CURRENT MISSION

Service to the planet, love and play

ABOUT ME

I spent 2010 studying abroad in Spain and Argentina, and in my travels got really involved with the Couchsurfing community. I'm so grateful for all the friends and connections I made in my travels through Couchsurfing. I went to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup and had a fantastic time thanks to the generosity and friendliness of my amazing CS hosts! I've been living in Aotearoa NZ since 2019 and made several wonderful friends that started out as CS hosts when I first arrived. Now I live in the North Shore with my partner David; we just moved here as he has an office job nearby, while I work from home full time.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe in eternity; in the sense that we're connected beyond (constantly-changing) national borders, we're also connected to the societies of the past and the future: ancient Egyptians and Celts, medieval Ottoman and Norse, Enlightenment Scots, 19th-century Argentines, Expressionist Germans, contemporary Congolese and Macedonians, and all the yet unborn...I feel affection and awe for life, in all its forms, no matter the species or status. In lonely moments I feel like I was born in the wrong century, or on the wrong side of the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm so excited that this community exists. I want nothing more than to explore, see beautiful countries, learn local and global history, and listen to people's stories about where they've been and who they love and what they've seen and done :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I forged a CS trail while traveling around Europe for 6 weeks in 2010. My journey was only made possible through my amazing hosts who took care of me, counseled me and treated me like I was family. I can never thank them enough, but I happily paid their generosity forward by hosting surfers as often as twice a week when I had my own place in Philly. I was incredibly lucky to go to Brazil for the World Cup 2014, where I was hosted by the most friendly and warm, hospitable, and over-the-top helpful Brazilian families, some even for a week at a time.

Interests

soccer, martial arts, good conversations, exploring, being brave, being affectionate, fawning over animals, being delighted by phenomena like thunderstorms and fire and the ocean, getting deep into stories, getting excited, expressing myself, being a receptive and encouraging human being

• animals
• arts
• writing
• festivals
• dancing
• cooking
• traveling
• piano
• hiking
• basketball
• martial arts
• soccer
• world cup
• history
• mountains
• sustainability
• ocean

Music, Movies, and Books

Some of my favorite writers: Fyodor Dostoevsky, Victor Hugo, Leo Tolstoy, J.R.R. Tolkien, Dave Eggers, Emma Donoghue, George Orwell, Federico Garcia Lorca, Kurt Vonnegut, Neil Gaiman, Charles Dickens, Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca, Seamus Heaney, Witold Gombrovicz, Frank McCourt, Padraig Pearse...

Music: animal collective, grizzly bear, yeasayer, local natives, laura marling, beirut, the decemberists, beach house, the xx, bonobo, incubus, interpol, placebo, radiohead, gorillaz, lykke li...en fin: http://www.last.fm/user/JEM10

Movies: I can appreciate something in almost all of them. Some favorites include Mirrormask, The Dark Knight, El Secreto de Sus Ojos, Garden State, V for Vendetta, Clerks, The Lord of the Rings, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Manic, anything by Pedro Almodovar, and M. Night Shyamalan movies + Silver Linings Playbook for the Philly nostalgia

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I fell in love with Gaudí, his work, his life and death in Barcelona...
I walked through La Alhambra on a gorgeous spring night and discovered my soul resonating with the Spanish Moors...
I drove to the Appalachian mountains for a festival where we painted our bodies, danced to djembes and didgeridoos around a huge burning wooden effigy and howled like wolves...
I went to Valencia for Las Fallas to feast with other pyromaniacs, it was great! And the amazing Aussie friend I made there invited me to her wedding in Thailand two years later!!
I went to Brazil for the World Cup 2014 and got to explore the magical Rio de Janeiro, Jericoacoara, and see not one but two games live in the stadium!

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach me, please! Anything! I want to learn how to grow my own food and cook some new recipes, to learn traditional dances, to be of service to the planet and environmental conservation efforts, to organize and resist oppressive warmongering governments etc...

As for what I can share...I was vegan for years (not strictly anymore, to make it easier on hosts/friends) and can cook or bake you some delicious treats. I love cleaning/organizing, and doing the dishes is a zen practice for me, so I'd be happy to chip in my efforts. I'm a writer, and I'm always down for a linguistics conversation. I've been studying martial arts for a few years and would love to teach you a Shaolin longfist form (firebending, if you're a fan of Avatar). Since I have three brothers and two sisters, I've played every single type of game (sports, board, video, card...you name it), and I'm always up for a bit of friendly competition. Or a trip to the nearest pub to grab a pint and watch whatever league has a game on at the time! I can teach English and Spanish, and what I've learned so far of the Māori language, te reo Māori. If we wanna go to a music shop I can also teach the basics of how to play the piano.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, United States

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