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  • Last login 2 months ago

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Overview

  • 92 references 75 Confirmed & Positive
  • Fluent in English, Norwegian, Russian, Spanish; learning Chinese, French
  • 40, Female
  • Member since 2011
  • non-profit, plus a desperate housewife
  • Environmental Sciences at St.Petersburg University
  • From Russian Federation
  • Profile 100% complete

About Me

ABOUT ME

Hi everyone!
I normally couchsurf and host together with my husband Jorgie (https://www.couchsurfing.org/people/jorgieviento/). We're not your Russian or Puerto Rican stereotype, we don't drink vodka or dance reggaeton. But we are responsible travelers with a bunch of diverse interests and skills to share and pretty nice hosts, as far as I can judge). We usually move around by hitchhiking and public transportation, cook veg food from what we find at local markets and spend quality time with our hosts and guests. We love hiking, sharing recipes, and Jorgie writes and plays music.

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I totally love all things freegan, and the whole idea of CS, so here's my little contribution. Here you'll always get at least a place to sleep, a shower and some food, but I don't like being treated just like a hostel. Btw we're vegetarian (mostly vegan), and other veg*ns (as well as everybody else) are veeery welcome! I love spending quality time with my guests, showing them around and cooking together. I'm a big tree- and people hugger, but I do respect their boundaries:)

PHILOSOPHY

Practice random kindness.
Do. Or do not. There is no try. (Master Yoda)
Wouldn’t it be tight if everyone was chill to each other? (Parks and Recreation)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host and surf, duh...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've used Hospitality Club since 2005 and have hosted and visited so many amazing people. Then I got this profile due to HC slowly dying... I have a few friends who are active in CS, so we went to a CS meeting (in Venezuela) together, and I've happily used this instead ever since. Now I am contemplating about moving to another platform, like bewelcome, or something like that. CS's aggressive marketing is getting way too annoying and is working against the community.

Interests

Nature and environmental sciences, art, animal rights, political economy, diy, knitting and crafting, freeganism, simple living, drifting, linguistics and constructed languages, medieval, WW1 and contemporary history, conference tourism, tea ceremonies, hiking and camping, Chinese language (Mandarin)...

  • animals
  • arts
  • diy
  • dining
  • cooking
  • recipes
  • vegan
  • yoga
  • crafts
  • traveling
  • dumpster diving
  • music
  • hiking
  • camping
  • history
  • languages
  • hitchhiking
  • mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Currently: Bruce Lee movies and various documentaries, and I'm getting addicted to Nigerian movies (and their epic special fx!!!)
Classical music. Heavy music (and any that has bagpipes in it). Favorites at the moment: Urfaust, Nina Hagen, Corvus Corax, Sainkho Namtchylak, Septic Flesh, Skyforger, Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs, Korppiklaani and Angizia.
As for books: a compilation by Victor Pelevin and a study book on Dialectical Materialism. And I keep rereading Anatole France over and over again along with books on philosophy of grammar and other obscure subjects like that.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The awkward moment when you hike in the mountains of Tajikistan and see a very narrow path right on the edge of the mountain, taking which seems completely suicidal. And then you see an old dude on a donkey (!) laden with huge sacks calmly passing by and taking that same path as if for the 10000th time... And then you realize that all your fears and "I can't"'s are bullcrap.

People´s hospitality and the ability to go out of their way to help you out never ceases to amaze me.

The story of how I met my husband is quite amazing.

Anyway, I believe the quantity of amazing-ness in the world depends on one's openness to seeing it.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can show you how to cook some Russian and Puerto Rican veg food, teach basic knitting or crochet.
Mine is yours, we share what we got.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We are pretty open for suggestions and are ready to contribute with our skills or mere workforce if necessary. We love cooking together with/for our hosts and take part in their activities when invited:) And we normally carry a portable Chinese tea ceremony set with us wherever we go, so if you like having your morning pu erh - we are your people.

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Netherlands, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Ukraine, United States, Venezuela

Countries I’ve Lived In

Norway, Puerto Rico, Russian Federation, United States

Old School Badges

  • 7 Vouches

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