Hello and welcome to our CouchSurfing Profile!

I (Neil) am an American from Los Angeles, Ca. Emily is Chinese from Da Tian, Fujian China.

We are a married couple who met in China. After living together for several years in Beijing we decided to relocate to the United States to start our family. We have now been living in Billings, MT for about three years. A year ago we welcomed our son, Braston, into the world.

The four of us, Neil, Emily, Braston, and our dog Lucy live in a small family-home in the northwest of the city.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We love the concept of couchsurfing. We have hosted and been hosted by extraordinary people. The community helped us fulfill our dream of travelling (a portion of) the world and we are extremely grateful for the generosity and hospitality of our hosts. As travelers, couchsurfing provided us a more intimate experience, the opportunity to live and learn from members of the community, to meet their friends and family, to eat authentic home cooked meals, to gain exposure to the local culture, and to see parts of the city unknown to tourists but popular with locals. The greatest thing about couchsurfing is the friendships we forged and the memories we created. We are now couchsurfers for life. If a host is willing to have us we would much rather stay in the home of a local than the confines of a hotel.

In terms of hosting, we are happy to open our home to anyone who understands the concept of couchsurfing. To us, couchsurfing is more than providing a place to stay, it is an opportunity to exchange stories and learn from/through the experiences of others. It is the sharing of a mutual love for travel and adventure. The joy of providing a weary traveler with a comfortable place to sleep and a home-cooked meal. We do not expect gifts or money from our guests, we expect a bit of their time to learn about their journey(s) - where they've been and where they're going.

Interests

We enjoy travelling and exploring new, unfamiliar surroundings. We are interested in exchanging travel stories, learning about other parts of the world, making friends with similar interests and helping people achieve their travel goals.

• dogs
• culture
• education
• cooking
• politics
• traveling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• snowboarding
• philosophy
• travel
• language
• conversation
• china
• asia
• international politics
• international education

Music, Movies, and Books

Our media likes are vast and diverse.

Music - regardless of genre, if it sounds good and has meaning we're fans. Some of our favorite musical artists are:

Sublime, Dave Matthews, Rise Against, Bob Dylan, Eminem, Blink 187, NOFX, Jack Johnson, Atmosphere

Movies - anything that entertains whether drama, suspense, thriller, comedy or romance.

Books - most of the books we read are for entertainment or personal growth. We are not consistent book readers (prefer current events) but enjoy a good read here and there. Love John Grisham - everyone of his books is a page turner.

Anything by Grisham, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, the Power of Now, the Great Gatsby, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings novels, J. Krishnamurti - Think on These Things and other writings, Thich Nhat Hanh - Being Peace and other writings.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

We fulfilled a dream of travelling the world. We left China to begin an 11 month voyage that took us through Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Netherlands, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. We traveled with only the bags on our backs and unless a flight was necessary used only the most economic form of transportation available - buses and trains primarily. When possible, we couchsurfed at the home of local community members. Travelling this way allowed us to experience the countries we traveled through and the cultures within those countries in a very intimate way. In total we traveled for 11 months through 23 countries for under US $10,000.

Teach, Learn, Share

As a biracial, American/Chinese couple who have lived in both China and the US, we can provide insight and knowledge of each country's history and culture - as well as our opinion of the relationship between the U.S. And China and what is in store for their future.

Our 11 months of travel have made us quite knowledgeable travelers. We are happy to share information about our travel experiences, provide tips and suggestions.

We hope to learn from our hosts/guests - about their lives, their cultures, their language, their countries, families, etc.; and, of course, return the favor.

We are both bilingual - my wife more than I, in Chinese and English. We'd be more than happy to teach or tutor.

We want to learn from each other, exchange opinions, and ideas and share life experiences.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can share information about our home countries, our travels, our experiences.

We have a small family home in the northwest of the city. We have an office with a futon couch and a guest room with a queen size bed both in the basement. We also have a den in the basement with a large couch. We live on a cul-de-sac on a quiet street. We have a good size backyard with a deck, a water fountain, and a garden. On nice days we often BBQ. Our kitchen is full of food and open to our guests. Neil drinks on occasion and usually has beer or wine in the kitchen.

We invite our guests to join us on local walks/hikes within the city or, if we go on a weekend excursion our guests are welcome to tag along.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States