CURRENT MISSION

To see as much as possible.

ABOUT ME

I love to travel! I'm an elementary school teacher in Shanghai, China and I'm usually at work, or outside...or reading, or doing crosswords. That's my life!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I couchsurfed in Europe and got to meet and stay with some great people.

Interests

I drove across America last summer: toured the southwest, stayed a week in Tennessee and then a week in Florida, explored the Keys and then up to Penn State on the Blue Ridge parkway, all followed by a 72 hour straight drive home...it was great fun, expensive gas, and lots of sleeping in a tent and bathing in whatever body of water was close by...in other words, the best road trip imaginable. Drove to Las Vegas, Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Palm Springs, LA, Big Sur, San Fran, and Yosemite with my little brother Brett after Christmas. I discovered that the best sunrises in the world may occur at Big Sur and Yosemite in winter has no tourists (except us), and Death Valley sand dunes are pretty impressive (still cold) for watching stars. Generic interests: Reading, sketching, drafting, traveling, walking and hiking, mountain biking, swimming- or more precisely floating, ice blocking, sledding, exploring, finding hot springs, backpacking, adventuring in general.

• sketching
• walking
• reading
• traveling
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• swimming
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Musically I'm a populist so everything but country is generally fine with me. I've been listening to a lot of Beck, Beatles, and Hot Chip lately. Also Athlete, the Kooks, and The Knife. The Killers, Arcade Fire, the Doors, U2, Frank Sinatra (everything by Frankie), Billy Joel, Radiohead, Velvet Underground, trying to like the Pixies. Badly Drawn Boy, Sondre Lerche, TV on the Radio, etc.
Books: Lately I've been reading non-fiction and actually enjoying it. I'm as surprised as anyone. I liked Omnivore's Dilemma and Everything Bad is Good for You. Was blown away by the autobiography of St. Therese of Lisieux called The Story of a Soul. Fiction, my first love, includes older Mary Stewart books (the Moonspinners, Nine Coaches Waiting, My brother Michael), Jane Austen of course, Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series, Card's Ender's Game, all JRR Tolkien, Gillian Bradshaw (rereading her oeuvre right now), The Giver, Monica Furlong's Wise Child and Juniper, Kingsolver's Poisonwood Bible, Baroness Orzcy's Scarlett Pimpernel, McKinley's The Blue Sword and Hero & the Crown, Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy, Watership Down, the list goes on...and on

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed to the top of the Nevado De Colima in Mexico, Elevation: 14,200 ft above sea level.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States

•