CURRENT MISSION

Permanent Shanghai foreign history who enjoys telling people about the vibrant history of our city, created by foreigners in the 19th century. Kicked out for 40 years, we're back, but it's a level playing field now with our gracious Chinese hosts.

ABOUT ME

Pleasantly eccentric poly-national over-educated with a gift of the gab and a lust for life

PHILOSOPHY

Patrio-psychotic anarcho-materialism. Member of the Cleveland-based 'Church of the SubGenius.'

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I like to meet resident CSers socially, promote the idea of CS and have people stay. Also, I am the Shanghai Regional Contact for the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, USA.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Five fantastic summer days in Moscow, Russia with Dimitri Zvorkin!

Interests

Exploring Shanghai on bicycle, standing and roaring support for my local football team, Burning Man (I'm in the local group), researching history of the famous site that is the school where I work (if you have seen or read JG Ballard's Empire of the Sun, my school was the Japanese internment camp for allied civilians during WWII), eating cuisines I haven't tried before, exchanging stories with other travellers.
Space Exploration, anything to do with Antarctica, Greenland, North, Korea and other extreme places.

• festivals
• traveling
• camping
• soccer
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

J.G. Ballard, Goncharov, Malraux, Pynchon
70s-80s Rock and Punk Rock
Eastern European, Soviet, Chinese film

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Went to Pyongyang DPR Korea in winter with a Chinese tour group, it was like time travel,
Lived with the Maasai tribe in Kenya in a mud dung hut
yes, Burning Man 1996, 2001

Teach, Learn, Share

Local Shanghai History

What I Can Share with Hosts

Stories from my eclectic life.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Cuba, Finland, Laos, Mexico, North Korea, Russian Federation, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Finland, Japan, Kenya, United States