Thursday, May 19, 2011

A conversation with Leo

Last night a couch surfer, Leo came over who has been living in Darwin for a while, we spent a pretty crazy weekend together at the festival. I had just come back from the Mindil Markets with my two German surfers and we were chilling on the balcony just drinking & smoking with three other couch surfers who had come round to borrow camping gear. Anyway so three of the surfers went home about 1030 and the german boys & heather decided to watch a movie and Leo finally shows up. So I pack the pipe and we sat on “jordans couch” and just talked for about two hours. I admit by then I was pretty drunk & stoned and not sure how much sense I made plus I kept dozing off in between conversation.

Anyway the point of the story is Leo I don’t know that well we did party for a weekend but it was a pretty messy weekend but he could rock up at 10:30 at night and we could just talk shit for hours. And it’s a completely comfortable scenario, its like instantly we are best friends. And this isn’t just Leo this is 90% of the couch surfers I meet. I think the beauty of the connections is Couchsurfing is not a dating site and so you have no problems feeling comfortable around people, you’re not trying to impress anyone. They actually find your awkward personality endearing & interesting not a negative to your overall mate ability. & you’re exactly the same. You don’t worry that he is too short, or his hair is too long or he doesn’t have a job right now, you really look at the person underneath.

So I asked Leo doesn’t he find it hard always saying goodbye. That’s the thing that really gets to me I don’t want to let go and I hate that I meet this fascinating person and we have this intense whirlwind relationship for three days and then they are gone, and chances are I never speak to them again. But he said he didn’t have a problem because he knows that seven years down the track he can look that person up and fall right back into the familiarity.

But really that’s great that you can have those relationships but what about home? What about stability. He told me couchsurfing is his home. Each person he meets is a part of his family. I loved my three years overseas travelling and wouldn’t change it for the world but my last vacation made me realise how much I need to be home right now. Five weeks on the road was almost too long and its strange because not even a year ago I wanted to extend my holiday another two years! I’m so happy to know I have my circle of amazing friends that have been with me for years, people I would trust with my life. I love that my family is just around the corner.

Then he asked if I had ever hooked up with one of my surfers. Its no secret I am constantly enjoying the beauty of the many back packers who grace my balcony. Right now I have two very good looking German boys crashing on my floor. Its nice to look but to touch? The thought never crosses my mind anymore. I did it once. I have a hard enough time saying goodbye to a friend.

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