Proudly Hosting A Guest Post By Petter Hanberger,
Blogsurfing from Boulder, Colorado
This happened a while ago:
It's only me and Bonnie for the moment. My roommate. This is where I'm staying tonight, at my second Boulder couch so far. I almost catch altitude sickness after having biked all the way up to Chautauqua Park, painfully reminded that Boulder is located at 4400 feet. I'm welcomed by Miss. Z, a big smile. She's just on her way to her yoga class. She introduces me to Bonnie the rabbit, shows me the couch, asks me how I like Boulder after these three days. Gives me a glass of lemonade. I soon realize her hospitality will make her late for the yoga. "Feel free to cook if you're hungry!" She gives me a quick round tour in the kitchen. I've been in her house for about eleven minutes now. "David, my boyfriend will be here any minute". Miss Z. rushes out for her yoga.
Yes, I'm hungry, but hesitate to cook. Feels a bit awkward to be the total stranger cooking in somebody's kitchen when they get home from work. I feel that I wanna stay low and wait to see who this David is. Perhaps he's not crazy about me mashing all of their tomatoes or eating all the whole wheat pasta. For some reason I picture a business dude rolling up the driveway in a SUV. In a suit. With a lot of business attitude. Whatever that is.
"Oh you must be the couch surfer!". I couldn't possibly have been more wrong. I still try to figure out who he resembles, surely someone I know. He seems familiar, but perhaps it's a cartoon character. Not a business guy cartoon character anyway. He's a scientist researching renewable energy that hopefully will be of everyone's use in a couple of years. While David leaves for the gym I cook some pasta sauce that nobody ever tasted before. Bonnie is companionably crunching todays newspaper.
My first three weeks in Boulder were filled with an amazing diversity of couch surfing experiences. However even if there's no doubt that the best part of couch surfing is the people you meet and the unexpected stories and memories that brings, it's also obvious that you never would have come across each other if it wasn't for that piece of furniture. If couches didn't exist, couchsurfers and their community wouldn't exist. That's why I really respect couch designers and that's why I'd like to share with you a bunch of memorable stories:
This is the story of my Boulder experience, and it’s a tiny experiment in collaborative communication or cross pollination, or guest blogging if you like. I’m hoping to find a new blog to crash each week, and contribute with a post that’s relevant for the specific host. If you have a blog I could crash, please let me know.
Stay tuned.
/PH
Previous episodes:
27/11/2011: FEEDING THE FUTURE, hosted by Helena Janson
18/11/2011: THE WOWBOY, hosted by Mats Brate