UPDATE: as I'm currently travelling I cannot accept couchsurfing requests. I will post an update once I am able to accept requests again.

I grew up in a farming district near Cape Town, on a property that had wild baboons, snakes, scorpions and a leopard. Really (I never saw the leopard personally though). The others I saw only too often. I had lots of pets - dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits, tadpoles, beetles, chameleons, mice and more. When I got to be a teenager and wanted to dance more than I wanted to climb rocks, I moved to Johannesburg, but I never lost my passion for animals and wild life.

I have travelled a lot in my own country, to the Drakensberg, the Kruger National Park, the Kalahari desert, the Knysna forest, the Cradle of Humankind and more. I've also had the opportunity to travel across Europe as far as Russia as well as in parts of South America, but there is so much I still want to do!

I don't smoke, am semi-vegetarian (I eat chicken and fish), and I am tidy in other people's space

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

So many places to see...so little time to do it all! So many like-minded people out there, so little time to meet them! I am on Couchsurfing to try and speed up this process

Interests

Dancing: passionate about ballet and tango, but also love and have done many other styles of dance like salsa, flamenco, ballroom etc.

Nature and animals

Reading and language

Arts and crafts

Boardgames

• animals
• arts
• dancing
• tango
• ballet dancing
• reading
• traveling

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Classic Hollywood of the mid '30s to late '40s (think Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Ronald Colman, etc.).

Books (my complete list of favourites would be endless, with a high percentage of fantasy titles):
Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber
Patricia McKillip - The Forgotten Beasts of Eld, The Riddlemaster Trilogy, etc.
Jane Austen - Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, etc.
JRR Tolkien - The Hobbit is my favourite!
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy...etc.
Emily Bronte - Wuthering Heights
Dalene Mathee - Kringe in 'n Bos, Fiela se Kind
Kenneth Grahame - The Wind in the Willows
Stephenie Meyer - The Host

............

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Survived an earthquake

Found a scorpion in my shoe (and didn't scream)

As a 9 year old, kept a very agitated tree snake cornered in my living room until someone came to catch it (fortunately everyone including the snake survived the experience)

Teach, Learn, Share

I am actively working on my Chinese and love to have opportunities to practice and improve

I love learning about the culture and customs of new places

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can teach you some Argentine tango, ballet, salsa, boogie and more

I can talk to you in English, German or Afrikaans. I can also teach you 'South African English' (do you know what 'bundu-bashing' is? What a 'robot' is in South Africa? And what a South African really means when s/he says 'shame'?)

I can do some really cute arts and crafts, like making figurines from chocolate wrappers. A useful skill when bored (and there are no more chocolates to eat).

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, England, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Mozambique, Namibia, Poland, Portugal, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Argentina, Austria, Germany, Ireland, South Africa