CURRENT MISSION

Enjoy life

ABOUT ME

FYI CS ability to forward messages to my email is hit and miss, mostly miss :( I have, regretfully, missed some very nice mail/opportunities to meet or help. My deep apologies: I don't ignore my mail, I simply often don't receive it.

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Two grown daughters, one currently job-hunting in Argentina, after couchsurfing Mexico and Guatemala. The other finishing up a ranch/farm internship in the Four Corners area of Colorado...after working on a goat cheese farm in another area of the state and working on a sheep farm in PA -- drove there from CA... the travel thing might run in the family ;) Officially empty-nesting

Working artist with a day job. I work primarily in ceramic and fiber arts. Educator primarily with second language learners, immigrants, low income. Perpetually moving around/job hunting as politics and economy fund and defund ed programs. Right now, it's looking like 2007 -- hang onto your pocketbook.

Although my education and early employment was in the social services arena, I've been a computer applications teacher (I used my first computer in 1979) and have worked part time as a ceramic Instructional Technician at the local college, among others.

I've had an unconventional life/work history (teaching crafts near the Black Sea in the early 90's?) and have diverse interests. I like history, art, science (in ceramic, they definitely go together), and anything I've never heard of before, if someone has the patience to explain it to me (this includes just about anything in the sciences).

PHILOSOPHY

My grandmother told me I didn't have to eat anything I didn't want to, but to think what I might miss and, besides, I could *always* spit it out. She thought America was great--you could visit every country in the world without leaving home, just by making friends. She'd be wowed to realize that idea is now a world idea. She would have beat you to the internet, for sure ;P

I tend to meet interesting people and be lucky...and that seems to run in the family. That, I suppose, is evidence of my philosophy... explore, work, welcome new people.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Open to meet up for coffee, answer questions, listen well...offer suggestions if asked?

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

My grandmother, already bicultural and trilingual, arrived in this country on a vacation, and stayed. My parents brought home New Zealand hitchhiking girls when I was a preschooler. As a student, and after graduating, we often had people staying with us, from all over the world. It seems normal :)

Interests

I really like to read history. Often, it's a matter of filling the context of my own family -- we're recently in the US and come from a lot of different places, and family were on hand for some significant world history. I will be in the outdoors any chance I get, often running or cycling... unless it's those burning Valley days in July and August -- then I'll be indoors reading, knitting, weaving, or making something of ceramic. I love to get up to the National Park or over to the coast, and hike.

• pets
• arts
• culture
• books
• design
• photography
• education
• cooking
• coffee
• running
• crafts
• shopping
• movies
• knitting
• drawing
• music
• camping
• teaching
• history
• languages
• mathematics
• science
• hitchhiking
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I like electric blues, r&b, techno, traditional (trad)...hard to figure out what I don't like. I'll watch, listen to, or read anything that someone I like recommends.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I lived on a Soviet Collective Farm in South Russia one winter (during the first Gulf War), in an adobe cottage with a woodstove for heat, with my six month old daughter. Oh, and I slept on a couch.

Teach, Learn, Share

-Ceramic (single firing, run a manual or digital electric kiln/digital gas kiln)
-Knitting (Intermediate)
-Weaving (lap looms, rigid heddle, floor loom)
-Spinning (Navajo lap spindle)
-Dyeing (animal or plant fiber/cloth)
-Glass (recycle on your own, make tiles, jewelry)
-Mosaic
-Plaster Molds
-Computer (apps, hardware, web design)
-Fix-it (plumbing, electrical, other stuff)
-Gardening (easy raised beds, roses, food)
-English (EL teacher with a good sense of humor)

What I Can Share with Hosts

Computer care/troubleshooting. HTML demystified. How to set up and promote an Etsy shop. How to knit, felt, use shrink art in grownup ways, make a functional loom out of not much, world cooking...things I've forgotten but will probably remember later. :)

Spanish...I never put fluent...it's my second language, but I'm not by any means a beginner. German...same story, little bit raggedy after long ages without speaking. Both are family languages. I still probably understand a fair amount of Russian...but it's been quite a while since I've had to use it.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Germany, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Russian Federation

Countries I’ve Lived In

Russian Federation, United States