My name is Steven Dunn and I am currently in Vietnam with my girlfriend, Amy Sentinella. We have been together for six years having met in University and have spent the previous three years teaching English as a foreign language together in China and Vietnam, as well as travelling in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.
We are both from England, Steven from the South West and Amy from the West Midlands.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We are currently in Vietnam and are intending to return to the UK for a couple of months to catch up with friends and family. After that we are interested in coming to Taiwan to live and work as TEFL teachers and so we will be visiting Taiwan for a fortnight to get a feel of different cities and Taiwanese culture itself. A huge benefit of staying with people through Couchsurfing is to get first-hand experience from locals and foreigners alike as to life and work in Taiwan.

Interests

Amy: My interests revolve round being creative and hands on. I like baking, cooking, embroidery, origami and drawing though I certainly not a master of any of these hobbies... My biggest passion is reading especially old classical literature. I find that these books never age and are always still so relevant to modern times.

Steven: A big interest of mine is music. I love listening to it and playing it, mostly on bass but dabbling in piano and guitar as well. Another passion of mine is writing, although I'm allowing myself less and less time to sit down and churn stuff out! I also love video gaming, particularly Nintendo consoles.

• culture
• writing
• literature
• singing
• cooking
• baking
• reading
• traveling
• painting
• drawing
• origami
• music
• guitar
• piano
• drums
• teaching
• languages
• sign language

Music, Movies, and Books

Music

Amy: I like rock music and some pop music. A list of my favourite bands and musicians would include Foo Fighters, Fleetwood Mac, Creedance, Queen, Arcade Fire and my particular favourite Michael Jackson.
I also enjoy a good parody artist such as Flight of the Conchords, Weird Al and Tenacious D. It's always important to laugh.

Steven: I adore music and listen to all sorts. I'll have to really summarise here!
Classic rock: Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC.
Alt rock: The Pixies, Rage Against the Machine, Black Keys, Arcade Fire.
Electronic: Justice, Daft Punk, Kavinsky, Busy P.
Hip-Hop: MF Doom, A Tribe Called Quest, Kendrick Lamar, Wu-Tang Clan.

Movies

Amy: I am a huge fan of European cinema. My favourite director is the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar. I enjoy independent cinema and am always a fan of an 'underdog' director. I am a huge fan of horror movies.

Steven: Movies are fun. I'll watch all sorts, but my favourites have to be Science Fiction, off-beat comedy and Action/Adventure. To massively summarise...
The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix, Blade Runner, District 9, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Office Space, Hot Fuzz, Team America, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Pacific Rim, Kick-Ass, El Mariachi Trilogy, Guardians of the Galaxy, Clerks, Pulp Fiction.

It's unfair to mention TV! Amy and Steven's top shows: Game of Thrones, Fargo, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Bob's Burgers, Futurama, Rick and Morty, South Park, Adventure Time, Daredevil, The Simpsons, The Walking Dead, Battlestar Galactica and our favourite, The Office.

Books

Amy: I love reading every and all books and I would not be able to choose my all time favourite book. Even choosing an all time favourite author is tricky but I think I will settle with Thomas Hardy. I'm a fan of the classics - I have read a lot of them, my Classic reading list is getting smaller every year.

Steven: My two favourite types of book are science fiction and modern classic. My favourite sci-fi books include Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Neuromancer by William Gibson and The Star Fraction by Ken MacLeod. As far as modern classics go I enjoy John Steinbeck (Cannery Row, The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men), Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger and the dystopian trio of 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amy: I like caring and being kind to others. It comes natural to me to want to help. I have worked as a carer for the elderly and disabled. I have been a teacher of English to many different ages and I've learnt valuable lessons from all these experiences. These jobs have taught me to be humble especially teaching English. I never realised how lucky I am to have English as my mother tongue until I moved abroad.

Steven: Travelling Europe by train for one month. After a gap year spent working 9-5 for 5 days a week a friend and I saved up and treated ourselves! This trip really opened my eyes to the joys of travelling; getting ourselves from A to B was magical in itself, plus all the amazing sights and fantastic people we encountered along the way! We visited France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and the Netherlands. Truly amazing how many different cultures you can experience in such a short space of time.

Both: Our most recent stint of travelling involved an 8000 mile motorcycle trip through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, often following the Mekong River. It was a truly wonderful experience, highlights of which included riding around Angkor Wat, taking mountain passes through the North of Vietnam and viewing stunning waterfalls in the South of Laos.

Teach, Learn, Share

Amy: I have taught English to students of all ages in several Asian countries. I always try to tap into my creativity and the creativity of my students in order for them to successfully learn. I do try and learn languages when I can but I find that the more I get older the less time I have to focus on languages that I want to learn.

Steven: I'm partial to playing music, and while I'm not the world's greatest musician I can certainly explain the basics as well as show you what's what when it comes to a guitar, bass, piano and drums!
My time as a TEFL teacher in China and Vietnam has been both a teaching and learning experience. I'm always receptive to learn about new subjects, and find myself being an 'armchair enthusiast' of several areas, though a master of none!

What I Can Share with Hosts

Amy: My experiences, my passion for life, the languages I have learnt.

Steven: An easy-going attitude, eagerness to engage and my experiences from the UK and around the world.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Barbados, Belgium, Cambodia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Laos, Netherlands, Saint Lucia, Spain, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United Kingdom, Viet Nam