Hello, I was born in China but have lived in the US for most of my life. Right now, I'm teaching English in Périgueux, France.

Interests

I like reading, writing, and drawing. Reading gives me things to think about and refracts my life into multiple lights, like standing before a trifold mirror. Writing helps me know what's been on my mind, like trying to make out fish in a murky pond. Drawing helps me see.

I've always been interested by biology and the natural world. It's really fascinating to me how new and unexpected behaviors emerge when parts combine into a larger whole - and I think that maybe nowhere is that more startling than the way in which inorganic molecules can combine to form something that lives, moves, and grows.

I also like learning about and discussing things - especially in philosophy, science, language, and the arts.

• fish
• arts
• writing
• reading
• drawing
• origami
• fishing
• biology
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Some of my favorite books and authors are Annie Dilliard, Virginia Woolf, and Lia Purpura; and Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit, and Four Quartets by TS Eliot. I keep track of the books I've read and want to read at librarything.com/catalog/Emydidae.

I like indie folk, rock and indie rock, instrumental, and vocals-based music. I've been trying to become a bit more well-versed in music, but I really know very little about it - and even less about films.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

This not something I did, but rather something I once saw: when I was twelve or thirteen, I saw a damselfly emerge from water and molt for the last time to gain wings.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm interested - as I guess so many of us who are here on Couchsurfing are - by what's similar and what's different between people, and how that connects to where they come from.

"Place" is an idea that I'm curious about. It's so hard to tell a place. What can you say, for example, about your hometown to someone who's never been there? What can you say that could bear the depth of your memories, that would tell how the light in a familiar street changes over the course of an afternoon? What does not turn to ashes in the mouth?
But let's try.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I hope I can offer interesting conversation, new ideas, and thought-provoking questions.

If you'll tell me about what places are a part of you, I can tell you what I remember about growing up in China and in the US - and offer some speculations about how that's shaped me.
I might be able to speculate on other subjects as well.

I can, of course, also help you practice English, begin learning French, say a few basic phrases in Mandarin Chinese, and/or learn to fold an origami crane.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, France, United States