This is a profile for both my husband Glen and me, but I manage it.

I am an emergency call handler for the ambulance, with a love for reading, live music, and socialising. I am a huge lover of all kinds of animals, and spend a lot of my time hanging out with my cat Florence - she leaves hair everywhere and aggravates your allergies, so bring your anti-histamines if you're staying with us. (Y)

I was born in Russia, and moved to New Zealand at the age of 10. I spent three years on a dairy farm before moving down South to Christchurch. I play the piano/keyboards and the violin, trying to get enough skills on the latter to start up a bluegrass band eventually.

Glen is 25, a kiwi and primarily plays the guitar and banjo. He is very laid-back and lovely.

We are vegan and very environmentally conscious. We will always recycle, switch off lights, heaters, etc. We will do this in a host's home, and would appreciate it if our guests would do the same. While we ask that guests don't cook meat in our house (due to smells), we don't care about what our hosts are eating, I promise we won't lecture you on your food! :)

I would LOVE to meet people who can speak French and Swedish, as I'm actively working on learning these languages, and will take all the help I can get!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Staying in a hostel is nothing like staying with a local. A good couchsurfing experience can change your outlook on life. I love making friends with my hosts and going out together to bars, live music, markets, parks, etc. I'd love for people to do the same with me when they stay here.

Interests

• animals
• books
• music festivals
• wine
• vegan
• music
• live music
• food

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Queens of the Stone Age, Led Zeppelin, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Brad Paisley, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, Goldfrapp, Fleetwood Mac, Abigail Washburn & Bela Fleck, Muse, Franz Ferdinand, Bruno Mars, etc. etc. etc.

Books: All sorts of books. Loving Gillian Flynn at the moment.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Moved from Russia to New Zealand as a ten year old. This was an extraordinary change as I moved from an apartment onto a 300 acre dairy farm.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you some Russian, and maybe some basic French and Swedish.

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can cook you some yummy vegan food, buy you drinks, walk your dog, do your dishes, etc... We are independent travelers, and we enjoy having time to ourselves, as well as hanging out, so we won't always be in your face. Also, politeness, cleaning up after ourselves, not getting in the way, a chat, a bottle of wine, taking our shoes off at the door. We are very good at entertaining ourselves, so there is no need to 'look after' us. We are vegan and non-smokers, so we will do our best not to stink out your house with weird food smells.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Cook Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, Russian Federation