CURRENT MISSION

ole, ole, ole ... enjoying life in Spain and getting ready for a baby arriving this December

ABOUT ME

Mere's former life in Morocco as explained by Aldous Huxley: "A rational being does not allow himself to be converted to the cult of Mumbo Jumbo; but he will have no objection to occasionally going a bit native."

After two decades full of travel, Mere met Joe while walking through the Kent countryside and life has never been the same since! After a few years in rainy London we up-rooted for an extended 8 month journey through the North of England (where Joe is from), Cyprus (the lovely mountain town of Vouni), the Middle East (where the startup Mere works for is based), the States (where Mere is from) and Italy (to obtain Mere's great grandfather's birth certificate) before moving permanently to the south of Spain where Joe is now teaching at an international school 40 minutes from Granada and an hour from Malaga.

We have a villa, a dog (and usually a foster or two) and the beach on our doorstep- life is good!

MORE ABOUT US:

Mere is a leo sun, libra moon and pisces rising (and obviously a little superstiious as well as a bad speller). Joe is a gemini sun libra rising with a bit of aries moon to keep the adventurous spirit alive. He is a writer and a poet in awe of the world around him.

We are both children of divorced parents but it's all good as they're friends now :) Mere grew up half in the world of business during weekends with her dad, and the rest of the week in academia with her mom who's an engl. lit. prof. - to be happy she needs to straddle both worlds.

Joe's dad is a teacher too and his mum owns a gym called fit-in. She used to carry him around when he was a baby and so he loves to twirl his fingers around the tags of clothing (I guess that was the most interesting part of 80s workout gear). He has a younger sister who is gorgeous and is currently dancing in bollywood and a younger brother who coaches soccer in the states.

Mere eats a grapefruit (prefers white) and toast for breakfast every morning without fail. (note, this info to inform surfers that we have no cereal to offer them for breakfast, not to make requests :)!) Joe has been known to cook up quite an English breakfast on weekends...we both drink our coffee strong!

PHILOSOPHY

travel: we only have so many years to know what it's like to wake up and there are so many possible places and situations from which to greet the day.

walking: moving yourself across the land and filling your days with chance encounters is belief enough for a lifetime (enough to bring us together at least...we met in the Kent countryside on the North Downs Way)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We are all set up with a guest room and will surf and travel when we can!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I spent a month in Sicily with a couchsurfer who introduced me to the organization which I in turn introduced to Joe.

Interests

Mere: modern short fiction, birds and long walks
Joe: live music, romantic poets and a cold pint
(apparently not oxford commas)

• dogs
• birds
• writing
• dancing
• cooking
• breakfast
• coffee
• walking
• drinking
• clothing
• traveling
• music
• live music
• soccer
• business
• teaching
• political science
• science
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

this section currently just reflects mere :)FLAUBERT'S PARROT- Eyeless in Gaza- Aldous Huxley- Zadie Smith's On Beauty- this is why people read novels- Interpreter of Maladies- the Caliph's Tale... bill bryson's The Mother Tongue... Indecision, ADVERBS, Fast Food Nation- can't believe I got food poisoning while reading this book- Mcdonalds used to share a mascot with alkazelter in the 60s- his name was Speedy and he had a hamburger for a head- they changed to Ronald in '62 to avoid confusion of the two brands and added a cast of "trippy" friends for him: Mayor McCheese, Birdie the Early Bird, Hamburglar, Grimace, Captain Crook, Fry Guys/Fry Kids - not your average cartoon characters- Tabucchi, Colette, Gaitskill, Vonegut (God Bless You Mr. Rosewater), Joyce, New Yorker Short Fiction across the board, Ann Beattie (classic), did I say Huxley?...e.e. cummings and some random poésie francaise...a few additions: Lydia Davis, Mavis Gallant, Dennis Johnson, Angela Carter...currently indulging in some Hemingway & Bowles short stories perfect for the American traveling abroad, Oscar Wilde's "de profundis." Muriel Spark... The Prime of Mrs. Jean Brodie.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Mere: Georgia while russia attacked....my georgian friend and i were discussing the river...are there stones to get across or are there no banks? is it all just water? existentialist crisis of sorts...and then russia stepped in and her whole life went upside down and we stayed at a little hotel near the turkish border for a week trying to figure out what to do...i eventually left after the russian fighter jets flew over...and bombed the nearbye woods...but it made me reconsider the importance of political science and diplomacy, which having grown up in the US with a hippie (granola crunch) mom i was more apt to criticise than appreciate

Teach, Learn, Share

I get a little nerdy when it comes to chatting about language learning and applied linguistics, comes in handy with multilingual couchsurfers around tho! Joe can teach you all about football as he knows every goal scored and pretty much every player who has ever set foot at Anfield Road. Zorro our puppy can teach you how to sit and give someone your paw.

Countries I’ve Visited

Aruba, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Georgia, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Cyprus, France, Italy, Morocco, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

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