CURRENT MISSION

learning to code! ( my last mission was studying Chinese. :) )

ABOUT ME

Currently back in my home country of the UK and newly living in London.

Prior to this I did an undergraduate course in Chinese at Beijing Normal University. I came back to the UK to work in more technical stuff and now I'm thinking about how to travel again. :)

wrote this a while back, still applies!:
Really like making connections and putting people in touch with each other. Just finished working for my University Student Union ( a one year post after University) on women's welfare etc stuff, now travelling in China and making plans to move to Beijing. Seem to do a lot of work with small children, though this has never been a particular goal!
Current pet project is setting up an online magazine - takes hours
of time and co-ordinating with people, but very much enjoying it. www.agendered.com
Lived in Geneva and worked for an anti-poverty NGO during my gap year, lived in Japan for 2 and half years as a child.
I'm friendly, chatty and will always wash up and be useful as a guest!

PHILOSOPHY

Do new stuff as often as possible. Would like to do more about trying to save the environment, but mostly put energy into feminist and anti-poverty stuff.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Mostly just meeting people in Beijing. ( And now that I'm back in the UK, my ties to couchsurfing are meeting again my lovely friends from couchsurfing in the London. )

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Mostly meeting awesome people through meet-ups etc in Beijing, in the 5 and half years that I lived there.

Interests

blogs like feministing.com, music festivals, climbing chinese mountains (with shallow concrete steps so no need for 'serious' footwear), I'm getting increasingly interested in how all this web 2.0 stuff works, and what it will mean.
(and now, 5 years later, I work in digital stuff , so obviously that web 2.0 interest developed!)

• pets
• books
• design
• music festivals
• festivals
• environment
• traveling
• socializing
• painting
• origami
• coding
• music
• rock climbing
• teaching
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Really impressed by Margaret Atwood, complete sucker for trashy crime/detective novels, love Sarah Paretsky who is not at all trashy, like graphic novelists Terry Moore and Brian K. Vaughn. Read Naomi Klein's 'No Logo' with absolute fascination when 16, found 'The Shock Doctrine' too depressing to finish.

Music - Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata - lost my CD of it, tragically. I think it was used as the music soundtrack to a narration of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' that I had as a child. Always sounds so magical to me. Ummmmm... in clubs I like hip hop. Currently listening a lot to Missy Higgins and Joan Jett. Julia Nunes gives me faith in the positive potential of the internet.

Films - Clueless, Chasing Amy, Raise the Red Lantern, Totoro

TV Shows ( surely a crucial category) - Six Feet Under, Battlestar Galatica and The L word all take happy hours of my time. Now have become a little too hooked on CSI - though would never spend money on a boxset of it, I like to think.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

the sun rising over the clouds at 6.30 am on top of Huang Shan ( Yellow Mountain) in China, surrounded by at least 500 chinese people all in tour groups. Fantastic.

Teach, Learn, Share

Hmmm. Am a qualified English Teacher ( did the one month full time CELTA course). Other than that... Can teach small children to paint! (colour mixing which doesn't end up brown - breaking down into clear patterns which they can find feasible.) Spent a lot of time doing that on my gap year. Can make origami cranes. Can also teach how to conjugate French verbs - if you have paper, scissors and a text book - a fool proof method that requires exam level pressure motivation.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Talking about travelling, after living in China for five and a half years. Ideas/suggestions on how to pursue interests in website design. Always very happy to clean and wash up. Love conversations about the meaning of life! ;)

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, China, France, Italy, Poland, South Africa, Spain

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Japan, Switzerland, United Kingdom

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