I grew up in a coastal city in northeastern China until I moved to the greater Los Angeles area with my parents in 2011. We've lived in the United States ever since and became naturalized U.S. citizens a few years ago. I am now an English education and community development volunteer in Mongolia for the United States Peace Corps.

The experience of immigrating to a totally different country and growing up in a whole new culture taught me a lot and gave me a lot of perspectives that I otherwise would never have gotten, and I am now going through that again in Mongolia. Largely because of this experience, I'm certainly not new to learning about people and places with which I am completely unfamiliar. I am eager to meet many fresh faces (hopefully all over the world) through Couchsurfing!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I grew up with Couchsurfing! My parents used to host surfers at our apartment all the time. I managed to meet people from Germany, the United States, Italy, the Czech Republic, and so many other countries. Having that experience with Couchsurfing as a kid and having immigrated to an extremely diverse area in California, meant that I've gotten to meet and learn from people of different backgrounds practically my entire life. As I began to travel internationally by myself, I knew that I had to take advantage of Couchsurfing. There is simply just no better way to travel and learn about a place that I am visiting for the first time.

Interests

• literature
• fencing
• baseball
• history
• physics

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
•Kind of Blue (1959) by Miles Davis
•Genius of Modern Music, Vols. 1 and 2 (1951) by Thelonius Monk
•Marks to Prove It (2012) by The Maccabees
•The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964) by Bob Dylan
•This Will Destroy You (2007) by This Will Destroy You
•The Gereg (2019) by The Hu
•Lots of anime J-Pop and soundtracks, especially Joe Hisaishi's compositions for Studio Ghibli films
•8bit music by Studio Megaane
•Lofi Girl
•A lot of other music, from jazz to rock to classical to Mandopop; the above listing is somewhat arbitrary

Movies:
•The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)
•Interstellar (2014)
•Sicario (2015)
•American Fiction (2023)
•Moneyball (2011)
•Downfall (2004)
•The Big Short (2015)
•Your Name (2016)
•Spotlight (2015)
•Studio Ghibli films in general, but especially Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away
•Many other films

Books:
•Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
•River Town by Peter Hessler
•Other Rivers by Peter Hessler
•Stalin: Paradoxes of Power by Stephen Kotkin
•Stalin: Waiting for Hitler by Stephen Kotkin
•The Last of His Kind by Andy McCullough
•Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
•For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
•Slightly Out of Focus by Robert Capa
•Jewish Stories and Hebrew Melodies by Heinrich Heine
•Many other books

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A few things come to mind, unsure how amazing they really are:
-Became a naturalized American citizen in 2020
-Interviewed a lot of impressive people for The Daily Princetonian, including some Nobel laureates and the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein
-Attended Game 4 of the 2022 World Series at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you both English and Mandarin Chinese!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories and laughs!

Countries I’ve Visited

Armenia, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Switzerland, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Mongolia, United States