Victoria ManasseroMaat's Photo

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Accepting Guests

  • Last login almost 13 years ago

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Overview

  • 0 references
  • Fluent in English; learning French, Italian, Japanese
  • 57, Female
  • Member since 2011
  • User Experience, Editor, Online Project Manager
  • UCLA
  • From All Over California
  • Profile 75% complete

About Me

CURRENT MISSION

We'd love to host anyone, especially a family that would like to get out of Japan right now.

ABOUT ME

We are a small family of three... My husband and son (10) love to travel but have mostly traveled to Western Europe.

My son and I are really interested in going to Asia, Japan in particular. The earthquake and tsunami have broken our hearts.

If you are a small Japanese family who would like to come to the Bay Area in CA and stay with us for a while, we'd be up for that.

You could help us improve our Japanese... and we could help you improve your English.

PHILOSOPHY

How do we feel about life and the reasons for being on the planet? To explore this world and by doing so understand the importance of taking care of this world. Protect the environment, lead by example, have compassion and respect.

In general: We have a busy household... three dogs, three cats and 5 chickens, although during the summer we spend a lot of time at the swimming pool and relaxing.

We are extremely liberal, have no idea what is going on with this country with its crazy Christian right, but that's not happening in this house.

We do live to travel and even my 10-year old son is an amazing traveler...We watch South Korean and Japanese shows together and are trying to learn Japanese right now. We were planning to head East... To visit Japan, Hong Kong and China prior to the Earthquake. Friends of our just moved back to Australia, so Australia and New Zealand are on the list.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

During my time at UCLA, there was ALWAYS a traveler on our couches... we have Kiwis, Aussies, Central Americans, South Africans, Zimbabweans, and Europeans... at some point in time, everyone passes through Los Angeles. We have some folks stay with us for almost a year!

Now that we have a house in the 'burbs, we'll probably get less people visiting, but we're happy to have you.

Interests

• Reading, writing, and having friends over
• Traveling (both in the United States and abroad)
• Museums (art, fashion, antiquities)
• Science and astronomy
• Food and eating out

  • cats
  • dogs
  • chickens
  • arts
  • writing
  • design
  • fashion
  • environment
  • dining
  • technology
  • reading
  • traveling
  • eating out
  • billiards
  • swimming
  • astronomy
  • communications
  • science
  • tourism

Music, Movies, and Books

Yes MOVIES and BOOKS... the house is overrun with both. We don't have TV or mainstream media, but we have technology and you can access WiFi here or borrow one of the computers. We stream from Netflix and Hulu.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Wow, this is a really difficult question to answer... I guess the most amazing thing that I've done is get my child traveling -- he's had a passport since he was 6 weeks old and is on his third passport. He is a FABULOUS traveler... even when his mom flies him into a country without a hotel reservation and/or plan. He's done an 15 hour travel day without complaining at all.

Teach, Learn, Share

Well, in this house we can definitely improve English speaking skills. I taught ESL and at bridge program at UCLA.

We can also teach technology skills: building better user interface, using a computer, and things like that.

Or we can teach things in the Marketing Communication realm: brand management and branding, graphic, packaging and website design, content management, and using things like social media.

We're also pretty decent tour guides for the West Coast having traveled extensively or lived in all the major geographic areas.

Old School Badges

  • Pioneer Badge

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