CURRENT MISSION

Enjoying the spring

ABOUT ME

We are a culturally mixed couple eager to be an active part of this project.

Alejandro is, among other things, interested in multiculturalism, progresist political tendences, opensource software, lengthy Galician dinners, and the rights of the minoritary and minorized languages, since his mother tongue is a such (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galician_language).

Karen is the incorporation of indecisiveness and has ever changing interests. Some have to do with how things function (technically / societywise / psychologically / historically). Also very much being outdoor, preferably in sunny weather, biking, sailing, walking.

Since we are travellers, we have decided to try to join our will of meeting people with different cultures and backgrounds with sleeping on a sofa or a mattress without having to empty completely our pockets. Probably, the same reasons for 90% of the users in CouchSurfing.

In common between us is literature, being quiet and respectful, although with temperament, language interest, considering how to improve things, appreciation of biking.

PHILOSOPHY

There is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed. Mahatma Gandhi.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We participate by lending our couch and giving our attention to those who might come to Copenhagen, and by kindly trying to interact with those from whom we borrow a couch.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Out of improvisation, we have both slept in houses of people we met during our travels. That could be considered a kind of pre-couchsurfing experience. For the last year, since we became couchsurfers de facto, we have equally been active in hosting and surfing.

Interests

Reading, watching (good) movies, biking in the city and in the open land, getting to know freak things and events (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Unusual_articles), conversating, music (folklore, classic and also much of the 80's.), taking care of plants, puzzles (with clear patterns only, and Alejandro only), photographing, playing in an orchestra (Karen), sail sport (Karen), travelling by train, SCI-FI

• books
• literature
• folklore
• walking
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• puzzles
• music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• surfing
• sailing
• sports
• languages
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies
*Most of Almodóvar, Médem, Kubrick, Todd Solondz, Mar adentro (The sea inside - Amenábar), Planet Earth (BBC), Brokeback Mountain (Lee), El secreto de sus ojos (The secret of their eyes - Campanella), Miller's Crossing (Coen)

Books
*The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann), Fathers and Sons (Turgueniev), Love in the Time of Cholera (García Márquez), The Little Prince (Saint-Exupéry), Russian Diary (Politkovskaya), Tortilla Flat (Steinbeck), Grapes of Wrath (also Steinbeck), 2666 (Bolaño), Five hours with Mario (Miguel Delibes), Os camiños da vida (not translated into English, Otero Pedrayo), most children's books by H.C. Andersen, Ole Lund Kirkegaard and Astrid Lindgren, the poetry of Henrik Norbrandt, of Rosalía de Castro, of Oliverio Girondo, of Juan Ramón Jiménez, of Kavafis, 1984 (Orwell), Post Office (Bukowski), The process (Kafka), Mord i Mørket (Dan Túrell)...

Music
*Willie Colón, Héctor Lavoe, Yma Sumac, Fania All Stars, Celia Cruz, Piper Pimienta, Alci Acosta, Los Panchos, Julio Jaramillo, Pérez Prado, Carlos Gardel, Albert Pla.
*Dûo Ouro Negro, Bonga (both from Angola), Amalia Rogrigues, Galician folklore.
Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole (mainly singing in his awful Spanish), Frank Sinatra, Chris Isaak, The Doors, Elvis, Tammy Gwyneth, Johnny Cash, Pink Floyd, Eva Cassidy (Karen).
*Grieg, Mahler, Bach, Dvorak, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Mendelsohn, Nielsen, Holst, Schubert... (a neverending list)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Amazing things seen:

*Theremin virtuoso:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSzTPGlNa5U
* Trolololo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1PBptSDIh8
* Remi Gaillard:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYJIAHpDRMs
* Peter de Polvorines:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwpoIzgMHns
* Der glücklichste DJ der Welt:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu60Xal2T_g

Teach, Learn, Share

Karen can teach how to fix a puncture in a bike.
Alejandro can teach very few things, but one could be making tasty bread or getting to have a good collection of Latinamerican music (anything but pop).

Karen: I would very much like to learn about good electronic and/or Balkan music, books to read, visions of the future.

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