My name is Oksana which is translated as “guest/traveler/hospitable” and which has determined my destiny :) I lived in my beautiful St. Petersburg for five years, my flat was always full of guests but at the moment I'm living in France doing an EVS (European voluntary service) project. I travel a lot both for work and pleasure.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I know people from Couchsurfing, several times I attended meetings in St. Petersburg and Riga (Latvia) and lived with guys from Italy and Baku (Azerbaijan) who came to visit my neighbours through Couchsurfing. It was a good fun and I decided to try it myself one day. So the time has come and I'm here :) I stayed with an Indonesian girl on Bali in February 2016 and it was absolutely amazing! Perfect opportunity to get in touch with the real local culture and environment.

Interests

Travelling, dancing, sports, yoga, pottery, music, theatre, photography, reading, diving, fishing, yachting.
I did salsa for several months and also performed Irish dance when I worked in Egypt as a sport animator. I am a visual person, I like taking photos, especially with old-fashioned film cameras. One of my recent hobbies is pottery. I enjoy making crockery and other cool little things out of clay. At the moment I am learning to sing and play the piano. I'm fond of good live music evenings and concerts! The best I've been to so far were RHCP, Deep Purple and a Brazilian band.

• singing
• photography
• dancing
• salsa dancing
• cooking
• yoga
• motorcycles
• yachting
• reading
• traveling
• pottery
• music
• live music
• piano
• fishing
• scuba diving
• sports
• languages
• nature
• sea
• bikes
• handcraft
• soviet union cartoons
• big dogs

Music, Movies, and Books

I like funk, rock, jazz and many more kinds of music. Among my favourite bands, singers and musicians are Parov Stelar, Jamiroquai, Stephen Ridley, Nino Katamadze, John Mayer, John Legend, Ed Sheeran, L.E.J, Avishai Cohen, Michael Jackson, Flight of the Concords, The Black Keys, RHCH, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Scorpions, The Beatles, The Zombies, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore, Van Morrison, Marvin Gaye, Moloko, Groove Armada, Morcheeba, Gus Gus, Nina Simone, Jamie Woon, James Blake, Chet Faker, J.Viewz, Feist, Zap Mama, Buena Vista Social Club, Mana and Orishas.
As for movies, the list of my favourite ones would be too long but definitely I love all movies with Bruce Willis starring! :)
Some of my favourite books are Le Petit Prince by Saint-Exupery, The Picture of Dorian Grey by Wilde, Master and Margarita by Bulgakov, South of the Border, West of the Sun by Murakami, Fight Club by Palanik, Streetcar Named Desire by Williams, The Dawns Here Are Quite by Vasilyev, Numbers by Pelevin and Sonny's Blues by Baldwin. At the moment I'm reading Loneliness In The Net by Vishnevsky.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In 2014 I headed up by helicopter to the Far North of Russia, Yamal peninsula beyond the Arctic Circle, in the middle of nowhere with no summer, no trees, no infrastructure - only tundra with arctic foxes and seals - to work as an interpreter/project manager assistant on huge dredging vessels. It was an incredible experience, nothing close to what you can find in a city or office.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach basic salsa and yoga. I can give Russian, English and French lessons.
I would love to learn Spanish and other Roman languages with native speakers and maybe get some handmade skills.
I can share my numerology knowledge :)
And if you have kids, I can dance some mini disco with them! When I worked as a kids animator they loved it :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can share my world experience, my stories, my warmth and friendliness with my hosts, I can help in cleaning or decorating the house and also I can bring some nice Russian souvenires :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Belarus, Belgium, Cambodia, Czech Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Netherlands, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, France, Mauritius, Russian Federation, Scotland, Thailand, United States