24 year old leo raised in Los Angeles and occasionally in the Philippines, afterwards being a bad student at Brown University in Providence, RI. I moved to Seoul, South Korea after graduation, then went on an ongoing ethnic questioning, unlearning, and creating, moving through brown space through Southeast Asia. I lived in Cape Town all of last year and currently stay with my family in Los Ángeles. But throughout my spatial oscillation, I aim to figure out my identities, and how I can send good energy into any space I’m in.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Attempting to cultivate my mind and solidarity past a US-centric framework, understanding how it all moves depending on many contexts. Yes, travel makes you richer etc etc etc. But at the same time, how can we dismantle the neocolonial ethos of travel, of appropriative yoga, white backpackers with dreadlocks, "living simply," to create spaces that do not mindlessly praise the good intentions of people, but also focus on the impact (a lot of the time actually negative and counterproductive) we have when we enter spaces, especially Black and brown ones. This is especially crucial since VERY few of us actually will be able to travel. Pretentious mentality that assumes everyone can and should travel, and can do so cheaply, is not mindful of all the ways we prevent others from seeing the world, and also assuming that travel is the only way we can reach the highest forms of consciousness. Ultimately, in capitalism and neocolonialism, travel will never cease to exist, so I want to use couchsurfing as a way to meet caring folks, to disrupt the elite space that travel is in order to form sincere energies with people.

Interests

Cooking, dancing, learning languages, film, napping, makeup, hiking, swimming, finding the best beaches

• culture
• dancing
• cooking
• running
• trivia
• traveling
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: SZA, Jorge Ben, Anderson Paak, R&B, Soul, Hip Hop
Movies: Chico y Rita, In the Mood For Love, Motorcycle Diaries
Books: I love magic realism

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was in a music video in Brazil and make a good panang curry.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cooking nice chicken adobo and rice (but also sugarless vegan desserts), (I love traditional food but also super healthy foods) ugly dance moves, Filipino language lessons, astrology, general high intensity trolling

Countries I’ve Visited

Brazil, Cambodia, Greece, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Laos, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brazil, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, United States