CURRENT MISSION

I’m working on a project to collect and grow a particular sponge in northern Indonesia and supply its extract for a clinical trial as an anticancer drug.
I operate an algae lab for a pearl oyster farm in North Indonesia and get several weeks off a year, but am stuck on a very small island most of the time.
I’m looking to make the small amount of time I have off every year meaningful.

ABOUT ME

I need to write a book, not a paragraph.
I have just (July 2022) moved to Morotai, Indonesia to create CSR programs to farm coral and sponges with pearl farms.

I was a PhD student in Japan at Okinawa Institute of Sience and Technology from 2012-2014, and a visiting researcher at University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa from 2014-2016. My research was to SCUBA dive collecting samples, and then farm marine spinges for chemical and genetic tests. I worked with pearl farms.
I worked on a pearl farm in the #1 dive spot in the world (Raja Ampat) on a very remote island. I had no social life and worked 6 days a week with only an internet connection to the outside world. I got a month off every 3 months and the opportunity to travel to Myanmar, Tanzania, Kenya, and India.
I lived in Indonesia from 2008-2012 and I hitched rides and couchsurfed heavily. I found myself on an island that hunts whales and dolphins and uses elephant tusks in marriage ceremonies.
In 2004-5 I sailed from Samoa to Fiji to monitor coral reef on small atolls islands.
I was a survival backpacking instructor, a tree planter, an organic farmer, a clown, and volunteered in many chemistry and biology labs.

PHILOSOPHY

this life is your chance

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted a couch surfer when I was living on jalan 66 in Bali. Used to couch surf my way through everything. I got into a PhD program in Japan thanks to help from couchsurfing.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Miyako, Okinawa, Japan. Thailand. Indonesia. San Francisco.

Interests

I love hiking, camping, staying in the jungle, scuba diving, snorkeling, street performing, road trips, poetry, cooking, comedy, exercise...ask me what I want to study...it has been an immense journey to disturb the universe

• books
• poetry
• cooking
• exercise
• instructor
• traveling
• survival
• music
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• biology
• chemistry
• medicine
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

I've probably listened to more Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Paul Simon than anything else. I read for knowledge not for fun. I like funny movies and unpredictable twists

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I played in the national games of Tokelau in 2005.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have made balloon animals around the world.
I farm sponges on pearl farms and send samples to taxonomists in the Netherlands.
I grow coral for habitat restoration.
I have helped write a book on sustainable bamboo forestry.
I write poetry when things get rough.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can talk about my life experience travelling for education and access to beautiful nature reserves.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Cambodia, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Kiribati, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Samoa, Singapore, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, United States

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