CURRENT MISSION

live life large

ABOUT ME

I am the kind of person who rarely, if ever, feels bored. I enjoy digging beneath the surface and inspecting the details around me. I read, I photograph, I listen, I reflect. I love to learn about most anything -- I'm a student first, teacher second, all the way.
I revel in the opportunities I have to push beyond my own awareness, my own perspective, and travel in another set of shoes for awhile -- whether that is living abroad, traveling the wide world, or taking the time to understand and be understood by others whose backgrounds and ideas give me pause to reflect my own.
I am currently traveling through parts of New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia, and trying to make the most of these new experiences. Maybe I will be fortunate enough to meet you :)

PHILOSOPHY

Life is impermanence. I want to hold onto what I love, to stretch out time to make it last. I want to fast-forward those moments I don't love, making them run into the past. But I can do neither. Travel keeps me in the present, focused on the experience of now, aware of the impermanence around me, perhaps a little more willing to just let things be.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

At the moment, I hope to be able to meet and/or surf with CSers while traveling through New Zealand, Australia, and Southeast Asia.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

In the past, I have been hosted by some generous individuals who made a positive impact on my perceptions of the places I visited. I have hosted a few travelers in Korea and had some great experiences meeting other CSers in and around Seoul while I was living in Korea.

Interests

Travel, photography, music, meeting new people, writing, reading, cooking and eating good food, chasing sunsets, teaching, and of course, always learning!

• writing
• photography
• dining
• cooking
• running
• reading
• traveling
• music
• piano
• rock climbing
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies - I love dramas with realism and dark edges (life isn't always shiny-happy), and artistic/international films (or those about life in faraway places). Slumdog Millionaire, Life is Beautiful, and Shawshank Redemption come to mind. Also, I Dreamed of Africa, Anna and the King, Brokedown Palace.
As for music, I very much enjoy an eclectic mix of styles -- some favorites are Eastern Lounge (Buddha Bar, Samurai Champloo), Ambient (Imogen Heap, Frou Frou), Folk/Acoustic Pop (Matt Kearney, Five for Fighting, John Mayer), Pop/Rock (Maroon 5, Keane, Coldplay, The Fray, OneRepublic), Indie (Florence + the Machine, Ingrid Michaelson, Imagine Dragons, OK Go, Of Monsters and Men), Alternative (Angels & Airwaves, Kings of Leon, Radiohead, SafetySuit), Hip-Hop (Black-Eyed Peas), Singer/Songwriters (Greg Laswell, Kyler England), Electronica (Daft Punk, Calvis Harris, David Guetta, Moby), and even a little bit of Country (Rascal Flatts).
BOOKS: Some of my favorites include The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns (by Khaled Hosseini), The Power of Now (by Eckhart Tolle), The Alchemist (by Paul Coelho), Five Wishes (by Gay Hendricks), Eat, Pray, Love (by Elizabeth Gilbert), The Memory Keeper's Daughter (by Kim Edwards), and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (by Lisa See). These are the books that move me, but actually, I read more nonfiction than fiction :)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbing the sand dunes of southern Morocco, and just feeling my feet sinking through the golden silt as if it were quicksand. It was otherworldly and unforgettable.

Teach, Learn, Share

Piano lessons. Cooking anything from homemade bread to fresh guacamole. Photography composition and technique. Writing. Interested in teaching English overseas? I've spent several years doing it in Asia (Taiwan and South Korea), pick my brain :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

South Korea, Taiwan, United States

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