ABOUT ME

I'm a writer and I teach at different colleges, such as National University of Singapore, Hunter College, and Cornell University.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

by adventuring and facilitating adventures!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've mostly couchsurfed through Italy, Greece, Colombia, and Singapore and I have also hosted in Pittsburgh and Ithaca. I'm living in New York, NY -- in Brooklyn specifically.

Interests

So many things. I'm all about duende, the spirit that places someone at the precipice where, as Lorca puts it, "ants could eat him or a great arsenic lobster could fall suddenly on his head." It's that fatalism, that necessary raw energy that drive us forth as artists!

I'm all about honey badgers. They may be fearless, but these creatures are deceptively vulnerable. Just look at them fall into a deep coma after being attacked by rattlesnakes. That, to me, is heartbreaking.

• dogs
• arts
• writing
• poetry
• movies
• painting
• drawing
• hunting
• rock climbing
• tourism
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

So many books and films and music to count...
I love novelists James Baldwin and Junot Diaz!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

hearing peoples' stories on the road, soul-affirming adventures in china colombia japan and malaysia

meeting my family in KL malaysia, cousins of my mother whom we have never met before, but telling stories to their daughter and watching hayao miyazaki films until 2am in the morning and never wanting to leave, breaking fast at dawn

being guided by a friendly dog to a waterfall in a tropical rainforest mountain with my adventurous friend Allison in minca colombia, eating beautiful mangos from a tree

meeting a tour guide named Sophocles in santorini, greece, and deciding that he was more like virgil and I am dante, was that paradiso or purgatorio?

getting a free stay at a hostel in dali in exchange for painting pictures of rainbow trout and narwhals

hitchhiking from lijiang to kunming with a group of girls from sichuan who became my lifelong friends in the span of one week

climbing up a waterfall naked in the small volcanic town of Beppu, Japan and getting bitten nearly to death by a mob of thirsty mosquitos at the top was probably not that amazing at the time but man it's pretty funny looking back at it now

What I Can Share with Hosts

I am a very curious person and I can offer any knowledge about poetry and literatures and arts, and exchange ideas. I am very respectful. I can draw you a picture or write you a poem. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Canada, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Netherlands, Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, Netherlands, Singapore, United States

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