CURRENT MISSION

To live a good story, to smile at strangers, to enjoy where I am.

ABOUT ME

I just finished two years in rural Louisiana, teaching special education, and I am now headed back to the Thai-Burmese border, a place that has rested on my heart for many years.

PHILOSOPHY

I see the image of God in the so-called "other" (think Levinas). I do not always show it, such as when I am frustrated with my students. However, given each person's unique display of some aspect of God, I believe in honoring and loving that which is holy in every person we meet... or in those we never receive the opportunity to meet. I do not know what that always means, but loving others is intrinsic to my understanding of life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am relatively new to the world of CS, but I have already had a couple wonderful experiences through CSers. I was living in rural Louisiana, where few people ever wished to stay, and now I am between places, with no permanent residence and so still not currently hosting. I look forward to sometime in the not so distant future having some place of my own where I can welcome CSers the way I have been welcomed into others' homes.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Up until joining this year, I had never participated in the couch surfing community, though, like many of us on here, I had "couch surfed" with friends of friends all over the world and had thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Since then, I've surfed a little in the States, with fantastic hosts (one even gave me a bird!) and am quite ready to take this experience overseas.

Interests

Writing. Teaching. Music. Swing dancing. People. Conversations that make me think and challenge my preconceptions.

• writing
• dancing
• swing dancing
• education
• music
• camping
• surfing
• teaching
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:
Davita's Harp - Chaim Potock
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years - Donald Miller
The Gods Drink Whiskey - Stephen Asma
The Inner Voice of Love - Nouwen (currently reading)
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire
The Body and the Blood - Charles Sennott
Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

Music:
Nickel Creek
Simon & Garfunkel
Sufjan Stevens
Brooke Waggoner
Viena Tang
Jack Johnson
Eva Cassidy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Made the Dalai Lama laugh once in a chance encounter, hiked up Mt. Sinai (Egypt) in time for sunrise, shared an iPod's headphones with an Egyptian nun sitting on my armrest who couldn't speak English in a train ride to Cairo, hiked along the base of the Himalayan mountains, visited a Burmese refugee camp the day Cyclone Nargis hit... there are many amazing moments in life. Being alive.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cayman Islands, Denmark, Israel, Jordan, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, Germany, Thailand, United States