Maria Pelufo

Current Mission: Montreal and Montevideo... oscillating!

Personal Designations

₃₈

Community Designations

Uruguay
Montevideo
Montevideo

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General Information

Maria Pelufo is a CS Ambassador living in Montevideo!
Maria Pelufo has been vouched for
VERIFIED MEMBER Identity Checked, Location Verified (3) more info
Couch available	Maybe
CouchSurf requests replied to	100%
member since	March 2nd, 2005
profile views	13,084
age	48
gender	Female
membername	SinfulWays
occupation	Manager, PM, Translator, Psychotherapist, Mom. I am a "Maedchen fuer Alles" :D
education	a little bit...
grew up in	Montevideo
ethnicity	Italian
	Direct Profile URL

Languages

Spanish^Expert
French^Expert
Italian^Expert
English^Expert
German^Expert
Portuguese^Intermediate
Dutch^Beginner
Catalan^Beginner

Groups I Belong To

MONTEVIDEO^3424:15098 Why: Keeping in touch! And now my daughter lives there for a while. Manteniendo el contacto...y mi hija vive allí por un tiempo ahora.	Toronto^11266:76792
Independent Women^3493:18880	Canada CS Organisation^56:282 Why: City Ambassador: Toronto
Active in 63 more groups. Show them all

Couch Information

Couch Available: Maybe
Preferred Gender: Any
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes

Max Surfers Per Night: 1

Shared Sleeping Surface: No
Shared Room: No

-Couch in the living room.

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2011 IN MONTEVIDEO URUGUAY

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PLEASE READ THE INFORMATION BELOW.

SCHEDULE FOR THE NEXT DAYS:
WEEK OF DECEMBER 19 - BUSY (family hosting)
WEEK OF DECEMBER 26 - BUSY (family hosting)
WEEK OF JANUARY 2 - BUSY (family hosting)
WEEK OF JANUARY 9 - BUSY ( family hosting)
WEEK OF JANUARY 16 - BUSY (Family hosting)
WEEK OF JANUARY 23 - FREE
WEEK OF JANUARY 30 - FREE

In the best neighborhood of Montevideo (I am partial: I grew up here), 2 blocks from the beach, I live in a small one bedroom apartment, and I have a comfortable couch in the living room, for one person. If two couchsurfers would come (a couple), for one or two nights maximum, I would give them my room, and I can sleep on the couch. Otherwise, I prefer just ONE person. The apartment is really small, so my MAXIMUM STAY IS 3 DAYS.

I work from home, so I really am not a very good tourist guide, but in our city there are lots of people available to meet, and very nice, and I will give you maps, brochures, and internet access with WiFi

Friends (145)

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Map of friends

Mags Ngo 23, Female Toronto, Ontario Canada Friends since August 2009 "Sparkling housemate" Friendship Type: Good Friend	Sofia Hollunder 19, Female Vienna, Vienna Austria Friends since February 1995 "YO MAMA - no....MYY mama" Friendship Type: Best Friend ³⁰⁺
ELDERBERRY 42, Male Vienna, Vienna Austria Friends since 1993 "She is my ex wife"	Ana and Andi Bernasconi 24, Female Vienna, Vienna Austria Friends since January 1988 "she is my mommy" Friendship Type: Close Friend I vouched for Maria Pelufo ¹⁰ ³⁰⁺ ³⁰⁺
Courante Family 36, Several people St. Catharines, Ontario Canada Friends since May 2009 "We hosted, surfed, and had fun together" Friendship Type: Good Friend ² ²	ANF 33, Male Vientiane, Vientiane Prefecture Laos Friends since November 2007 "We were lovers in our former lives. " Friendship Type: Good Friend I vouched for Maria Pelufo ²
BATMAN 45, Male Whistler, British Columbia Canada Friends since May 2007 "Met at a CS brunch at Sneaky Dee's in TO" Friendship Type: Good Friend I vouched for Maria Pelufo ²	ROSIE C 37, Female London, London England Friends since October 2007 "couchsurfed together" Friendship Type: CouchSurfing Friend ²
F.O.O.L.ING 25, Female Marburg, Hessen Germany Friends since February 2008 "explored toronto together" Friendship Type: Good Friend I vouched for Maria Pelufo ¹⁰	BEESMILE 27, Female Toronto, Ontario Canada Friends since February 2008 "mafia connections..." Friendship Type: Best Friend I vouched for Maria Pelufo ¹ ²
135 more friends

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Ranger at Burning Man - A big passion!
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Personal Description

-Couchsurfing seems to have been created just for me, and just for this phase of my life. I am honored to have this volunteering role, and to be a volunteer for the Project, as an Ambassador since 2007 -now traveling.

