CURRENT MISSION

Exploring the Taiwanese island of Penghu then meandering my way back home.

ABOUT ME

At the moment I'm teaching at a small school in the Penghu archipelago. I am a geographer, motivated to learn about the world through an understanding of how people shape and are shaped by the places they inhabit. I speak ok-ish Mandarin and will happily talk to you about migration, urbanization, social movements, and forests. I'm interested in ecology, plants, getting dirt under my fingernails and very suspect of borders.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I made an account years ago but quickly let it fall by the wayside. My experience with couchsurfing as a concept (not tied to this site) has been limited to informal networks. Most recently, I lived in Seattle for 4 year in the midst of rapid gentrification and a housing affordability crisis. My couch often played host to community members needing a place to stay when visiting for doctor appointments, resources, and friends.

Occasionally, I've stayed on the couches of friends of friends while passing through town.

Intereses

• swimming
• geography
• plants
• trains
• long walks
• maps
• trees
• community building
• landscapes
• socks
• mutual aid
• cooking and baking
• ecological restoration
• migration
• self defense
• borderlands
• moss
• community defense
• spaces and places

Música, películas y libros

Music:
- breathy female vocals
- banjos, fiddles, and foot percussion
- music you can roller skate to and/or roadtrip with
I'm really proud of this playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4jnOKkWXEikw92yaLrlIBj

Books: anything with a strong sense of place.

Movies: disagree with my attention span -- I usually fall asleep or wander away. I prefer cooking dinner and making popcorn for other people watching movies. I like movies I can sing along with.

Algo increíble que he hecho

Spent a month staying in small Hakka villages in the Southeast Uplands of China researching village fengshui, forests, and cosmology.

Enseña, aprende, comparte

I'd love to see your mental map and learn what home looks like to you. What significance and meaning you find in your neighborhood? What's your favorite tree? Where do the friendly cats hang out? What memories does that street corner evoke? Who lived here before you? How can traces of their lives still be read in the landscape/ cityscape? What do you see as sites of community and resistance?

Qué puedo ofrecer a los anfitriones

I can share knowledge of basic Chinese, self defense, digital cartography and geospatial analysis, and how to make sock monsters. I also love to chop vegetables and cook in warm company.

Países que he visitado

China, France, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Taiwan, Viet Nam

Países en los que he vivido

China, Taiwan, United States