CURRENT MISSION

Try my hardest to live for Jesus, raise my kids, enjoy every day, love my husband, be a safe place, ease back into hobbies beyond mommying...

ABOUT ME

I love my job. I get to know the same kids year after year as I am the only Chinese teacher at my small school, and I get to take a handful of them to China and see their skills come to life. I love being creative in inventing games to help my students engage with the language, and I adore and admire the people that I work with. I also love being a mom to my 3 littles, and love that I have summers and breaks to spend lots of time with them.
My family has moved into a big, old house that requires a lot of love to remain standing. Fixing it up is a life-long process. We live in a neighborhood that could use some extra love. We are getting into community gardening and love hosting bbqs and theme parties.
My husband has only recently opened up to the idea of hosting folks for the night, or else I would have been listed as has couch all this time!

PHILOSOPHY

I think it is important to do the things I want to do and do them now rather than do things I don't enjoy doing just because down the road they may pay for a chance to squeeze in something I have always wanted to do. I think a job should be enjoyable and be something I am passionate about, and I think playtime should be frequent. Time is shorter than we know, money will always be tight no matter how much of it there is, and it all boils down to choosing between having things or doing things. I believe the phrase "I don't have time" means "This is not a priority."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I had an excellent time surfing couches throughout Europe and in Beijing, and have been enjoying meeting up with fellow couch surfers in the city. What an awesome network of people!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Surfed Guiyom's couch in Paris and Konrad's couch in Heidelberg in March, met a bundle of Heidelberg couchsurfers, and unofficially surfed Stefan's couch in Munich before he set up his profile:)
Surfed Tom and Niall's couch in Beijing in April, 2008
Surfed Meggimee's couch in Singapore in July, 2008
Hosted a few awesome folk while living in Lawrence
Have met up for a meal with folks passing through town.

Interests

language, culture, travel, wine, music, cello, dancing, movies, food, floating down rivers, carnivals, Halloween and all other spooky themed things, secret passageways, roller coasters, water, geology, human anatomy and physiology, hilarity, and many passing and lingering pastimes

• culture
• writing
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• chocolate
• gardening
• clothing
• movies
• traveling
• music
• backpacking
• soccer
• anatomy
• geology
• languages
• psychology
• tourism
• rivers

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: System of a Down, Outkast, Gaelic Storm, Ben Folds, Cello Rhondo, Danny Elfman scores, Incubus, Gershwin...

Movies: Nightmare Before Christmas, What Dreams May Come, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Bruce Almighty, 40 Year Old Virgin, Invader Zim (a cartoon show), Firefly and Serenity, Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog...

Books: Water for Elephants, Life of Pi, A Boy's Life, Jesus Land, Les Miserables, 1984, the Twilight series...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Petting and holding a panda in China;
Learning the salsa in Mexico;
Helping to guide a Canadian-raised Chinese student through culture shock upon her return to China;
Getting smacked by a monkey in Monkey Island in China...
My baby's smile.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach a mean cello lesson, perhaps some Chinese, and maybe even both at the same time...

I love learning new dances and languages and hearing new music and new ideas.

I love cooking with and for other people!

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Japan, Mexico, United States

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