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My background:
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I'm from Canada, and have spent the last several years working in Asia. Overall, my situation is better here, so I intend to carry on.

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My history with CouchSurfing (CS):
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My first exposure to CS was in 2018, when one of my flatmates invited a few travelers to stay over at our place. I relied on CS to meet people when I went on a tour of South East Asia in early 2019.

Although it was a lot of fun to have guided tours of The Philippines, I also wanted to spend time with locals - to learn what their daily lives are like, what they think of foreigners and foreign culture, where they like to hang out, their hobbies, what they typically eat, etc. As a traveler, that's where CS came in handy.

Aside from facilitating a few meetups at restaurants, CS also helped me spend two weeks with a Vietnamese host in Saigon, taking part in her culture and language exchange program at a neighborhood coffee shop. Although she was usually out at work during the day, my host and I spent nights sharing stories about our lives and the challenges we faced to get through university and better our lives.

CS enabled me to engage in a similar exchange program in Thailand in December 2019, and volunteer at a dog shelter in Malaysia the following month.

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My personality:
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I try to live a healthy lifestyle.

I like to play sports and get exercise - stuff like swimming / diving, badminton, frisbee, hiking, and so forth. I enjoy walking in nature, and dislike going to very loud places (like night clubs) or being around people while they smoke.

I enjoy preparing and eating home-cooked meals. When abroad, I would much rather eat the local / traditional food of my host country than dine at places that serve western food.

I love eating spicy food, fruits, and vegetables. I eat all kinds of meat, except pork. (I avoid it.) Because pork is such a common part of many Chinese meals, I usually eat like a vegetarian when in China. (I'm fine with vegetarian food also!)

I guess I care so much about food because it doesn't just have a direct affect on our health; it gives us opportunities to come together and talk / learn from one another as we prepare and/or enjoy meals.

Pourquoi je suis sur Couchsurfing

I want to meet people!

I host when I can, and when doing so, make efforts to help travelers feel welcome, get around, and see and experience things that interest them.

When traveling, I hope others will treat me at least as well as I treat my guests and the travelers I show around. At the very least, I hope to meet up with people, chat, go exploring, or do other fun things.

Centres d'intérêt

• culture
• cooking
• meditation
• reading
• hiking
• baseball
• swimming
• softball
• badminton
• learning languages
• freediving
• talking
• programming
• frisbee
• bodysurfing
• playing sports

Morceaux de musique, films et livres

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Music:
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- Rock (Weezer, Oasis, Guns N' Roses, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, The Offspring, Alice in Chains)

- RNB/Funk/Soul (Michael Jackson, Prince, Robin Thicke, Rick James, Moby, Boney M.)

- Film Score (Barry Adamson, Angelo Badalamenti, Riz Ortolani, John Williams)

- 꽃별 / Ccotbyel

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Books:
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-George Orwell's Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty Four

-Ian Halperin's The Governator

-Dee Snider's Shut Up and Give Me the Mic!

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Movies:
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- Pulp Fiction

- Reservoir Dogs

- Indiana Jones (Raiders, Doom, and Crusade)

- It Follows

- Platoon

- Labyrinth

- Full Metal Jacket

- Return of the Living Dead

- The Ninth Gate

- Lost Highway

- John Carpenter's The Thing

Une aventure extraordinaire que j'ai vécue

Here are a few amazing things I've experienced:

-I roamed South-East Asia, with only very general ideas of what I would do or where I would go. (It proved to be a valuable learning experience.)

-I was assaulted by a Chinese cop (in a bank, no less) because he got upset when I yelled at him for illegally driving on the sidewalk toward pedestrians, blasting his motorbike horn all the while. He was trying to bait me into striking him, but I made him look like a jackass by exposing him as a bully to everyone.

-I braved crossing the traffic-ridden roads of Saigon and lived to tell the tale. (Contrary to appearances, I would say Chinese traffic is infinitely more chaotic and hostile to pedestrians than Vietnamese traffic.)

-I swam far from the shore in some beautiful Philippine beaches, observing incredible aquatic life.

-I celebrated Songkran in Thailand.

-On 2019-08-24, I deliberately went bodysurfing during a typhoon and got knocked silly. (This was along the coast of China's Xiamen island.)

-I left Canada to live and work abroad.

Enseignez, apprenez, partagez

So long as we do our best and are eager to learn from our mistakes, failure is not to be feared! As unpleasant as it can sometimes seem, failure can be a means toward improvement, learning, and - just maybe - eventual perfection.

"A winner is a loser who tried one more time."
- George Augustus Moore

Instead of having worrisome thoughts like "What if I try and fail?," we ought to instead ask ourselves, "What if I fail to capitalize on opportunities by not trying?" The only people who truly fail are those who never try and those who never put forth any sincere effort.

Ce que j'aimerais partager avec mes hôtes

I can cook moderatly sophisticated meals. (I like to do a lot of stir fry cooking.), In fact, I take pride in making meals that are traditional, made with natural ingredients, and healthy.

I am clean and tidy, and more than willing to chip in to help people kind enough to accommodate me.

I am cool with doing the dishes or even mopping / vacuuming the floor.

I have lived with cats; I enjoy playing with them, and don't mind feeding or cleaning up after them.

I worked out to develop upper body strength and definition, so I can help with lifting big / heavy stuff and moving it around, if that's what a situation calls for.

I can diagnose and fix many computer problems. Sometimes I can do wonders with smartphones, like the time I un-bricked an Android smartphone with zero help from the manufacturer.

I'm down with sharing stories and experiences with people, and cultivating relationships. Having more friends you can turn to for comfort and insight is usually a good thing!

Pays que j'ai visités

Austria, Cambodia, Croatia, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Macao, Malaysia, Philippines, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Pays dans lesquels j'ai vécu

Canada, China, South Korea