Hello -- My name is Cybele (sib-ell-uh). I am an author of nonsense children's literature living for the time in Portland, ME and working as a freelance consultant. I try to travel all over the place so I can see and learn of the world and gain as much perspective for my books as possible.

I love learning languages and telling and acquiring stories about the places I visit and the people I meet. I would be more than happy to exchange many a wild and wondrous story for your hospitality.

Otherwise, if you happen to find yourself in upper New England and need a place to stay that is in the heart of the Portland Peninsula, a 10 minute walk to everything you could possibly need, feel free to shoot me a message. I have a pretty big space and an (quite frankly) exceptionally comfortable floor futon.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I think one of the best ways to get to meet a city—especially when one's only got a few short days there—is to meet the people who live and love it there. Couch surfing is perhaps the easiest way to connect meaningfully with people from new cities and from all walks of life, and I wouldn't wish to visit a city any way else!

Interests

Late ancient neoplatonic Christianity, tarot, LGBTQ studies, fashion, Victorian children's lit, nonsense literature, the fantastic and the absurd, learning new languages

• writing
• books
• literature
• folklore
• fashion
• cooking
• traveling
• surfing
• christian
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are two of my favorites, as well as the Phantom Tollbooth, The Cuckoo Clock (by Mrs. Molesworth), and L. Frank Baum's the Magical Monarch of Mo. I am also an avid reader of Tolstoy; long-dead ancient Greeks, Romans, and Algerians; Japanese Buddhist literature (specifically in the vein of Tsurezuregusa); and just about anything thematically related to cats.

My music tends to be an eclectic mix of folk, bluegrass, plainchant, Russian Symbolic composers, and electronic tone poem compositions, with the occasional excellent movie soundtrack. I listen to a lot of New York's public Classical music radio WQXR.

Movies are less frequently a considerable interest of mine, but I have to admit I love most all forms of American, French, Korean, and Japanese animation. I also really love most all Merlin and King Arthur adaptations. And there's always going to be a soft spot in my heart for really terrible romantic comedies and dramas.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I lived for 14 months in Japan, staying first 3.5 months with an amazing family outside Tokyo studying at an Immersion Language School in Shinjuku before enrolling for a yearlong term (10.5 months) at Ryukoku Daigaku, an old Buddhist University in Kyoto right by the grounds of Fushimi Inari Taisha.

Teach, Learn, Share

Stories from my travels so far!

I love making soup and learning how to make new soup.

I can talk your ear off about various time periods of religious development around East Asia and the Mediterranean.

I also would be happy to talk about why I believe Children's Literature to be perhaps the single most important genre in all the human repertoire.

Also I wrote a thesis on authority dynamics in tarot readings, and come from a cool Hungarian family tradition. Happy to gab at length about any of that ~

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'm always down to cook and eat together and teach one another about our respective cultures and cities and personal/familial backgrounds. Let's talk and laugh over whimsical whatnots. ^^

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Japan, United States, Virgin Islands, U.S.

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, United States