*Looking for meaningful travel experiences outside this mainstream, capitalist economy
*ISFJ Personality, MBTI
(Read more at:
https://www.16personalities.com/isfj-personality,
https://high5test.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/HIGH5-Strengths-Sequence-Sample.pdf)
*My top 5 strengths from Gallup StrengthsFinder test: Believer, Emphatizer, Storyteller, Optimist, Deliverer (Read more at: https://high5test.com/test/main-test-result/MTc4MzUy/)
*Carpe diem! Life is meant to be lived
在旅途中察覺到不同於以往認知的真相

Hi!
I'm a Taiwanese who's working as a teacher in Japan.

I've always been an "equator(sunny)" person, and I like to surround myself with people who feel like sunshine.

I place a high value on honesty as I think it's vital for shaping interactions and progressing forward. Communication and respect are all I ask.

Geographically speaking, my life’s journey can be split into into a few parts:
Born in Brunei, studied in Singapore for two years, stayed in Taiwan for almost nine years, always travelled to Malaysia when I was younger to visit my family's relatives, did a two-month internship in Vietnam, had an exchange semester abroad at Germany, volunteered in the Philippines twice, travelled solo in Thailand for three weeks, and has just started working in Japan recently.

I am a keen traveller, chowhound, as well as culture and language enthusiast. I am interested in TCM and yoga too.

I had the chance to study at Imperial College London and National University of Singapore, but didn't attend eventually as it is too expensive. I am glad I completed my undergraduate and Master's degree in Taiwan.

I love nothing more than exploring new places, which is often quite an adventure considering my terrible sense of direction.

I like animals (especially cats and dogs) and listening to people's stories. I enjoy singing for fun, and teaching Mandarin to Southeast Asian migrant workers in Taiwan as a volunteer during Sunday morning.

I am left-handed~!

Besides eating, drinking, singing and learning languages, the most important things in life for me are to live, laugh, love and forgive people :)

A journey, be it aimless wandering or adventurous questing, is perhaps the true joy of life.

どんなときも、どんなときも

僕が僕らしくあるために

「好きなものは好き」と

言える気持ち　抱きしめてたい

迷い探し続ける日々が

答えるになること　僕は知ってるから

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I believe that people are kind, and find it amazing when strangers become friends.

Live with an open heart and connect with like-minded or nice people living in that area.

Learn some aspects of the language and experience the culture of each place along this beautiful journey called life.

I want to have some fun and live the local life instead of just being a tourist in another country so as to gain a deeper understanding of the place that I'm visiting.

Learning to appreciate the small, quiet moments in life; trying to fill my days with quality, not quantity.

I can show you around Taipei if I happen to be back and have free time! I'm not very familiar with Kumamoto at the moment 😅

Interests

• cats
• dogs
• culture
• education
• reading
• traveling
• music
• swimming
• calligraphy
• psychology
• language exchange
• volunteering
• food
• tea
• buddhism
• bicycle
• netflix
• make friends
• acupuncture
• singing karaoke with friends

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:
Clash!: How to Thrive in a Multicultural World, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Elephant Vanishes, Journey to the West (Chinese), 蔣勳，Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak Series, Language-learning books etc.

Singer:
Adele, Bruno Mars, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Amei Chang, Wang Lee Hom, Utada Hikaru, Begin, Pang Nakarin, Sơn Tùng M-TP, TJ Monterde, Andrea Bocelli etc.

Movies: A lot!
In the mood for love (a 2000 Hong Kong film),
Eternal Summer (a 2006 Taiwanese film),
Girlfriend Boyfriend (a 2012 Taiwanese film),
The teacher's diary (a 2014 Thai movie),
Friendzone (a 2019 Thai movie),
Call me by your name (an Italian film in English),
SMS für Dich/Text for you (a 2016 German drama film),
Think of Me/Gondolj rám (a 2016 Hungarian comedy-drama),
Underdog/Svenskjävel (a 2014 Swedish film),
Pay it forward,
Still Alice,
Harry Potter movies
Thai lakorn/dramas
and many more

Music: as long as they are good music (regardless of the language), especially old songs such as Tears in Heaven, Killing me softly with his songs etc.
reggae, soul, jazz, rap, rock n roll, blues, funk, opera, classical
Composer: Joe Hisaishi

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Doing my exchange semester abroad in Germany and solo travelling around Europe!

Teach, Learn, Share

- Common expressions or cultures of Malay/Indonesian (as they're closely related), Mandarin Chinese (be it the traditional or simplified one), and also Chinese dialects (such as Hokkien and Cantonese), and even a bit of Vietnamese, Filipino, Thai or Japanese (hope I still remember them by then).
- Some useful ways to deal with stress and mental health problems, as I major in Clinical Psychology.
- I have also read some traditional Chinese medicine books before and learned about acupuncture points and meridians by myself, but I couldn't perform it yet as it requires many years of professional training
- I can try to cook some Asian food too
- We can just chat (exchange ideas, stories etc.) and have fun!
- Friendship

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can bring you around Northern Taiwan when you visit during winter and summer vacation here!
I know many Asian songs too (mostly from East and Southeast Asia)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Macao, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brunei Darussalam, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Viet Nam