CURRENT MISSION

Confucius argued, "读万卷书不如行万里路 - du wan juan shu bu ru xing wan li lu" It is better to walk 10,000 miles than to read 10,000 books.

My goal is to travel the world teaching world languages so I can truly visit different cultures and gain a deeper understanding of their cultural values.

ABOUT ME

Hi, I am Shawn. I am 27 years old. I am a public school teacher in Iowa (ESL, Spanish, and Chinese). From 2013- 2015 I was living and teaching in Lanzhou, China where I was a Peace Corps volunteer. I enjoy traveling to different countries and specking different languages. I am bilingual in English and Spanish and very communicative in Mandarin and French.

PHILOSOPHY

-My teaching philosophy is "Every student has a gift to share with the world, it is my job to encourage them to do so."

-My living philosophy "live a lot and die young and leave a good-looking corps."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have hosted 3 people in Lanzhou. I have also hosted 3 people when I was living in Spain. Two from the US and one from Holland. All of them were great experiences. I am looking forward to meeting and staying with different CS host in the future.

Interests

-reading
-talking in different languages
-playing ping pong
-traveling
-doing martial arts
-watching movies
-doing magic
-teaching others

• arts
• books
• running
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• magic
• martial arts
• table tennis
• art history
• cultural studies
• teaching
• history
• languages
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Star Wars
Harry Potter
Pedro Almodovar

Nickel Back
Lady Gaga
Shakira
House music

Night Fall; Issai
The Giver, Lowes Lowrey
Chronicles of Narnia
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Cervantes

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- hiked a volcano
- lived in the jungle for 4 months without hot water
- spent 2 weeks in a squatter settlement in Guatemala with no electricity or running water
- white water rafted in Costa Rica
- stood on the top of Taipei 101 (when it still was the tallest tower in the world)
- seen the new Pedro Almodovar film in Spain the first week it came out

Teach, Learn, Share

I am a licensed English as a second language teacher.
I also enjoy discussing history, communication studies, cultural studies, and linguistics.

I really would like to find native Chinese speakers to help me better my Mandarin.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I have a long soft sofa in my living room and a full kitchen you are welcome to use. I have bedsheets and blankets. My house is nonsmoking but I have a balcony with windows you can use to smoke.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Thailand, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Costa Rica, France, Spain, Taiwan, United States