CURRENT MISSION

I just graduated and am... uh, considering my options. Yeah, that's it.

ABOUT ME

I love learning about how people live all over the world and how different peoples and countries interact. I am especially interested in China, but this is perhaps because I have invested so much of my education and work in it. I also LOVE linguistics, and if I decide to become a professor, there's a good chance it would be in Linguistics.

I love hiking and reading, and if I were in one place long enough I would get into politics. I love Chinese karaoke, way more than English--I don't know why. I like to learn about others' experiences and how they pursue their passions.

PHILOSOPHY

Empathy. I enjoy trying to understand where people are coming from and why they think what they do. It's funny how, being rational beings, people generally have good reasons for believing and behaving the way they do, even if it does not align with what I think.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

When I establish my own couch, I'll be excited to offer it up.

As a surfer, I'm willing to help clean and do all that other stuff that I'd expect myself to do in my own home. I wouldn't expect a host to entertain me, necessarily, but I would be appreciative of efforts to show me around or get to know me and would reciprocate.

If you're into Chinese stuff, I am always very happy to help people with the language and talk about all things Chinese. You might enjoy hosting me if you have an interest in China.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have none through this site. However, I have "hosted" plenty of couch surfing friends or friends-of-friends in college and abroad and been hosted by them, so I figure I kind of know what to expect and for sure don't expect to be a burden on anyone.

Interests

Intellectually, I tend to pour my passion for discovery into learning about China. I like keeping pretty well abreast of current events both worldwide and in the US and discussing them (though US current events aren't always fun to talk about with other Americans). I like reading all different kinds of things that expand my view of the world, including good fiction.

Outside, I enjoy hiking and try to keep in shape. I enjoy but am not particularly good at racket/paddle sports and soccer. When I have money I will continue training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (took a class in college).

• education
• politics
• reading
• karaoke
• hiking
• surfing
• sports
• soccer
• jiu jitsu
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies ---
I'm not really into movies, but I appreciate good films. I usually enjoy clever comedies. I guess I like anything well-written and not devoid of thought. I'm always willing to experiment with less mainstream films like foreign films or unconventional American films like Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life" that came out recently over here.

Music ---
I like classical the most, though I listen to lots of different stuff and can appreciate (if not like) most music.

I love Vivaldi for the stimulating precision of his rhythms, Mozart for his predictable but ornate music, the romantics like Rachmaninoff and Chopin for the pure beauty of their compositions.

My favorite alternative group is Weezer--I just love that style of music. Sometimes I enjoy loud, hard music, but it needs to have a melody.

I like electronica/dance music (though I don't know much about it), but not the mainstream modern Black-Eyed-Peas-like repetitive and unimaginative style that's been so popular lately. Similarly, I can't stand Taylor Swift's style of music, but I like folk rock and I appreciate a lot of country (and would probably like it if I sought it out more).

Chinese pop is generally a vast wasteland, but I listen to a lot of what I consider the good. I like music like 张学友's classics and others that have stood the test of time. I really like a lot of 周传雄（小刚）and F.I.R. Good Chinese pop is much more fun to sing to than American pop.

For a while in the early 2000s I listened to a lot of Spanish-language music and really like a lot of it, though I haven't listened as much since Chinese music took over. Similar to Chinese pop, they have a few classic people like Ricardo Arjona that I like. They also tend to have more engaging mainstream pop/rock music, or at least they did back then. Lately I've discovered I really like La Oreja de Van Gogh.

Books ---

Paradigm shifters:

Bonds That Make Us Free - C. Terry Warner
Roots -- Alex Haley
Atlas Shrugged -- Ayn Rand (I loved this book before the tea party co-opted it, thank you. I admittedly don't know much about philosophy, but a lot of stuff in this book really resonated with me)

Not Paradigm shifting, but stand out:

Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov
Nightfall - Isaac Asimov and some other guy
Ender's Game Series through Xenocide -- Orson Scott Card

(-- Above list incomplete, I just don't want to spend a lot of time thinking about it right now and need to finish my profile --)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

This category of question always seemed really pretentious to me in contexts like couch surfer.

What is "amazing?" I am kind of desensitized to the amazingness of lots of stuff I've done in China, but some other person may have never left their locale and done some things that I would think were amazing but they didn't think twice about.

Teach, Learn, Share

The most obvious thing for me here is language skill. I can help you with Chinese or Spanish. I also am quite conscientious about keeping house, so you can rest easy on that point as a host.

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