CURRENT MISSION

To one day defeat my inner laziness. But not today. Maybe tomorrow...

ABOUT ME

I'm a 32-year-old American teacher currently living and working in Yangshuo. I have lived in one other city here in China as well as several in the US (Chicago and DC). I went to school in Virginia, studied international relations, and hope one day to find a career where I can work with and for people living in less developed areas.

PHILOSOPHY

"How soon not now becomes never." --Martin Luther

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am offering a space to crash and any advice or insight I've got about life in Yangshuo and China, and I hope to stay with other CS when I travel in the future and learn about their lives and the communities where they live.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Very little personal experience surfing thus far, but the couch surfers I know or have met are really great people and hope to meet many more in the future.

Interests

Things I love: milkshakes, most animals, running and cycling, learning new languages, and learning about other people and their experiences.

Things I don't love: low-fat foods, some animals, watching sports, struggling to learn new languages, and describing myself to other people.

• animals
• dining
• beer
• running
• traveling
• watching sports
• cycling
• surfing
• sports
• teaching
• geography
• history
• international relations
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Modest Mouse, My Morning Jacket, Built to Spill, Radiohead, Death Cab, As Tall As Lions

Movies: Waking Life, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Memento, Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society

Books: Unbearable Lightness of Being, Naked Economics, Into the Wild

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've very happily had the opportunity to climb two of the Seven Summits -- Kilimanjaro and Aconcagua. If I am able to go to Antarctica in March as I have planned, I will have visited all seven continents, so I'm very excited about that!

Teach, Learn, Share

I have spent many years working as a teacher and have a good amount of experience teaching history, geography, and English, and I am always happy to share anything I know about those subjects. I am also happy to share any information about the places that I have traveled, which includes many places in Southeast Asia (especially China). I have also done a lot of improvisational comedy, so I could probably teach something about that if someone was interested.

My main interest right now is in learning and practicing Spanish, as I would like to live and work in Latin America for the next few years. I would also like to learn more about NGOs and development work, as I hope to work in this field in the near future. Finally, there are some things that I would like to learn more about in order to become more self-sufficient, and this includes things like growing my own food, making my own beer, and how to repair and maintain a bicycle.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Cambodia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Nepal, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States

• 

•