CURRENT MISSION

Chinese Language Excellence; Physical Health; Reading Books

ABOUT ME

My name's Nathan and I live in Taipei. I speak Mandarin fluently and I am studying/training to be an interpreter. I work as an online English school curriculum editor and as a freelance Chinese-English translator.

I enjoy exercising, including biking, yoga, bodyweight exercises, swimming, and others. I'm kind of interested in starting to learn archery. Any tips would be great.

I like books and tea and even though that doesn't make me unique or interesting in any way, I still feel the need to say it! If you come to Taipei, I can show you were to get good books and good tea.

My interests also include:
- Reading in English, Chinese, French, and sometimes Spanish: Lawrence Durrell, 村上春樹, Neil Gaiman, Aztec Poetry, and a lot of nonfiction
- Yoga
- Cooking!
- Geography and History
- Mesoamerican humanities
- Linguistics
- Cycling
- Bodyweight exercises
- Gardening
- Karaoke

I have studied many languages, and retain a keen interest in all of them. I am looking for conversation partners in all of my working languages.

Please feel free to ask me any questions.

PHILOSOPHY

I can't remember if it was Fight Club or some other book or movie that observed that "people are just waiting for their turn to talk." It's true that you can learn a lot by closing your mouth and just observing everything going on around you. So much information can be freely inferred from direct experience.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

By hosting couch surfers (primarily for Burning Man when I lived in Reno, NV), surfing on my travels, and keeping in touch with those awesome souls I meet on the way!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

People who have never hosted couchsurfers before always say, "That's scary, how could you let a STRANGER into your house?"

Well, as Mr Rogers once [allegedly] said, a stranger is a friend I haven't met yet. ...or was that Kermit the Frog?

THE POINT is that yes, it's a bit scary, but that fear came from somewhere and my direct experience has only served to banish that fear. This is true for many things in life.

On top of banishing a fear of the unknown (and les inconnus), the couchsurfing experience always reminds me of a dream of a different world that we can create. Let's do it.

Of course, it's important to be cautious.

Interests

Marimba, percussion, making music, live music, all kinds of music, "classical" [western art] music, electronic music, foreign languages (especially French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish, German, Basque, etc...), vegetable gardening, cooking, yoga, percussion, drumming, nontheism, living off the grid, puppies, kittens, marimba, marimba, marimba, Chinese characters, education, Aztec EVERYTHING, Mayan EVERYTHING, cats, kittens, Brown （熊大）, cooking, vegetarianism, veganism, chess, etc

• cats
• arts
• humanities
• books
• poetry
• education
• cooking
• exercise
• yoga
• clubbing
• gardening
• chess
• reading
• music
• live music
• electronic music
• karaoke
• cycling
• surfing
• swimming
• archery
• teaching
• freelancing
• geography
• history
• languages

Teach, Learn, Share

I am happy to practice English, Mandarin, Spanish, Japanese, or French with anybody, and I am always trying to learn more of ANY language, but especially the ones listed on my profile.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I like cooking, and of course I can help clean. Hahaha.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Denmark, France, Mexico, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Taiwan, United States

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