-I always enjoyed having people over for meetings, parties, to learn, to share, and to cook. Within the limits of space, I hope to continue doing so here.

-My long term plans are to become a totally obnoxious, eccentric old lady that wears non-coordinated neon colors, and feather boas, and dyes her hair shocking pink, (perhaps with stripes?) and says whatever she pleases while drinking melon martinis.

-Why am I called "SinfulWays"? Because my daughter embraced a very strict brand of Christianity (jokingly I call her "the black sheep" of our agnostic family), and she recommended me to mend my sinful ways... I won't. Thank you very much. I always say, like that famous author that: "For an Atheist, I am a very good Christian". My values include more ethics, love, and care than those of many of the very holy. Besides, I am a "pastafarian", a believer in the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) blessed be his noodly appendage. For more info about his holy noodliness, see here: www.venganza.org Ramen.

How I Participate in CS

As an Ambassador since 2007, formerly Country Ambassador for Canada, I hope I can really have an active role promoting the project.
I love welcoming people, helping in any way I can, organizing events, (specially those related to languages), but also hopefully convincing the locals that it is such a rewarding idea to share our city with the people that visit... and becoming a generous and loving host!

CouchSurfing Experience

I am a pioneer, I was a member of CS I. I started with CS in 2005. I was a host in Vienna as well with my then husband, Thomas -note that he is one of my friends- but by then, I still had children at home and it wasn't so easy to organize schedules. Now three of my children are also part of CouchSurfing! (and they left me good references! :D)

Interests

Improv (my GREAT love), Theatre, Cooking, Museums, Art, Traveling (obviously), Multiculturality, Religions (Atheism, Pastafarians), Music (love concerts of small blues and jazz groups, Opera, Bossa Nova, Ballet, very eclectic tastes!), Soccer, Singing (no fears: i will spare you). Movies. Siamese and Oriental Cats, although currently, due to the traveling, I cannot have any!

Professional interests:

I work as a Project Manager in Localization and Translation, which means that my job is related to some of my biggest passions: languages, multiculturality, diversity. I enjoy this very much.

On the other hand, from my old profession, I am interested in Gestalt, Enneagram, Transactional Analysis, Systemic Therapies, Bach Flower and Natural remedies, Naturopathy, Sexuality (I am a sexual counselor, which is slightly different from a Sexologist). I currently commute a bit between Quebec, and Montevideo, where I am practicing again my profession. My post-degree training and doctorate were in Gestalt, Sexual Counselling , and Social Psychology. Right now, I am cultivating an interest in Tantra, and Deeksha. Zen is also important, and part of the Improv theatre!

Philosophy

Whatever you are, whatever you have, life gets richer through meaningful personal connections. Take the plunge, and open-up!

We are meant to connect:

Music, Movies, Books

It changes. If I have to name general directors or movies that come to mind: Woody Allen, Almodovar, Scorcese. Some of my favorite films of all times: The Usual Suspects, The Shawshank Redemption, As good as it Gets, Chocolat, Le monde d'Amelie, Nikita (the French one), The Big Lebowski, the Indiana Jones series, loved the Bourne ones and good action movies. And too many more to list! Last I saw and liked: The Golden Compass. Didn't like: American Gangster and No Country for Old men or Lions to Lambs. Books: Grisham, Lescroart, Ian Rankin, Nelson Demille, Forsyth...Lately I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime and Life of Pi, and of course Harry Potter, and the Outlaw Bible of American Literature, and the latest from Paulo Coelho, and some books from Dawkins. And too many psychology books and author to list. I loved studying and my career is still a big passion. Music: you won't know it for sure! Joaquin Sabina, Mecano, Brassens, Zitarrosa, Rada, Jaime Roos, Charlie Garcia and such...and jazz and Brazilian music in general. When I fell in love, it was because I realized that he knew so much about Bossa Nova! Now I am dating again, and lo and behold: he made for me a CD with his favorite Brazilian music.

Types of People I enjoy

People tend to gravitate towards those who are similar to them.. I enjoy curious, open minded, creative people that are not afraid to love and let go, and to be passionate about things. And that tell or like jokes: comedy is super important in my life.

I love bohemian above stiff formal, and I admire people that show a commitment to a cause. I enjoy being around my own children and I am lucky enough that they like me. I get along with my "ex-es" and they are best friends with whom I talk regularly, and I keep in touch with the people from my childhood. And this community brought me new ones. I have a blessed circle of loving friends.

I generally do not enjoy the company of people that consume great amounts of alcohol, and usually not the ones that consume drugs. However, I am not the one to be horrified for someone that is "420 friendly". I am OK with people that are!

