CURRENT MISSION

Know the World....Share the World

ABOUT ME

About us: I (Shari) am a youthful 53-year old, parent to two wonderful girls (born in 1995 and 2001) and wife. I've been working as a Natural Resource Specialist for many years and before that, I worked in the field of Environmental Education for many years. My passion is travel, learning, teaching and helping in any way I can. I want our daughters to see the world; to understand different cultures and to learn other languages.

Our oldest daughter finished her junior year of high school in Plasencia, Spain and our youngest finished up 5th grade in there as well. Our oldest daughter is now a sophomore at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Our youngest is an 8th grader. They both love music, to draw and meeting new people all around the world. Andy (58 but who's counting) is a man of all trades, from fixing cars, baking pies, with his passion in photography.

Andy and I have our TESOL and TEYL certificates and have been teaching English for 2 1/2 years. We are passionate about teaching and can offer English lessons in our home. We love to learn other languages (but agree that it is much harder to do so as a mature adult -- but we love to try!) and enjoy helping others with their English language skills.

PHILOSOPHY

This is something my mother always used to say (she had been a dancer in her youth and unfortunately her life was cut short by cancer): "Life is not a rehearsal".

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We've been couchsurfing hosts for several years and have hosted many people from all over the world. We've couchsurfed in Spain and throughout portions of Europe, and absolutely love it. As our dear young friend Alfonso Junior said; it's not about the travel, it's about meeting people and making wonderful friendships. Indeed!!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We've been hosting couchsurfers in our home since we joined and have done extensive couchsurfing in Spain and throughout much of Europe.

Interests

So many....sustainability, conservation, equity for all, ending poverty, languages, nature, health/fitness, bicycling, hiking, my children, children in general, teaching, music, art

• arts
• books
• photography
• dancing
• education
• baking
• vegetarian
• vegan
• fitness
• traveling
• cars
• socializing
• drawing
• music
• hiking
• teaching
• languages
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: I don't get out to the movies too much, but some of my recent favorites "The King's Speech". I love comedy and the classics...but I also really like the Harry Potter movies and Pixar animation movies.

Television (more like Netflix): BBC Sherlock, Portlandia, documentaries

Music: I appreciate all genres, but must confess that I'm less of a fan of contemporary rock than of classic rock. We enjoy folk music, classical, classic rock, blues.

Books: We have a Free Little Library and I'm always picking up a book here or there and reading it.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

It's all amazing. There are three amazing things we've done (as a family). The first one is that we spent four months in Ecuador and Peru studying, volunteering and travelling as a family. It was an incredible experience. The second amazing thing I've done is that I wrote a book about the first experience (and then won two awards)! Lastly, we've lived in Spain this past year, teaching English while our daughters were enrolled in the local, public schools. During the summer we couchsurfed our way around much of Europe. It's time to return to our home state in the USA for awhile, but I can't wait to live abroad in the future!!

Teach, Learn, Share

My husband and I can teach English (in our home - ask us!). My husband can teach Photography. We can help with all kinds of things and are willing to get our hands dirty (did I mention we have a small farm). I love to learn. I want to improve my Spanish and come as close to fluency as I can master. I want to learn other languages. But I want to learn it all....

What I Can Share with Hosts

conversation, language interchange, provide information about Central Oregon, possibly share a meal (vegetarian)

-We are vegetarian and mostly eat vegan. What we've been finding is that we can't seem to tolerate much gluten (although we did fine in Europe) or too much dairy (again, we did fine in Europe). We enjoy eating wholesome and healthy and as organic as possible.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Mexico, Netherlands, Peru, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Spain, United States

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