CURRENT MISSION

To live comfortably, enjoy life and to hell with careers, cars, and stupid stuff .

ABOUT ME

We are a very cool married couple. Fred, the husband is French, and Tanya, the wife, was born and raised in California. Her parents are from Switzerland, and she has lived and worked a bit in Switzerland before settling down in France. Yelena, their 7 year-old daughter is bi-lingual English-French. Marieke is just the baby, but she is already talks as much as she can with her body-language.

Tanya: When she was back in the States, she used to work for a translation company and taught French at the University of Oregon. She can offer quick French lessons to foreigners (time permitting) and insights into understanding the French and this country.

Now she works part-time for a small publishing company, and teaches Engish at the engineering school in Alès. She loves spending time with Yelena, fixing up the house, and Coushsurfing!

Fred: is a stay-at-home Dad and ceramics artist. He loves puttering in his "garage", his collection of figurines, comics (as in Hugo Pratt and Hergé), a good beer, and he's a huge WWII buff. He enjoys chatting with Couchsurfers, although he can chat much better in French. His chats in English will be a bit broken, but he's very charming that way.

Yelena: is 7 years old and goes to the local elementary school. She loves horses, her cat and princesses.

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Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We love to host CSers from all over the world. For the short time that you stay with us, we'd like to get to know you a little better, and to be a part of our family. Our daughter is very friendly, she might ask CSers to play with her or to read stories to her. We love to share meals with our CSer and to help them discover Alès and the surrounding areas.

I moderate the CS group Alès.

I'm involved in the French translation of the Couchsurfing site.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Hosted:
Brandy from CA - Sept. 07
Jill from CA - Sept. 07
Christine from CA - Oct. 07
Daniel from NZ and Katie from NJ - Nov. 07
Derreumaux family from France (dinner) - Nov. 07
Euna from So Korea - Jan. 08
Adam from Poland - Feb. 08
Judy-Fay and JF from Québec - March 08
T from CA - April 08
Rhea from CA - May 08
Lieke, Peter + Kids from Belgium (dinner) - Aug. 08
Jamie from WI - Aug. 08
Petr, Pavla + Friends from Czech Rep. - Oct. 08
Andrew from WA - Oct. 08
Catherine from CA - Oct. 08
Robin and Camille from LA - Nov. 08
Dan from NZ and Noa from Isreal - Dec. 08
Masako and Scott from Japan - Feb. 09
Kris from Australia - Feb. 09
Letizia from France - May 09
Miro and Vero from Slovakia - May 09
Jasmine and Aaron from Australia - July 09
Magda and Natalia from Poloand - July 09
Solveig from Denmark - Oct. 09
Nancy and Gary from WA - Oct. 09
Corinne and Brenden from Wash. DC - Oct. 09
David from France - Dec. 09
Nomad@ from EVERYWHERE - Jan. 10
Bernadette from CA - March 10
Laurent and Sophie from France and Switzerland - May 10
Rolland and Nella from France - June 10
Alana and Martin from England - Sept. 10
Magali from Montpellier - March 11
Alex from Quebec - May 11
Slawek and family from Austrailia/Poland - May 11
Emily from Hong Kong - May 11
Ted and Annie from USA - June 11
Surfed:
Lieke, Peter, and Kids in Belgium - June 09 and Oct. 12
Martin in Luton, UK - June 10
Meetings:
Alès CSers 1st meeting - Pizza Dinner - Sept. 08
Alès Couch Invasion - January 2010
Alès Pub rencontre - March 2011

Interests

Fencing at the fencing club in Alès, art : painting, ceramics (we have our own kiln and we create decorative tiles). Fred loves a good Role Playing game (D and D, Mage, Cthulu...)
Together we spend our time with our daughters and dinners and evening chats with our friends.

• cats
• horses
• arts
• beer
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• comics
• cars
• pottery
• painting
• fencing
• engineering

Music, Movies, and Books

Jon Spencer, Gotan Project, Gypsy Kings, and various movie sound tracks.

Teach, Learn, Share

Tanya can help you out with French grammar.
Fred can teach you ceramics, figurine painting, role playing games, and fencing (épée, sabre or foil).
We're always learning new things, teach or share with us anything you can.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Switzerland, United States

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