Hi! ^^
My name is Mo, and I am currently living and working in Nashville, teaching English and SAT/ACT skills to a group of Korean and Chinese international high school students. For 2 years I taught English in a high school in the smallish coastal town of Mokpo, South Korea. I loved every bit of that time—the incredible seafood (including live octopus), learning Korean (a lot of rural high school slang), and of course spending time with my lovely, bright students. :)

I grew up in the small town of Washington, IL, and went to college at Wheaton outside Chicago. In the spirit of liberal arts, I shifted around my minors constantly and ended up taking a bunch of classes in a variety of disciplines from acting to urban planning to history of philosophy, but I kept my English major throughout my time there. It was a busy time. Here is a list of all the things I did, that I can think of: improv comedy, teaching improv, student government, Spanish club, studying abroad in Spain, working at the Writing Center, film making, working at a medical office, theater set design, interning at 826CHI in Chicago, interning at World Relief teaching ESL, working cleaning a hoarder's house, researching Dorothy Sayers' unpublished novel, LGBT advocacy group, living and studying in Chicago one semester... okay maybe that is all.
So life now is pretty easy by comparison, I would say.
I am finishing up my job in Nashville soon and moving back to Chicago, so I am looking to enjoy the rest of my time here in the South.

Best,

Mo

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Like I wrote above, I would like to host someday when I live in a place I can do that. For now, I just want to use couchsurfing for meeting new people during my travels. =)

Interests

Interests include improv, making playlists, driving and travelling, photoshop, Korean dramas and food and k-pop and all that, talking with people about the things they love, guitar and ukulele, Gongcha, bright blue and sunset orange hues, classic literature, Chopin, Tune-yards, and of coure OITNB.

• dogs
• culture
• writing
• literature
• theater
• photography
• education
• traveling
• drawing
• guitar
• piano
• christian
• communications
• divinity
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Tree of Life, Sabrina, Eternal Sunshine on the Spotless Mind, Rushmore, The Princess and the Cobbler, Newsies, Reservoir Dogs, American Beauty, Sleeper, Sleepless in Seattle, Ocean's 11, Exit through the Gift Shop, Rear Window, Chinatown.
Music: The Strokes, Animal Collective, Janelle Monae, FKA Twigs, SBTRKT, Little Dragon, Chopin, The Beatles, The Monkees, Feist, Sufjan Stevens, The Shins, Broken Bells, Fleetwood Mac, Patrick Watson, James Blake, The Postal Service, Beck, St. Vincent, Sharon Van Etten, Daft Punk, SZA, Solange, Kendrick Lamar, Kanye, Schoolboy Q, Earl Sweatshirt, Tyler the Creator, Pure Bathing Culture, The Weeknd, ABBA, Wye Oak, old Mennonite hymns, Phosphorescent, Sky Ferreira, Boston, Sampha, The Naked and the Famous, Beach House, Beach Fossils, Gangz, Toro y Moi, Jhene Aiko, Grimes, King Krule, so much more...
Books: Les Misrebles, Persuasion, The Secret Garden, White Noise, The Road, On the Road, Brothers Karamazov, The Goldfinch, all things Shakespeare, 1984, The Odyssey, The Aeneid, Confessions, The Picture of Dorian Grey, Spoon River Anthology, Beloved, Housekeeping, My Antonia, so many more...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

A couple years ago my hometown was destroyed by a tornado; my aunt and uncle's house, best friend's house, and a countless number of homes of our neighbors and church members were totally demolished. Thankfully, at my parent's house we only lost all our windows, received significant roof damage, and lost all of our trees. But still the financial and emotional impact on the whole community has been substantial. The amazing thing that i have seen is how people have stepped up to help each other--neighbors rescuing neighbors from the rubble of their houses, churches proving meals for workers for the entire year after the tornado, people hosting strangers and volunteers from all over the world coming to help. It has been incredible to see the reaction of total charity on behalf of the community I grew up in and love.

Teach, Learn, Share

Things I can share:
1. English! Ive got a lot of experience teaching ELL.
2. Korean politics, music from the 80’s, BTS, 한국어, all things Korea 🇰🇷
3. Literature. Its what I studied and what I love. =)
3. Improv. I am on an improv troupe at my college and can gush, have gushed, for hours about improv theory.
4. American culture. /what I know about Korean culture after living here for one year, which is a lot and not a lot at the same time
5. Guitar and piano and ukulele. I don't play super well, but can manage the basics.
6. American Evangelical Christianity. I grew up Mennonite, and attended an Evangelical Christian school. I enjoy talking about issues in the Evangelical church/theology generally.

Things I want to learn:
1. I would LOVE to practice Spanish or Korean.
2. Places to travel to and how to get to them
3. Things to read/watch/listen to. Always always looking for recommendations.
4. Music. Tell me what you listen to and what you play.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, England, France, Japan, Mexico, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

South Korea, United States