. Ok so I shouldn't let this bother me but this isn't what couch-surfing is about. Its about real connections, real people and buffing up your resume with a lot of bullshit referances does not represent who you are.

So I left her a negative referance. Hopefully now she removes me from her life.