CURRENT MISSION

My mission to travel the world and teach English. Right now, Vietnam is my focus.

ABOUT ME

I was born in California and moved to many different states in the United States while I was very young. We settled in Bakersfield, CA and that's where I spent the most time growing up. When I turned 18, I moved to Los Angeles to go to college and I majored in English. After college, I began working in education, but soon realized that I wanted to combine that passion with traveling the world. Now here I am!

PHILOSOPHY

My personal philosophy is that all human beings are equal. No single person is better than any other. With this in mind, my goal in life is to help people who live with inequalities.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have been involved in an English teaching volunteer group in Vietnam since 2011. We spent the summer in Hue teaching any student who wanted to come to our classes. This summer I will be returning to Hue, as well as spending a month at the Friendship Village in Hanoi, where I will be teaching the students there, mainly comprised of children and veterans affected by "Agent Orange", which was sprayed by the U.S. government during their war with Vietnam.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am new to couchsurfing but I hope to gain experience. I have multiple friends who have hosted and surfed, and they all have positive things to say about their own experiences.

Interests

I am very passionate about films from around the world and from all cultures. I believe there's a universal language to images and films offer a chance for people to communicate with one another in a way that unites us as human beings despite our differences.

• culture
• education
• movies
• traveling
• teaching
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

My favorite film directors are PT Anderson, Stanley Kubrick, Werner Herzog, Wong Kar Wai, Michael Haneke, Abbas Kiarostami, Aki Kaurismaki, Tran Anh Hung, Wes Anderson, Ingmar Bergman, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul

My favorite authors are William Faulkner, Cormac McCarthy, Mark Twain, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jane Austen, and Oscar Wilde

My favorite musicians are Townes Van Zandt, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Gillian Welch, and Led Zeppelin

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

To this day, my time in Hue volunteering was the single greatest event in my life. Every day was a learning experience. I thoroughly enjoyed simple drives through the countryside on motorbike, but the most amazing thing I may have seen was the sun rising on the beach.

Teach, Learn, Share

Since teaching English is my primary focus in life, I am more than happy to help teach whoever is hosting me. We can practice with formal lessons, or we can practice through natural conversations. I believe the conversations are very helpful in developing a practical use for English and it makes it easier to remember the information. I believe that all teachers must also be willing to be students and I hope to learn something about my host's culture during my stay.

Countries I’ve Visited

Italy, South Korea, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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