CURRENT MISSION

Working to become a Mandarin-speaking guide focusing on Scandinavian, European and Chinese cultural history and folklore

PHILOSOPHY

"Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. Whatever the vexations or concerns of their personal lives, their thoughts can find paths that lead to inner contentment and to renewed excitement in living. Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." - Rachel Carson

I feel such passion for this earth and great fascination for the universe as a whole and spend much of my time trying to understand it and the creatures, living or extinct, that reside or once resided here.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I attended a CouchSurfing get-together with a friend and met a bunch of nice couchsurfers with interesting stories to share and then I became a CS member and shortly thereafter surfed my first couch, in the far north of Sweden. I'm sure I'll have many more couchsurfing experiences in the future, because it's my ideal way of traveling. I've stayed with locals at quite a few destinations I've traveled to and that type of accommodation has always given me the best, most cherished memories compared to any other type of accommodation (on par with staying in a tent in the wilderness).

Interests

I have such a wide range of interests. In my home where I collect the things I'm interested in - books, music instruments, films, games, art material - I never experience boredom, there is too much to do and too little time to do it. And in a beautiful environment I can just sit doing nothing but thinking for hours on end yet feel entertained. I spend a lot of time reading articles about science, history, historical figures, folklore, mythology, poetry and all sorts of things that capture my attention. I mostly read non-fiction books that quench my thirst for knowledge, and picture books because I love them so (I used to work in a children's library) and dream of creating one myself.

I also cook a lot, mostly vegan Chinese food. China is my second home, I spend at least a few months of the year living there, mostly among ethnic minority or indigenous people at the countryside in Yunnan province. I'm interested in various aspects of all human cultures, but China has been a special interest since I was very young.

I love to attend extravagant and more or less decadent costume parties and very much enjoy historical reenactment events. I like to play advanced board games, like Twilight Imperium, and both tabletop (I've been playing a campaign in Vampire: The Masquerade for the past year) and live action roleplaying games (haven't done the latter for years though, hope to start again). I like being around nerds.

• poetry
• singing
• folklore
• chinese food
• gardening
• painting
• drawing
• folk music
• hiking
• anthropology
• visual arts
• film photography
• feminism
• ancient history
• museums
• playing music
• indigenous rights
• computer games
• fantasy
• antiques
• foreign languages
• watching films
• scifi
• old buildings
• human sexuality
• tabletop rpgs
• children's books
• subcultures
• writing letters
• flora and fauna
• mahjong
• historical reenactment
• norse mythology
• playing dress-up
• historical clothing
• masquerades

Music, Movies, and Books

There are many movies that are very dear to me, but these are the ones I've seen at least ten times: Suzhou River (苏州河), Chungking Express (重庆森林), Fallen Angels (堕落天使), The Secret Garden, The Wicker Man (the original of course), Quills, Princess Mononoke.

I'm extremely passionate about music! I enjoy folk music and folk songs (from all over the world - I love listening to music in different languages), synth, old acoustic blues, singer/songwriter, computer- and video game soundtracks, atmospheric black metal, dark ambient, hymns, medieval music, Middle Eastern pop, opera, country (like Townes Van Zandt), and more. There's not really any genre I totally avoid, I'll gladly listen to anything that I find beautiful somehow. I sometimes work as a DJ playing retro music or retro inspired music (such as Dengue Fever) from East and Southeast Asia. I listen a lot to Chinese music, China has a very interesting music scene.

I'm an aspiring literature buff (mostly interested in fantasy and science fiction). A few favorites: A Game of Thrones, L'amant (The Lover), L'Amant de la Chine du Nord (The North China Lover), Reindeer Moon, The Songs of Distant Earth, Rövarna i skuleskogen (The Forest of Hours), Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

"What magnificent country I have seen - wild, tremendous wasteland stretches, lost mesas, blue mountains rearing upward from the vermillion sands of the desert, canyons five feet wide at the bottom and hundreds of feet deep, cloudbursts roaring down unnamed canyons, and hundreds of houses of the cliff dwellers, abandoned a thousand years ago" - Everett Ruess, a man I feel kinskip with and in whoms footsteps I once traveled through the American Southwest.

In my early teenage years, I fell in love with the Mandarin Chinese language after hearing Faye Wong sing on the radio. I will never forget that moment. Many years later, while visiting San Francisco Chinatown, I pictured myself on my death bed discontent with my life because I hadn't learned Mandarin, and I applied for Mandarin classes at the university. By now I'm fluent in Mandarin. I must say that this is an amazing thing I've done, because I'm not sure how I managed to do it as in my adult years I've been a rather lazy student and a procrastinator extraordinaire.

Teach, Learn, Share

I love to teach how to play mahjong with the official international rules and can also teach people how to make dumplings or some other tasty Chinese food or introduce people to fantastic music from the PRC, or share what I know about Scandinavian or Chinese history and culture. I can teach Swedish folk songs and medieval ballads, music I'm very passionate about. I'd love to learn all sorts of handicrafts and I want to learn about local customs of the places I travel to.

What I Can Share with Hosts

With hosts I will gladly share meals, tea, walks, outings, heartfelt conversation, dreams, whatever knowledge I hold, cleaning help...that sort of thing.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Cambodia, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Myanmar, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Sweden, United States