CURRENT MISSION

To ride my bicycle across the country to raise awareness for bone marrow donation with Be the Match.

ABOUT ME

A while ago my cousin asked me to help out a campaign to find a bone marrow donor for her friend. When a few friends and I joined the bone marrow donor registry, we wondered why we hadn't done so years ago. Ever since, I've been telling people about joining the registry, because I know there are lots of people who would join if only they knew about it. Since I was planning a cross country bike trip, I figured it would be a great way to continue spreading the word about Be the Match. I contacted them about my idea, and they've been extremely supportive!
Before this, I graduated from UC Berkeley thinking that I would work in biotech, but instead I decided to kayak a lot. Then I joined the Peace Corps and worked in agriculture in Paraguay. Later I led outdoor education trips for elementary and high school students in Monterey, California. That led to me deciding to move to Thailand for a couple years to continue working with students outdoors. Finally I came home to California and got my masters degree in education. I taught high school science for a few years, which was the hardest thing I've ever done. To vent, I would hit the CrossFit gym. I shifted my teaching focus to the CrossFit Kids class and eventually became a part owner of the gym.

PHILOSOPHY

Let's leave the world a little bit better than how we found it.
Don't we all just want to have a fabulous time together while we're here? As Douglas Adams explained in Mostly Harmless:
St. Antwelm had been, during his lifetime, a great and popular king who had made a great and popular assumption. What King Antwelm had assumed was that what everybody wanted, all other things being equal, was to be happy and enjoy themselves and have the best possible time together. On his death he had willed his entire personal fortune to financing an annual festival to remind everyone of this, with lots of good food and dancing and very silly games like Hunt the Wocket. His Assumption had been such a brilliantly good one that he was made into a saint for it. Not only that, but all the people who had previously been made saints for doing things like being stoned to death in a thoroughly miserable way or living upside down in barrels of dung were instantly demoted and were now thought to be rather embarrassing.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm going across the country to raise awareness for bone marrow donation, so I would love to meet as many people as possible to help spread the word. I don't even need a couch - just some space in the backyard where I can pitch my tent or hang up my hammock would be a great help. If anyone would like to get involved with my cause, I'll happily get you connected!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None so far through this site, but plenty on my own!

Interests

Life, the universe, and everything. Especially outdoor fun, good whiskey, and good science debates.

• festivals
• dancing
• education
• dining
• crossfit
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• kayaking
• agriculture
• teaching
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

I'll give just about anything a try, I got a list of my top 100 books if you're interested :)
Top authors are Bill Bryson, Douglas Adams, Kurt Vonnegut, Steinbeck... this could go on and on.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Nothing beats whitewater kayaking.

Teach, Learn, Share

Want to extract some DNA and do some gene splicing?

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share lots of stories about the parasites I had in Paraguay and Thailand. I have other less disgusting stories too about my travels, such as in the Galapagos, Indonesia, Norway, etc.
I'm also pretty good at making pretzel buns, except for when I totally mess it up.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Cambodia, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Turks and Caicos Islands, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Paraguay, Thailand, United States