Teach, Learn, Share

I think I have been a teacher forever. I teach languages. And lately I have been sharing recipes, and cooking little tricks. I realized I am privileged having grown up vegetarian with my amazing Nonna, and that many people have just converted, and don't know how varied vegetarian cuisine can be.

I do believe in "being the change you want" so I would like that my life is some sort of demo for my values, and what I would like to transmit.

One Amazing Thing I've Seen or Done

Not everyone's destiny in life is to do amazing things by climbing mountains or visiting exotic sites. My path was simple but rewarding. I had left this space blank but one day i realized: "hey! I have a PhD, and raised 6 kids working full time in a foreign country where I arrived almost without speaking the language...Doesn't that count as something pretty "amazing" too?". So I decided to write just *that*.

Opinion on the CouchSurfing.org Project

What can I say about this wonderful project that hasn't been said 'ad nauseam' by others? It's a privilege for me to be able to open my house to great, open-minded people that shower me with love. I cannot imagine now any other way to travel and live...

Locations Traveled

TRAVELED: Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cuba, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain
LIVED: Austria, Canada, Uruguay
WANTS TO GO: Armenia, Australia, Barbados, China, India, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, New Zealand
IS GOING TO: Canada

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What do these numbers mean?

This summary is not a replacement for reading references; it's a quick summary to help you get started. At a glance, you can see how many references a member has, and how many of them are positive, neutral, and negative.

In the second line, you'll see how many references came from people who hosted this member, surfed with them, and traveled with them. These numbers won't always add up to the total: some references are not categorized, and some may be categorized as more than one thing.

When viewing this summary, don't jump to conclusions! Things that are negative for one person may be positive for another, and vice versa. It's important to read references carefully and evaluate what that information means to you.

References (101)

100Positive
1Neutral
0Negative

15From Hosts
27From Surfers
13Traveling

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From Michael Ottey
Miami, United States
^{Feb 7}

Positive

I asked Maria to host me twice last-minute and twice with no hesitation she said yes. I never made it to her couch, but we traded some fun e-mails, and finally met at a tango performance and for Mexican food later that evening. Meeting her confirmed that she has an easy-going manner and fun. Maria, when I return to Montevideo I will - gasp! - ask for your couch again, and just maybe I will finally get to sleep on it (laugh). So good to meet you, and I still want to hear your Burning Man stories!!

From Luchi Gonz
Buenos Aires, Argentina
^{Jan 30}

Positive

nice to share a daily tours around Punta del Este! she is easy to going. =) great memories

From Lucia & Fadi
Vancouver, Canada
^{Jan 14}

Positive

María organized and was the amazing host of 35+ CS in Montevideo to welcome new CS members. Thank you for all the work you put into it!

From Sebastien Laliberte
Montreal, Canada
^{Dec 28, 2011}

Positive

It was really nice to meet Maria And spend time with her(We had 2 or 3 oportunity).Unfurtunatly it was not the best time of her life,i knew a really strong and sensitive person, that open the door for friend and like to cook.

i spend a complet week at Maria house, a nice oportunity for mi to relax at the beach, know new people and visit Montevideo.

I hope that She know that she have a place to stay in Montreal and somebody that can always help...

From Gustavo Padron
Montevideo, Uruguay
^{Dec 25, 2011}

Positive

Maria is a really Mover and shaker, always keep on moving in our CS community and also in she´s projects and works, I love she´s energy and all she´s experience, I like to share ideas and contributions for the community with she... I think we will have a lot of way to walk making the things happen!!!

From MAGELADEURUGUAY
Montevideo, Uruguay
^{Dec 3, 2011}

Positive

I met her at a CS meeting at her place. We went to the theater together and shared other activities. She is a very interesting person.

From David_Heroux
Montreal, Canada
^{Jul 24, 2011}

Positive

Maria is a lovely and very generous person!

From Lisa Gaugusch
Vienna, Austria
^{Jun 10, 2011}

Positive

We really enjoyed our stay with Maria. She is a very nice, kind, generous and interesting person. It was great to speak also german from time to time. Thanks for the wonderful time and good luck for uruguay :)

From Johanna Frank
Vienna, Austria
^{Jun 10, 2011}

Positive

My friend and I stayed with Maria for two nights. Although I did not really know when we would come, and after we changed our plans several times, Maria was still as flexible as to host us.
Also she was really generous and concerned about us.
Thanks for these lovely days, we spent with you!

From Lindsey Engh
Seattle, United States
^{Jun 5, 2011}

Positive

Maria is incredible! After trying to find a service that delivers non-deliverable goodies for a birthday treat for my boyfriend while I'm in Africa, I reached out on couchsurfing for ideas... and Maria offered to do it herself! She picked up some treats, arrived at his house on his birthday with a balloon and a camera - PERFECTION!!! Couldn't be a better birthday surprise!

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