COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE I haven't yet stayed at any place arranged through Couch Surfing, but I've definitely been hosted many times. The most exaggerated of these were the 6 host families I had in Taiwan where I stayed as long as 3 months in their houses. From there, I've traveled and been accommodated by great people from Ontario to New York to Minnesota to North Carolina to Delaware.

I remember that passenger car jostling around cutting through the mountains of Taiwan. That particular journey I got the chance to speak at length with a traveling Buddhist monk. We spoke about her religious beliefs, devotions, sacrifices, values, and joys. She went into all kinds of details about finding a balance between purpose and obligation. In the middle of it I realized that for the first time I didn't need a lick of English to truly understand a stranger. This was the experience I had been looking for all year, and the whole year of pouring over Chinese books was worth just that one conversation. Also, while on a sailboat in Minnesota one summer, I saw a vicious battle between a couple of Bald Eagles.