CURRENT MISSION

To defer formal employment for as long as I can

ABOUT ME

All about me in a box. Hmf. I consider myself a nervous nomad, coming out of a very well-protected, highly secure techno-island. There is wifi everywhere and you never get lost in Singapore. However, having traveled to Europe, the US and various places in Southeast Asia in the past couple of years with a semi-Luddite Californian who mocks my paranoid need for instant information, I've learnt to relax and get used to the idea of getting lost and meeting unexpected people and circumstances.

Currently, I am living and volunteering in San Francisco, and I hope to pursue graduate studies related to Cultural Anthropology and Sociolinguistics wherever and whenever the opportunity presents itself.

If we were to get along, it is important to know this about me - I am a chocolate gelato purist. I cheated on chocolate once, and it was terrible. I vow to never do it again. But who knows, I have strayed once...

PHILOSOPHY

Share everything you know, and be eager to learn that you have no clue.

Share everything you love, but never expect love in return. Instead, accept whatever is given back, good or bad.

Share anything you can; sometimes it's ok to go cold or hungry for a night. It only teaches you that you must share anything you can.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have always been skeptical of couchsurfing, and I have never used my couchsurfing account despite having signed up for it in 2010. Meeting couchsurfers, however, have definitely warmed me up to the idea. I'm definitely excited about it right now.

Unfortunately, I don't have extra space or room where I'm living right now, but I'm always down to show people around or just hang out. I've been living in Singapore all my life, so I'm totally familiar with the city, and I love trading travel stories from all over. I may also be able to provide tips on the best ways to get around Southeast Asia, having traveled to Malaysia a lot, as well as recent adventures to Phuket, Krabi and Bali.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

The first couchsurfer I've met is a friend from school, Jun-E. She often shares with me her couchsurfing and hosting experiences. She definitely piqued my interest in the whole idea, but still being a nervous nomad, I stuck to the usual hostel-bookings/sleeping in cars/tents.

More recently, while doing a roadtrip from San Francisco to Seattle, my boyfriend, Jake, and I decided to mitigate our carbon footprint by sharing our ride with others who were hoping to go up north. Thankfully for us, we met Emely who was on her way to Seattle and told us all about her couchsurfing experiences and that she was going to be meeting her host. Then, we didn't have a place to stay and were planning to book a hostel, which turned out to be more expensive than we thought. However, her host very graciously offered to let Jake and I stay for the night, despite already hosting 2 couchsurfers that night. Jake and I had to refuse but accepted his offer to let us park our car in the lot, where we got really good sleep for the night. We were also very grateful that we had access to the bathroom to brush our teeth and empty our bladders for the night.

It was this experience of such spontaneous hospitality and graciousness that Jake and I are now convinced we should give couchsurfing a try..so here we are!

Interests

I love reading, and sometimes I prefer being around books than I do people. I also love discussing books with people, and it's always fascinating to realise that the same book could be read and interpreted in different ways.

I love music and don't really have a specific preference. I'm no connoisseur, so anything that sounds good to me, I like. I don't like death metal, though. I'm sorry. Hell knows I've tried to get into it but I just can't seem to like it. Many of my friends, including my boyfriend, love the stuff though, so nothing personal against it. I just don't like being yelled at, I guess?

I have no musical talent, unfortunately but I love singing. You can tell from the mini-concerts that I hold while I shower or drive.

Recently, I've started practising Bikram Yoga and I get my butt kicked everytime, but you know..builds character.

I enjoy cooking and I think food is one of the best ways to share culture. I've cooked Chinese, Malay and Indian dishes for friends from all over the world and would be glad to keep doing that! They complain it's too spicy, sometimes..but they will take it! And like it! I am currently learning how to perfect sushi-making and as soon as I figure out how to stop eating the ingredients before actually rolling the sushi, I will be able to share this joy with others.

I like seeing things for myself, which is why traveling is so dear and important to me. We live in a world where reality is understood through media that doesn't always accurately or fairly reflect the cultural and social conditions of people or places. Hence, getting to places and getting to know people is important.

• culture
• books
• singing
• concerts
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• yoga
• reading
• traveling
• cars
• drawing
• music
• boxing
• rock climbing
• anthropology
• communications
• cultural studies
• sociology
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

This is going to be a random list of movies, music and books that I love:

Mel Brooks, Harry Potter series, Vladimir Nabokov, Edward Said, Amy Tan, Catherine Lim, Oi Va Voi, Mumford and Sons, Oscar Wilde, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ian Serralier, Pramoedya, On the Road, The Matrix, Eve Ensler, Stephen King, Greg Iles, Cranberries, Radiohead, The Libertines, The Clash, Local Natives, Ingrid Michaelson, Joseph Conrad, Ellen, Toto Chan, The Bell Jar, Calvin&Hobbes, Lat!, Beetle Bailey

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

One of the most amazing things I've done that amazed even me, was to go rock climbing on a mountain in El Churro, Spain. I had never been rock climbing before, I was scared shitless and afraid of heights..but I did it and I made it. Would I do it again? Yes.

Teach, Learn, Share

Classical and contemporary social theory, specifically from a Sociological perspective. I'm NO expert but I am a total nerd about it and my own research experiences and interests draw on discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, political sociology, cultural studies, semiotics.

That being said, I'd love to learn more about the abovenamed topics and also philosophy whether Greek or Chinese or Mexican, doesn't matter. I'd love to hear them all.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, United States