one last go around of couch surfers

as you know... jen and i have hosted a steady stream of couch surfers since we arrive last year in bishkek. if you are unfamiliar, couchsurfing.com is a website that connects travelers with people who are willing to host. "hey i am traveling through central asia and am looking for a place to stay in bishkek for a night or two" and "hi... we are a couple living in bishkek willing to host". that kind of thing. each person has a profile (like facebook) where you can find out about them before agreeing to host and vice versa. it has been a great experience so far and we have connected with some really great people. not a bad experience to be had... until this week.

not sure if it was the surfers themselves or having surfers (four to be exact) stay with me the day after i arrived in bishkek. but it was a rough week. i hosted a couple from canada who was spending seven months traveling around asia and a couple from france who was spending approximately ten months traveling around central asia. between the four of them and all of the boxes i moved out of storage... there wasn't room to breathe in the apartment.

instead of focusing on what i could learn from these folks (who all have amazing stories to tell) i found myself instead focusing on the hair left on top of the shower drain or the dishes left in the sink or the dirty shoes left in the entrance way or the overwhelming smell of body odor.

doesn't sound very appealing does it? it wasn't. they all seemed to be good folks (in fact the french couple is planning on going backpacking with us this weekend) but the timing was all off. i just wanted to mope about being away from jennifer and olive. i just wanted to have my quiet time and space and not have to listen to someone talk about the challenges of getting visas to china.

i knew going into it that i didn't feel like hosting. i think i just wanted one last go around of couch surfers before the baby arrives in bishkek. one last chance to be around people who had wanderlust like me before i (happily) move into full time, sedimentary father mode.