I am a language teacher (French and English) and also a poet. I have a passion for languages, bird-watching, tea, books, and volunteering. In my home country, I am very involved in all sorts of actions to protect the environment. I love riding my bicycle and taking trains and boats :)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

What I love the most about travelling is meeting people, getting to know the local way of life, but especially exchanging ideas about our perspective on the world. For me, it makes no sense staying in a hotel for the whole time and experiencing the city just like any person could experience any city.

Interests

I walk or bike around cities, write, drink tea and wine, chat with people, listen to music, sing, dance, hike or walk in the forest and look for birds, volunteer in a local food-buying group and a local tool library.

• books
• poetry
• singing
• dancing
• environment
• wine
• music
• hiking
• teaching
• languages
• volunteering
• linguistics
• tea
• birdwatching
• environmental protection
• climate action

Music, Movies, and Books

I love discovering artists from around the world, especially when they're singing in their first language.
I don't watch a lot of films, mostly documentaries. But I love the Canadian movie "Universal Language" by Matthew Rankin, where Winnipeg is made to look like Tehran.
I read constantly. A lot of essays; one of my recent discoveries is "Terre et liberté" by the philosopher Aurélien Berlan. As for novels, my favourite authors are Delphine de Vigan and Rachel Cusk.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I went on an exchange program when I was 17. I spent a whole year in Japan, went to a Japanese high school and lived in a Japanese family even if I didn't know Japanese at first. I just wanted to go to a country which was a lot different than mine. Trust me, I got this point right, and learned a lot from this experience. I still speak Japanese to this day.
Then, it was natural to me to move to Istanbul later in my life to learn Turkish. I spent about a year there.

Teach, Learn, Share

What I could teach ? A bit of French, of course, and even basic Japanese or Turkish. I could also teach about the birds from my region of the world.
Because I studied Linguistics, anyone who speaks a language (!) will surely get some questions from me...
I would love to discover initiatives in your city that are for the environment and/or for the community. Anything local, degrowth-oriented interests me.
I would love to bike around your city!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I know many excellent vegetarian recipes that I can cook for you / with you. I love to do my part of the chores, and I love trying new things too.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Senegal, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, France, Japan, Turkey

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