CURRENT MISSION

To see as many countries and learn as many languages and about as many cultures as I possibly can. To set up a travel blog/site and to just stay nomadic for as long as possible, post-Japan. One day in the distant future, to hopefully set up a hostel! :)

ABOUT ME

Uhhh...not really good at these sections, lol. I guess I can sometimes be a bit shy or quiet, especially with new people. But I`m always willing to help no matter what and I`m known for finding it difficult to say 'No' to anyone.
I love to see and do new things and meet new people, even if I am shy, and discovered, while I`m in Japan, I`m actually quite social (if I spend just one evening by myself, in my apartment, I get bored and crave for some kind of social interaction! Which means my weekends tend to be eventful and I love organizing huge parties for friends and for friends of friends to meet and get to know each other! Biggest party so far was Christmas, for about 60 people...took a lot of organizing, but was one of the most memorable nights in Japan and met some awesome people!)
I`m also pretty energetic. If I`m well fed and well rested, and familiar with people, I tend to talk waaaay too much and am pretty excited about everything (think a puppy...on caffeine), and will find the energy somewhere to do something physically draining, even if it`s at the end of a long, tiring day.

PHILOSOPHY

Never really thought about this before and can`t really sum it up in a sentence, but....I think of life kind of like steps. Every moment of your life, you learn, see, do new and different things and each one of those things adds to who you are and who you will be. So no matter how good or how bad something is, they're all steps that keep us striving ahead through life. To live well and get the most out of life and achieve the greatest growth and fulfillment depends on how many and how big the steps are that you take, again, regardless of whether they`re good, bad, happy or scary.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Officially, through this, so far, nothing. But unofficially, through friends, I`ve hosted for several of my friend`s family members or friends. Toured and showed them around Tokyo and some of the tourist areas nearby and really enjoyed touring my friend`s grandmother and mother around, as they had so many questions and were really interested in anything I taught them about Japan, and would write it all down in their diaries when they got home.

Interests

Languages, photography, writing, cooking, volunteering, scuba diving, skiing, snow boarding, sailing (I want to learn!!!), hiking, kayaking, dance, music, art, cycling, running, archaeology/mythology/history, traveling

• arts
• writing
• photography
• dancing
• cooking
• running
• partying
• traveling
• eating out
• blogging
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• kayaking
• scuba diving
• sailing
• skiing
• history
• languages
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Horror movies, particularly Japanese-inspired horror movies, such as 'The Grudge' or 'The Ring' (but American versions...the Japanese ones don`t actually scare me! lol) I`m probably one of the jumpiest and easily scared people you meet, yet I love horror movies! Strange, I know!
Comedies, adventure, fantasy....I like a wide variety of genres.

Music - recently I`ve been listening to a lot of K-pop, J-pop and Mando-pop, for language learning and to get to know the things my students listen to and like. i`m a fan of Hip-hop and RnB, as I danced all through my school life and taught Hip-Hop at Summer camp. I guess a few of my western favorites at the moment, are Owl City, Rihanna, Kesha, Nicki Minaj...but to be honest, I`ve mostly been listening to Asian music recently, like Big Bang, YUI, etc, and randomly, a few Spanish.

Books - I`m currently reading and obsessed with 'Cloud Atlas'. I loved Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings when I was younger, but at the moment, I like to read foreign and travel literature, or something with a sense of adventure. Recently read 'Eat.Pray.Love' and now desperately want to go to India!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of the most special moments I remember, is having a group of 10 or so Khmer kids, who had been trying to get me to buy their post cards and such, completely stop and drop their baskets once they discovered my iphone and became fascinated by the game "Temple Run", competing with each other, for half an hour, while I was sat eating outside the temple featured in the Tomb Raider movie.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach some Japanese, some Japanese dishes (pretty basic ones though I`m afraid) and any history, myths, stories, etc, of a few countries in Asia and Europe, thanks to my archaeology degree and interests.

I`d love to learn new languages! I used to speak conversational Spanish and get by in Chinese, but, without practice, I`ve forgotten them. Also, any new dishes for me to try my hand at in the kitchen, as I love to cook! :)
I`m also trying to improve my photography, so any tips would be greatly appreciated, bot with my camera, or Lightroom!

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cambodia, China, Greece, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Japan, United States