ABOUT ME

Easy going, enjoy new and dangerous experiences. Like to have good, deep conversations. Speak directly - break dat ice.

I would call myself a student, a teacher and a salesman. I spent a year selling travel in AU, a year teaching English in a school in Taiwan and a bit over a year running my own tutoring business for maths, sci and Eng. I learnt Chinese during my time in Taiwan. I went back to the UK for a year to get my official teaching qualification.

I am now a science teacher at a private bilingual school in Taipei, Taiwan. I love my job very much!

PHILOSOPHY
I want to live for the experiences, chances and opportunities taken and tried, and I want to leave the world as I came into it - penniless, naked, and loved!

Ricky Roma in Glengarry Glenross says it best - where is the moment??

What I'm saying, what is our life? Our life is looking forward or it's looking back. That's it. That's our life. Where's the moment? And what is it we're so afraid of? Loss. What else? The bank closes. We get sick, my wife died on a plane, the stock market collapsed. What if these happen? None of 'em. We worry anyway. Why?...What do ya keep? I mean, you don't keep anything. Security, things, things, you know? It's just, you try to stave off insecurity.'

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Now that I'm starting to travel just for the sake of travelling as opposed to working, I think it's important to humanise the places and buildings I see. Everything I know about a place I have been to is probably in reference to a person somehow...

I have attended a few couchsurfing meetings in Taipei and met some cool people through them - even though I haven't yet hosted myself through couchsurfing! I want to get into it.

My experience is limited.... For me, I lived in foreign countries rather than travelled. I have stayed with all kinds of random people in that time period, sofas and futons and floors in bars and hospitals. But looking forward to meeting more and more people as I go

Interests

I am interested in almost everything.. top things would be history, languages, outdoor activities, sports, food, cooking, lately a bit more fashion... although I haven't translated that into a sense of style. Yet.

Would be very happy to do or take part in new activities that I've never done before, so if you have a cool interest, hobby, obsession, I'm all ears!

• humanities
• fashion
• dining
• cooking
• running
• reading
• traveling
• outdoor activities
• surfing
• sports
• business
• chemistry
• teaching
• history
• languages
• logic
• mathematics

Music, Movies, and Books

film noir, historical fiction, mood music, kevin spacey, christian bale (sometimes), Shame

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Best thing I have ever done is the Tongariro Crossing in NZ, including a climb up Mount Doom, New Zealand. When my kids watch LOTR (if they like to watch the classics) I can proudly tell them - that Volcano aint nothing. I was up and down it in 3-4 hours - and no eagles helping me down.

Insight - coming down is harder than coming up, and when people 200m above you are accidentally kicking boulders down the side at you, your appreciation of things like level ground really goes up. Do you jump to the left or the right??!

Teach, Learn, Share

never stop teaching, learning or sharing.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I think I can share some language learning skills with you, or at least share enough logic about its concepts to make it easier for you to learn it in your own time. I taught myself Chinese and I'm happy to impart some tricks on you. I can go surfing with you, although I'm not very good, I love it! I have a lot of travel experience in AU, NZ and Asia, so I can offer some insight and advice on going there. I love food and am able to cook a lot of different cuisines (experimentally) and I'm happy to cook for you.

I think I have a hunger to learn, do and try that you can either borrow from me or feed in your own way. I think I'm an enabling person - I get others to push their own limits because I spend all my time pushing my own. Get busy living or get busy dying.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, France, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Taiwan, United Kingdom