CURRENT MISSION

Insect Dreams / にっぽん虫の眼紀行 / Forestilling om det Tyvende århundrede

ABOUT ME

I'm a 'botanist of the sidewalk', violinist of the tramway, gourmet of the nocturnal air, painter of the urban noise, and zenist of the butterfly wings.

A Scorpio, but a kind one :-)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosting experience:
Hangzhou (CN): numerous times ('03-'06);
Leiden (NL): friends from Germany (pre-Koninginnedag, '08)

Surfing via friends' networks:
Summer '06: Boston/Cambridge (MA), DC/Arlington (VA), LA/Orange County (CA), USA
Summer '07: Mainz, Germany
Summer '08: Prague, Czech Republic
Spring '10: London, UK

Surfing via CS (est '07):
2007- i. Verona (Hallowmas); ii. Brussels (pre-Xmas); iii. Frankfurt (post-Xmas);
2008- iv. Berlin (post-Spring-Festival, during Berlinale and Biennale); v. Utrecht (post-Easter); vi. Vienna (pre-Euro2008); vii. Budapest (Robert's Day); viii. Nijmegen (Vierdaagse); ix. Lubeck (on my way to conference); x. Copenhagen (Hamlet Summer); xi. Aarhus (conference); xii. Cologne (pre-Judith's-wedding); xiii+xiv. London (Doris Lessing and theatres); xv. Paris (birthday); xvi. Krakow (pre-Christmas);
2009- xvii+xviii. Izmir (conference); xix. Istanbul (Asia->Europe); xx. Barcelona (birthday); xxi. London (Old Vic, pre-Christmas);
2011- xxii. Tallinn (Baltic trip); xxiii. Tainan (Formosa trip);
2012- xxiv. Madrid (museums); xxv. Lisboa (pastéis); xxvi. Shanghai (Biennale);
2015- xxvii. Seattle (a weekend en route to Victoria BC); xxviii. NYC (pre-Christmas exhibition spree);
2016- xxix. San Francisco (pre-Chinese-New-Year)

Surfing via HC (HospitalityClub):
2009- i. Salzburg (Bavarian hiking); ii. Paris (free museum Sunday and Puces)

... so far so ... fantastic

Interests

Art and artists (my first solo exhibition: westlaker.org)
Museums and galleries (ICOM member: icom.museum)
Cuisines (huge fan of "Cooking with Dog": bit.ly/chefdog)
Languages and cultures (pronunciation editor: forvo.com)
...anything that touches my heart, or taste buds :P

• dogs
• arts
• perfumes
• festivals
• cooking
• walking
• traveling
• hiking
• surfing
• history
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: early films (prior to 1940s), everything by Kubrick, Hitchcock, the Coen brothers, Ang Lee, Wenders, Altman, Polanski, Edward Yang, everything starring Daniel-Day Lewis, Kevin Spacey, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Music: classical (Chinese guqin music, Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Mieczysław Weinberg, Stravinsky, Debussy...), film music by Nino Rota, Philip Glass, Ennio Morricone, Dario Marianelli, Alexandre Desplat, etc. I generally prefer instrumental to vocal.

Books: The Story of the Stone (by Cao Xueqin) -- the greatest novel in human history, and stream-of-consciousness writers like Woolf and Proust are always my epiphany.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Now I should update this section:
Trekked 200km (50km×4days, 15-18/07/2008) during the world's largest and most history-honored walking event Vierdaagse in Nijmegen (NL) and was proudly awarded the coveted royal medal Vierdaagsekruis

Teach, Learn, Share

孔子曰：“三人行，必有我師。”
(Confucius says, "There must be a mentor for me among any three travel companions.")

What I Can Share with Hosts

Cultures inside out

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Macao, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom

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