CURRENT MISSION

To make each day count.

ABOUT ME

Hi! This is Pao-Hsin from Taiwan. I love travelling, eating, making friends, doing voluntary work.It's absolutely great to meet people from different background and culture. To me, giving a small hand in making this world a better place makes life a lot wonderful!

By the way, I work as a weight management and total wellness coach, so if anyone is thinking losing/gaining some weight would be an extra bonus to knowing me, I'd love to help and provide information. Just feel free to ask.

PHILOSOPHY

Don't take anything for granted.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I registered as a CS member about 5 years ago while I was an exchange student in Europe (Stockholm, to be exact). During my stay in Europe, I couchsurfed in Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Germany and Poland. The experience was so incredibly fun that my words are limited to describe it. When I wasn't travelling, I had also opened up my tiny, humble dormitory room for people to surf. I got to meet people from USA, Germany and other areas of Sweden as well as people from my home country flying all the way to Europe.

Unfortunately, my exchange year never got to last forever. I had once stopped my participation in CS when I finished school and began working. Working and not being free somehow makes travelling and providing couch offers a bit harder than it used to be.

Nevertheless, I later found out that "a working-machine-kind-of-life" wasn't what I hoped for. This is when I re-ignite my interest in travelling and CS. I currently do not have a couch since I live in my parents'; however,I'll be more than happy to help and I'll soon have my own apartment. I'm very looking forward to it. :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

If I have to name one of the best CS experiences I had . my trip to the Netherlands has to come to the chart. It was summer 2008, when I spent a week travelling from Delft to Utrecht, Alkmaar and Amsterdam. I met my lovely and hospitable hostesses: Fien, Kirsten, Noor and Sandra. Fien took me to a beach nearby, Kirsten introduced me to her friends and together we participated in a quiz contest in a local cafe, Noor treated me the best ice-cream in town and we baked and went for a picnic together, Sandra showed me the morning market that only people living in the city knew. They were wonderful people and I was blessed to have shared and learnt so much from them.

Another unforgettable CS trip was pretty recent, that I traveled to New York last Oct. and surfed 7 nights in Brooklyn, including Miranda's extraordinary globe-in-one-room basement, Devon's cozy private room (and the gadgeted corridor haha) and Mary's serene apartment full of books and kittens. NY had just too much to offer and to finish in a week;however, meeting these beautiful ladies and their pals made the trip absolutely a blast. I had just so much fun and look forward to my next visit. :D

Interests

I love learning, helping others, teaching, food and *shoes*.

• culture
• books
• dining
• picnic
• coach
• walking
• flying
• traveling
• socializing
• sign language
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite Movies: Little Miss Sunshine, Up in the Air, Goodbye Lenni, Invictus, No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti(Taiwan), Jump! Boy(Taiwan), KJ (Hong Kong).

Favorite Music Artist/Band: Hanson, Michelle Branch, Sodagreen, Crowd Lu, Lala Hsu.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

That was the day when I was on my way to Gokyo Ri, the air was thin and the slope was steep. I had to half-walk, half-march and almost fully depend on my walking sticks along the way. It was not a perfect day for trekking and definitely not for ascending as the cloud and mist was so thick which made breathing an uneasy job. However, as I went through the mist, I had an overview of the 4th Lake, and next to it I saw glaciers. I had such emotion to not just gasp but to feel the smallness of my being. It was amazing, beyond amazing. Though overwhelmed with joy, there was a impulse to weep inside of me. I asked myself, what if I quitted on the half way?

Teach, Learn, Share

I am from a Mandarin-speaking country so I can teach Mandarin Chinese. Since my major in college was English, going all over Taiwan to teach basic English grammar has been my dream, which, thank God, has recently started going! WOW! I also learnt Taiwan Sign Language for about 2 years, so I can also share some of that, too. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, Nepal, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Malaysia, Sweden, Taiwan