CURRENT MISSION

Trying to understand America

ABOUT ME

I was born in London, and now I live in Philadelphia. In between those places, I spent a lot of time in China, Taiwan, and Syria, travelling and writing. In Philly, I teach creative writing, and write stories. I love to meet interesting people, talk about culture and travel, try new kinds of food (I cook a pretty decent Thai curry and Chinese ma po tofu).

You can probably get a good sense of who I am on my blog: http://onpinestreet.com/

PHILOSOPHY

"Fearful Symmetry" by Northrop Frye

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've stayed with, and drank coffee with, some great couchsurfers, and I've introduced many friends in America to the community.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've stayed with people in New York, Philadelphia, and New Haven, and met for coffee with (until then) total strangers.

Interests

Talking with a wine glass; writing in the morning; thinking about philosophy; people watching while drinking coffee; telling stories about strange places; looking out the windows of buses; taking martial art classes; cooking.

• arts
• culture
• writing
• poetry
• dining
• cooking
• wine
• coffee
• drinking
• traveling
• blogging

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: Love in the time of Cholera; the Count of Monte Christo; Mrs Dalloway; the Brothers Karamazov; also, sci fi like "The Stars my Destination".

Miles Davis, bits of Brahms, Cat Power, Led Zeppelin III, Amy Winehouse.

Theatre: Blood Wedding, Copenhagen, The Ghost Sonata.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Studied cooking in an army cooking school in China.

Teach, Learn, Share

If you're interested in learning about poetry, story composition, Western philosophy... I can recite a little poetry from memory, and a few more with the aid of my computer's files...

I've done a lot of travelling - I can talk about the Middle East, Chinese culture, Mexico...

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