Current Mission:

Exploring the stories of my family's journey from Finland to the USA 2 or 3 generations ago, and getting to know the big picture issues that got us to leave in the first place. It has been hard to find some of the descendants in Finland, but at least I will go to the old towns and visit with new people there, and see what I connect with.

About me:

I like having a lot of projects all the time, some in the form of handicrafts and others as social justice activism. I am grateful to have many interests, because I am never bored. I especially challenging myself to find new ways of looking at the world. Socially, I can't tell if I'm introverted or extroverted. I fluctuate between the two, but I can tell you this: I am almost always interested in a sincere conversation.

Philosophy:
This is a rich moment.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

CS is enriching without costing a dime. Somehow it feels more sincere to meet someone on CS than, say, AirBnB. Even though I only engage with the community off and on these past couple of years, I believe in the mission of person-to-person connections across differences.

My story is that the Mexico City CS group impressed me during my first CS experiences. For months while I was living in town with my Mexican cousins CS meetings filled my life with a rotation bring vibrant people whom I am grateful to know.

I finally CS surfed during a long solo bike trip from Bellingham, WA back to home sweet SF Bay Area. It was priceless! Good folks come in all flavors, and I'm so grateful for being hosted by many of them. So fun!

Now I'm settled in downtown Oakland and happy to share the love from time to time with mellow travelers who don't mind a noisy but comfy couch spot.

Interests

I like people a lot, and all this:
learning
especially learning other languages
dancing
writing
listening
singing
gardening
bike mechanic-ing
cooking
eating
meditating
collaborating (group projects of all sorts)
mentoring and teaching
fostering niches of creativity and agency within hierarchies and other disempowering structures.

• poetry
• singing
• dancing
• cooking
• yoga
• gardening
• news
• cycling
• languages
• mathematics
• social justice
• activism
• solidarity
• wild swimming
• mechanics

Music, Movies, and Books

Too many, too fleeting. One book I seem to keep thinking about through the years is "All About Love" by bell hooks. (Thank you Black feminist writers.)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Okay, so while I was in Mexico City Igave classes on bike mechanics for free to bicycle advocacy groups. Being a woman makes it easier for me to reach out to women, especially, I think. I mean, I take all comers. This class I gave just today had about 12 people, half men half women. It was a long class - chains, deraillures, breaks, fitting, oy so much - and then afterword we hung around talking. I was chatting with one of the students, a sweetly nervous and yet talkative lady, she was surprised to learn I was leaving and ending the classes. Then to my surprise, she began to cry and tell me about how empowering and special these make-shift, informal bike repair classes for her. So many sad themes in her life were being challenged by each time she picked up a tool and completed some repair task! I was honored and since then I keep looking for ways to help folks honor their own capabilities. Especially through bikes.

Teach, Learn, Share

Things to share... you mean like, besides enthusiasm and interest...
-Californian cooking (and many Zambian, Indian, and Mexican dishes too!)
-bike mechanics (yup, I can fix 'em)
-a little organic gardening knowledge and California native planting
-Aikido. Practiced it for 6 years, but it's been a while
-a little yoga (not an official instructor er anything)
-news on the latest urban planning trends from the US
-critiques of the development industries (...I've clearly been in school for too long)
-math and physics

Things to learn...
-However it is that you have fun!
-Healing approaches
-More styles of dancing
-Singing/music-making skills
-Poetry
-More activism strategies
-Local takes on local/national/international issues

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom, Zambia

Countries I’ve Lived In

India, Ireland, United States

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