Gabrielle Elkaim's Photo

Verified Profile

  • Payment verified
  • Phone verified
  • Government ID not verified
  • Address Verified

Not Accepting Guests

  • Last login about 3 years ago

Join Couchsurfing to see Gabrielle’s full profile.

Overview

  • 42 references 36 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, French; learning Hebrew (modern)
  • 40, Female
  • Member since 2006
  • Health Insurance Specialist (US Government)
  • BA African Studies and French, MSc Health and Demography,...
  • From Bulawayo, Bulawayo Province, Zimbabwe
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

to find the balance between roots and wings

ABOUT ME

More and more frequently the edges
of me dissolve and I become
a wish to assimilate the world
- Margaret Atwood

There are two ways of getting home; and one of them is to stay there. The other is to walk round the whole world till we come back to the same place
- G.K. Chesterton

PHILOSOPHY

"“I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything I will not refuse to do the something I can do."
- Edward Everett Hale

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Well-behaved women rarely make history.
- Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

I am because you are, I became because you became; we are human beings through the eyes of other human beings; my dignity is your dignity. That is what ubuntu teaches us.
- Raiz Boneza

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I absolutely loved hosting a number of couchsurfers in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe :)
I moved to Baltimore in 2010 to begin working for the US government within Obamacare, and have loved hosting couchsurfers here too :)

Interests

cooking, photography, being analytical and critical, decorating, hanging art, coordinating outfits, making brunch, the Baltimore water ballet, riding motorcycles, being a doula, purchasing very unique gifts for people, holding a conversation, and voicing my opinion, Burning Man, aerial yoga, connecting people and connecting with people

  • cats
  • dogs
  • arts
  • writing
  • interior design
  • photography
  • dancing
  • ballet dancing
  • cooking
  • clubbing
  • motorcycles
  • traveling
  • music
  • spelunking
  • history
  • antiques
  • burning man
  • furniture
  • decorating
  • aerial yoga

Music, Movies, and Books

Angela's Ashes, The Red Tent, Un Sac de Billes, Les Faux Monnayeurs, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Color Purple, The Color of Water, The Hobbit, The Bang-Bang Club, A Monk Swimming, Singing my Him Song, The Power of One, Tandia, Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, Life of Pi, The Kite Runner, The Poisonwood Bible, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Babylon (Crevel), Roald Dahl and Enid Blyton, The Sex Lives of Cannibals, The Dance of Anger, Teacher Man, The Case for Peace, A View from the Eye of the Storm, The Tipping Point, Someone to Run With, Rainbow's End, Mountains Beyond Mountains, Eat Pray Love, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, Emergency Sex and other Desperate Measures, My Traitors Heart, The Millenium Trilogy, Everything is Illuminated, anything written by Brene Brown, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

- The Victoria Falls never cease to amaze me
- The Northern lights and dog-sledding in Norway
- A sandbar full of howling, wrestling seals in Chatham, Cape Cod
- Womboyn, Australia
- The lake district of Austria
- Gesundheit Institute, West Virginia in snowy December
- Learning how to weave gem stones into settings with Kashmiris in Dharamsala
- Caving in the Actun Tunichil Muknal caves in Belize
- Helicopter lesson over Los Angeles
- Baltimore water ballets (Fluid Movement)
- Being a water spirit in a music video
- A community arts/mural project in Baltimore City
- Being a doula and witnessing childbirth
- Driving across the United States
- White Sands National Monument in New Mexico
- The Landmark Forum
- The bustling streets of Havana, Cuba
- Dancing all night in a club in a cave in Trinidad, Cuba

sooo many surreal moments of "is this really my life?"

Teach, Learn, Share

Learn: silversmithing, Spanish, salsa, roller skating

Teach: English, cooking, etc.

Share: stories (many stories), resume-writing skills, Thanksgiving at my house

What I Can Share with Hosts

insider's info about Baltimore... I can certainly make this city come alive

Travel tips for places I have been

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Belgium, Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Palestine, Scotland, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Virgin Islands, U.S., Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Belgium, France, Israel, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Zimbabwe

Old School Badges

  • 6 Vouches
  • Pioneer Badge

Join Couchsurfing to see Gabrielle’s full profile.

My Groups