CURRENT MISSION
September 2024: I enjoy the last beautiful and warm late summer days.
I’m a German language teacher. After enjoying the summer, I will be teaching German again from next week.
But I'm starting slowly. There are other things which are more important to me than work. Especially sport, then cinema, theatre, exhibitions, concerts, meditation, reading books, cafés, good restaurants and of course meeting friends. My goodness, you really can give your life meaning without work, can't you?

ABOUT ME
I’m open-minded, curious and interesting in a lot of things.
For two years now I practice Vipassana-Meditation. I like it!
Luckily I don't need much things to be happy. Lately I`ve noticed that I get more and more desire to spend my free time more in nature.
Nevertheless, I would describe myself as a city dweller.
„Ich bin ein Berliner“. This famous phrase doesn't apply to me either, but I've lived in Berlin for so long that every time I return home after a long journey, I have this wonderful feeling of coming back home.

In my opinion, city life in Berlin can be divided into two parts. The one part in winter you can mostly forget. Little sun, a lot of gray days, bad-tempered people, a lot of rain ...
There are really many other places more attractive to spend your time there between November and April. You should really think twice about coming to Berlin in winter...
Fortunately, there are a lot of cultural and sports activities: Cinema, concerts, readings, bouldering halls and many nice people who share the same interests with you.

The second part, spring and summer is absolutely recommended to spend your time here. As soon as the sun comes out of its winter sleep, you can see smiling and good-humored people on the streets again. From May it is fun to be here again.

By the way since 2015 I have a roommate - a little cute cat (it looks like Garfield).

If I find the time I’m learning Spanish on my own and once a week with a Tandem.

Philosophy
My magic word is equanimity. You can practise it well in road traffic and in everyday life.
You meet people who are inconsiderate, angry, aggressive and intolerant and it is not always easy to meet them with calm and kindness, but sometimes, when you have actually managed to take the wind out of their sails, when you have calmed them down, simply through your equanimity ... that feels good, because you have saved all the energy that would have been wasted in a pointless argument.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

By now I mostly host someone. Of course I travel also but the most time my daughter is with me or we are travelling with friends so we usually need no host.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Every visiter is a new experience. So far my experiences were good!

Interests

I like moving so much!!! So no wonder that I like all kind of sports.

• writing
• books
• literature
• yoga
• running
• movies
• chess
• reading
• traveling
• windsurfing
• sports
• rock climbing
• soccer
• tennis
• volleyball
• swimming
• table tennis
• badminton
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

In general I love low budget films more than blockbuster. By the way, I still love going to the cinemas. I hope they don't die out!
Music: Electro, Independent, alternative, rock, instrumental.
It depends on my mood what music I want to listen to.
And reading is like music: it always depends on my mood what I prefer at the moment. But I usually find contemporary and realistic stories interesting.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I lived one year in Irkutsk/Siberia, learned Russian and travelled through the country.
Russia - extremely large. But you have to find it out on your own. The long distances are a really challenge for each traveller. You need abundance of patience if you for example have to wait for three days for the next bus, train, ship or whatever which brings you to the next travel destination. But during you wait it happens something new and mostly interesting and unexpectedly.
And the winter in Siberia - very long and cold of course but dry air and sunny with blue sky every day and snow till the cow comes home.
Beautiful ... mostly!

Teach, Learn, Share

learning is a process - a neverending story!

What I Can Share with Hosts

We can cook together! This is always a nice event.
By the way I’m a vegetarian.
I can show you around my neighbourhood - places which are not fequented by tourists.

I am a German teacher so of course I can help you if you are interested in learning it. So feel free to ask me: Dativ or Akkusativ - that’s the question (which I know!)

Countries I’ve Lived In

Azerbaijan, Latvia, Russian Federation