CURRENT MISSION

Grow, learn, make people happy :)

ABOUT ME

Just another French girl living in Kuala Lumpur (you wouldn't believe the number of French people here...) I left France for an Asian trip that was supposed to last 11 months but I met so nice people that I just couldn't leave. And here I am, living & trying to understand the Asian way of life, enjoying the knowledge that I'm learning every day.At the moment (June 2013), I am doing freelance translation. I relocated from Chiang Mai (Thailand) to KL 3 years ago, which is one of the best move I've done. I'm trying to blend in the local community as much as possible, volunteer on the side when I'm not drinking tea in the mamak restaurant with my friends :)My blog: http://matsallehrempit.wordpress.com (in English)http://surlescheminsdumonde.wordpress.com (in French)

PHILOSOPHY

I just try not to complain about everything, try to enjoy life as it comes. I mean, it can't be perfect, yes ? :) So let's accept it and that's it...
I'm kind of looking for spirituality too, especially through Buddhism or just trying to live serenely. I like to see every little things that make you happy but that we forget in our daily routine

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well, hosting, being hosted, meeting for drinks, festivals, walks around town, organizing meetings... Normal stuff :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My 1st experience was in New York city and it was a revelation. I have also been hosted by a muslim family in Sumatra during Ramadan in 2007 (not with CS) and it was just nothing short of incredible. And then... I felt in love with the KL Couchsurfing Community in 2007 :) Since then, it's a bit of "totally in" and "taking sometime for myself" but always keeping in touch with the amazing connections I made through here :)

Interests

Nature : hiking, birdwatching, growing plants on my balcony or in our guerilla garden, sleeping under the stars, looking at the sunset, going in the woods for a walk at dawn
Social : go and take a drink in a cafe/park (in Malaysia, I'd say "go lepak" - I don't drink much alcohol though and am not a party-hard person), go to the movies, chat about everything and nothing
Reading
I'm just curious about anything I guess :) Can strike a conversation about international politics, religion points of view, philosophy, environment, economics... as well as just crack up jokes & say stupid things

• festivals
• environment
• partying
• drinking
• gardening
• politics
• movies
• reading
• blogging
• survival
• hiking
• camping
• buddhist
• economics
• freelancing
• medicine
• religion
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies : last of the Mohicans, Willow, Lord of the Rings, Hotel Rwanda...
Music : from hard-rock to Celtic music, with pop-rock music... Ridan, Luke, Eskobar, Alan Stivell, various bagadou, Sonata Arctica, Cranberries, and lots of world music...
Books : heroic-fantasy (Tolkien, the Wheel of Time, R.E Feist's books, some by Stephen King), mangas (Miyazaki), celtic legends

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Went to a survival camp in Quebec for 2 days in late November (but hoping to spend more days when summer comes)
Slept in the rain forest (well, in a hut in a valley, with the nearest village a 3 hours walk), alone, in Costa Rica

Have been in a "monk school trip" to Burma for 4 days. Became friends with Buddhist monks and saw the dictatorship feeling from so close I'm still crying sometimes...

Spent 5 days trekking in Borneo jungle (April 2011) with MERCY Malaysia to provide medicine and medical consultation to villages that don't have access to doctors.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you Malay or Thai, show you the local life with the eyes of a foreigner, explain everything about the politics and societal trends of Malaysia (a long story). I can take you to a couple of hikes, make you volunteer at our Soup Kitchen or our English classes at the orphanage, or take you to our guerrilla gardening site in the suburbs :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Costa Rica, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, France, Malaysia, Thailand

• 

•