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Well, it is not often that you get tourists, not speaking of business, but pleasure/adventure type of tourists in this part of the World, and even less of those are CouchSurfers. The average statistics is there are couple couch requests a month, more during the summer times. I often wonder what makes people travel to here. No, seriously, I almost admire those who dare. Having lived in Kazakhstan for most part of my life and having travelled quite a bit, and imagining somebody venturing a trip to Central Asia, I mentally shrug. Honestly, Kazakhstan is not a tourist friendly country for a number of reasons, but simply it is extremely frustrating getting around without knowing the language or at least being able to read Cyrillic signs. Having said that, I understand that Couchsurfing is a great doorway for those adventure seeking curious heads. I know a number of hosts in Almaty and all of them are good people, willing to share and help.
Tonight we went out for a dinner with a Swiss guy who came to Almaty and he couch surfs with somebody who was staying with him in Geneva. Had a great dinner at a Korean restaurant, surprising coincidence he’s got a Korean girlfriend back home. And again, talked about Couchsurfing. He obviously had more experience about it, so when we started discussing…
How to tell a person by a profile, here are some insights shared (*author may not always share the opinions expressed):
— A picture. It tells everything, almost like on Facebook, but more. If a profile does not have a picture of a surfer/host, it might be not a good sign. But if even if there is a picture, what story does it tell? Does a person faces the camera or looks off? Is he hiding something? Perhaps it would be helpful if the picture would be showing an open face, and on some travel sight. After all, it is about traveling.
— Semantics. Words used. Expressions coined. Details described. As a linguist I am also picky to reading in-between the lines, even the punctuation. It tells a lot about the education, outlook, state of mind, interests, ability to articulate.
— Guys will be guys. The primary instinct prevails and most probably if they send you (a female) a couch request/invitation — it is a sign what they are looking for. Here I wouldn’t agree, but I was said to be naive. My personal statistics actually confirms the hypothesis: 100% of couch invitation I received from men. Mental note to self: don’t be lazy and naive and start looking for female couch hosts.
But really?
