I am a passionate student of maths, especially in how it can be used to change society for the better. Getting to university was a long journey, because I have a chronic illness which made it very difficult. I built up my strength with the help of intensive meditation, yoga and lots of hiking in beautiful South Africa, until I was finally strong enough to live a full life, study and explore the world; I am not wasting my chance to do so!

If you'd like to meet up in Cape Town, message me and we can make a plan. I'm doing a very intense course load, but I can at least show you around me favourite place in CT (Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens) on weekends and meet up for dinner. I'm not able to host at the moment.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

The main reason travel appeals to me is in meeting people from other parts of the world, in their own context. That way, you learn much more from your travels, and get a much more nuanced experience of what the place is like. And best of all, you get to make new friends!

While I unfortunately don't have the right living situation to be a host right now, I am still keen to meet travellers in Cape Town and show them my favourite spots.

Interests

I'm especially interested in genetics, psychology, feminism, decolonial theory, mathematics, statistics, insects (and biology in general), macro photography and jewellery design. I like to make diamond-cut shell pendants and Lego bracelets.

• insects
• arts
• culture
• design
• photography
• womens rights
• yoga
• meditation
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• hiking
• biology
• genealogy
• history
• mathematics
• psychology
• science
• statistics

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: electronic, hip hop and jazz mostly, especially Nina Simone, Nicholas Jaar, Flume, Talib Kweli, Four Tet, The Breathing Effect, Dave Brubeck, Onra, Cashmere Cat and so on (soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/krimp_varkie)

Movies: I don't watch them much, so my list is scant. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, V for Vendetta and the original Star wars trilogy stand out (new one is quite nice too)

Books: (goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/22869548?shelf=read)

Non-fiction: Feminist theory (bell hooks), Intercourse (Andrea Dworkin) and Dialectic of Sex (Shulamith Firestone) completely changed the way I see the world. Other favourites are the diaries of William Burchell, a dickish but interesting British explorer of southern Africa in the early 1800s, and the Signal and the Noise (Nate Silver), which got me interested in statistics.

Fiction: Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte) is my favourite novel, because I thought her portrayal of patriarchy and love was brutally honest, and the story has fractals in it which is pretty cool!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I helped discover some new ant species in Namibia with my dad and his colleague, who ended up naming one after me: Tetramorium duncanii.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach: science-y info of all sorts, modifying Lego to do awesome and interesting things, obscure radical feminist ideas and hard-learned lessons from living with chronic illness.

Learn: anything and everything: music, culture, history, art, science, maths. Just please no accounting theory. So, not quite everything I guess!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share my many passions in seemingly unrelated fields, along with various interesting but useless facts and anecdotes. I love to make interesting gifts using my favourite materials: Lego, sliced and polished sea shells and carbon fibre.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Hong Kong, Namibia

Countries I’ve Lived In

South Africa