CURRENT MISSION

To live in a way I won't have to regret afterwards

ABOUT ME

I'd describe myself as playful, but on the other hand I'm terribly good at slacking. My motivation seems to come in bursts: I may do the absolute minimum for a couple of days, and after a while clean up my apartment, organize a coctail party and go jogging. I enjoy spending time with my guests (that is, if they want it to be so). I like to do stuff with foreigners (as well as with the finnish people, of course). It could mean sledding, bbq, a trip to the forest or a walk around the city. When travelling, my ability to do nothing can sometimes conflict with the fellow travellers urge to see every sight and every museum. For me, it would be perfecly enough to sit down in a park or in a cafe and just enjoy the atmosphere. But then again, I'm good at compromising.A couple of words about my relations with sauna. For being finnish, I'm surprisingly lazy sauna goer. So you won't hurt my feelings if you don't like sauna. But if that's what my guests want to do, I'm more than happy to arrange a possibility to go to sauna. I'm a decent cook, my cookings being mostly vegetarian. So if my guests are not afraid to eat vegan versions of finnish traditional dishes, I'm more than happy to cook for them. Other than my mostly vegetarian diet, I'm not a picky eater, and as Jamie Oliver said: "Food is the best way to get to known to different cultures". I also know something about humble finnish cuisine, and like to share those facts. I've recently moved back to my home town Kuopio, so our surfers will be able to enjoy my local insight again.

PHILOSOPHY

Primum non nocere.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

It gives me a reason to clean up my apartment always once in a while.

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I host people, and try my best to be as good a host as possible. I also meet (cs) people for a coffee or a drink whenever I have time. As an awesome host I am, I expect a couple of things from my surfers

1) a profile that's adequately filled
2) a nicely written, personalized couch request
3) leaving a reference for both, me and my co-host husband

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

It's all good! Hosted already a couple of dozen people or so and counting. The best experiences are, when I have time to get to known to people and sit down and have a conversation. I've also surfed a couple of times.

Interests

A martial art named taido, would love to go wall climbing if I had time, Austria (the country where I spent an year as an exchange student), vinyl records, miscellaneous sports like jogging and cross-country skiing.

• arts
• dining
• cooking
• coffee
• bbq
• vegetarian
• vegan
• traveling
• music
• skiing
• snowboarding
• sports
• martial arts

Music, Movies, and Books

Now that I've finished my studies, I try to adopt again the habit of reading more fictional novels. My taste for the books: Anything, as long it's good. My all time favourite book would be the Watership Down by Richard Adams. Recently I've read something by Herman Hesse and Jonas Gardell. The same goes with movies: No matter the genre, as long as the movie is good. Some of my favourites: the Miyazaki films (especially Totoro), The men who stare at goats, those movies starred by Simon Beck and Nick Frost, the Big Lebowski, the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, the Watchmen (lots of superhero movies anyway). When it comes to music, I like broad selection of music, as long as it's not too mainstream. I'm quite good at introducing the foreigners to alternative finnish music. That is, if you happen to like my taste of music...

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Nearly broke my neck when falling down while snowboarding in Innsbruck.

Teach, Learn, Share

I tell people stories and fun facts. I used to be an expert in nice-to-know facts. Now that I'm back to my home ground in Kuopio, I can show you beautiful buildings, nature and also some underground stuff like an abandoned oil harbour. I also know a thing or two about food traditions in Finland. I'd love to know somebody who'd teach me climbing/bouldering. Myself, I teach taido to people, and often find myself explaning, how to bake finnish buns (pulla).

What I Can Share with Hosts

I want to offer them the same my guests have offered me: My company, my stories, my life. That's more imporant than the material side in my opinion. A help with the household chores is the second most important thing, at least when my help is accepted.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Cuba, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Finland