CURRENT MISSION

just breathe

ABOUT ME

all about me?... anyway, what can I say, just find out yourself by visiting me or hosting me, for that matter. I just embrace the whole CS idea wholeheartedly. I got into touch with lovely people, who each in turn learned me some lessons in life.
I am kindhearted, curious, social, but also an individual, loyal, I can cry over art, music, a good film or book, I try every day to understand a bit about life (and I am getting better at it...).
let me know whether I have missed important parts of my person(ality)! :)

PHILOSOPHY

you receive what you send. live and let live. try to be open to new experiences. people are always there for a reason, a season or a lifetime.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host and I surf, I am a researcher and have written a book chapter on CouchSurfing and presented a paper at an international conference in the summer of 2010.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My first experience was great. Went to Chicago in April in 2008 and couchsurfed with Ainhoa, who is very friendly, generous and caring.
Then I couchsurfed in Nepal with Arjun, another unforgettable experience, with his lovely wife and two sons and nephew. All so caring and warm. Loved the neighbourhood in Kathmandu.
Finally I was in Senggigi, Lombok, and had the most luxurious couchsurfing place at Klaus's house there with my own (well.. kind of) swimmingpool, where I learned snorkeling.
And back in Rotterdam I finally managed to host couch surfers: Ryan and his friend on August 19, Pete and Karen on August 30, Astrid and Yasifa on September 1.
More to come..A big break with busy times for me. But in Feb I hosted Franzi and Janine from Dresden. And in March once more Franzi visited me, I guess she liked it. :)
Then April it was time for me again to go couch surfing in Lisbon. Met up with Frederico, truly a nice guy. 'Words are very unnecessary'[DM]
I hosted Solomon and Skyler in June. We had a short nightly cycle trip through Rotterdam and a nice Sunday afternoon in the park listening to a gipsy balkan band.
Will and Steph from Minnesota also surfed my attic in June and we attended the 'Parade' in Rotterdam together. Yummie yummie sangria and tempura.
And Sarah and Rob from Toronto couch surfed my attic last minute. We had an evening picknick with my housemates, and it was just lovely. Thank you guys, also for the nice gifts.
:) Ann and Wouter from Antwerp, who taught me the word 'goesting'. I smiled the whole evening - even when I had to work - because of the wonderful conversation we had in the garden. Thanks guys!
And I couch surfed Ale's place in Florence for three days. Highlight was our visit to David Byrne's concert in Fiesole. And of course the Uffizi. Thanks Ale for your hospitality again!
Suddenly there were 4 people in my house in the last weekend of November 2009. :) Luiza from Brazil and 3 Dutchies, Sytse, Nynke and Arne, stayed in my house after Sinterklaas speeddating. Live music and horror stories at breakfast. That about sums it up. Oh yes, and frozen people and bloody hot people.
Judy from Portland surfed my attic in December. A very nice person to talk to, exchange ideas with, and who makes you think about life and the choices one makes. Hope you enjoyed rainy Rotterdam and the nice museum!
Gertjan managed to get into my overbusy schedule in Jan and Feb, and surfed at my place for one night. I envy you that you can be at IFFR for 10 days. :)
Ursa visited me in June when we had beautiful weather in Rotterdam, so we went cycling through the city and we took nice shots of the city too. Hope you had a good journey back home.
And in July it was my time again. In Sweden I was hosted by Modesty, Christophe and Fredrick. Thanks to you all, had a great time in Goteborg and Stockholm.
Vanessa visited me in September in Rotterdam and we shared our love for movies.
Yan was in my house in July and it was a pleasure. When she left I really missed her presence. Some people feel like you have known them for a longer time. Hope we meet up again in the future.
Then Callum and his girlfriend visited me in December and we exchanged Dutch and Australian recipes. They like Boymans van Beuningen Museum a lot, which is my favourite too.
July 2012 I surfed with Lonneke in Amsterdam. Really fun to couchsurf in your own country. Hope we meet up again one day.
Wow this list is getting long. In November I spent 2 nights with Matz in Padova. It was great walking around in Padova during the day and then meeting up with Matz for dinner. Good guy to talk to, generous and empathic. It was a nice ending of my holidays in Venice.
Then a long long break. A failed couchsurfing experience in Vietnam in 2013, but then yes yes...couchsurfing in Iceland with Jon, a very helpful guy, end of 2015. And San Francisco in February 2016 with Q. She rocks! Amazing stories. End of March I found a new home in Tokyo with Jackie. Very generous person to stay with. In April Jojo hosted me for 1 night in Kolkata and he is very kind too. Thanks for the Jungle Book night.

Interests

Travelling (obviously), arthouse movies, Lantaren Venster, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, visiting concerts, mindfulness, hiking, mountains, lindy hop, balboa, blues dance, reading a good book

• arts
• books
• concerts
• festivals
• recipes
• breakfast
• running
• walking
• gardening
• movies
• traveling
• music
• live music
• cycling
• hiking
• surfing
• snorkeling
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

pfff where to start. ok i just start somewhere:
Movies: Festen, Little Miss Sunshine, Lars and the real girl, Import/Export, Breaking the waves, The wizard of Oz, The assassination of Jesse James by the coward..., Finding Nemo, Juno, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, This is England!, Il y a longtemps que je t'aime, Into the Wild (what an amazing movie; watched it a while ago and am still impressed), Still Walking (love that one too), Tokyo Sonata, Mammoth, Sunshine Cleaning, Last stop, Departures, Away we go, The country teacher, Fish Tank, Antichrist, Bed and Sofa, Village of Dreams, Avatar 3D (although the story is yuck), Children of men, Let the right one in (although not too much into the bloody part of it), Up in the air (loved that movie: clooney was good), Where the wild things are, Humpday (funny), A Single Man, Alamar, Le Refuge, R., Le Prophete, Soul Kitchen, The Three Burials of Melquiadesa Estrada, Guess who's coming for dinner, The Trip, The Rabbit Hole, Le gamin au velo, Tous les souleils, The Tree of life, An (Japanese movie).

Music: Jeff Buckley, Fink, Radiohead, Scott Matthews, LCD Soundsystem, Grinderman, Lars Danielsson, Mike Manieri, Nils Petter Molvaer, Tunng, Bon Iver, Iron & Wine, Malakai, De Staat, Kyteman, Stuurbaard Bakkebaard, Jose Gonzalez, Eric Vloeimans, Patrick Watson, Florence and the Machine, The XX, Angus and Julia Stone, Ella Fitzgerald, Gallowstreet.

Books: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami, The Inheritance of loss by Kiran Desai, Everyman by Philip Roth, The lovely bones by Alice Sebold, Wild by Cheryl Strayed and loads of other books..

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I was truly touched by the baby wolfs running and playing around in Yellowstone National Park in 2007. To watch them in their playful innocence was amazing.

The Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand. It was my first long hike of my life and one of the toughest since I was quite ill that morning. But it was beautiful up there.

Seeing the sun rise at Sarangkot in Pokhara Nepal. Powerful experience.

The glaciers in Patagonia: their colours are amazing and their sounds ominous. :)

Teach, Learn, Share

Practicing mindfulness is hard, but once you have tried, you notice little things change in your life.
I just wish the damn ego would not get in my way so many times. :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Botswana, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lesotho, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Svalbard and Jan Mayen, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vatican City State, Viet Nam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom

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