I've only explored Couch-surfing once while in Indonesia, but am eager to expand my connections while traveling through South America!

I just recently quit my job as a School-Age teacher for Immigrants in Chicago and am taking my first vacation in a year. My goal is to learn Spanish and be braver in regards to my passions, which involve writing and cross-cultural understanding.

I think the best methods of learning are through community and through story-telling, and base my interactions on the following:
1) Everyone has a story worth preserving
2) Everyone is worth my time

I love testing my boundaries and adapting to drastic changes. Throughout my life I hope to learn and share folk arts and folk culture (truly all forms of artisanship!) around the world. In the near future, I plan to go to graduate school for Ethnography and/or Folklore in hopes that this will help me enable Art for Social Change (with particular focus on literature), both in the US and abroad.

I love to read, write, draw comics, cook, drink wine, eat bread, dance, and see art. People identify me as a "collector of curiosities", since I believe in seeing the beauty in all things, however distasteful they might seem to some people.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I heard of couchsurfing.com from a fellow ex-patriot in Yogyakarta, who spoke endlessly about the relationships she built around the world through the Couchsurfing network.

As a low-maintenance person who values experience and human relationships above all else, Couchsurfing is an amazing opportunity to participate in a community with similar values and interests.

Interests

Stories of the supernatural, blues dancing, partner acrobatics, performing arts, lyrical prose.

• arts
• performing arts
• dancing
• cooking
• wine
• yoga
• drinking
• comics
• traveling
• drawing
• blues

Music, Movies, and Books

Music:
Simon and Garfunkel

Movies:
Beginners, Shawshank Redemption, American Beauty, Les Visiteurs Du Soir, Moulin Rouge, Departures

Books:
Keep the River on Your Right, Jitterbug Perfume, Markings, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Bloody Chamber, The Arabian Nights, Invisible Cities

Poets:
Charles Simic, Gertrude Stein

Plays:
Two Rooms, Angels in America, The Pillowman

Comics:
Preacher, 9 Ways to Disappear, The Wolf, Poem Strip

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am friendly and have plenty of stories to share about . I am also able to cook, clean, and teach partner yoga.

Countries I’ve Visited

Cambodia, Canada, Denmark, France, Ghana, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Indonesia, United States