CURRENT MISSION

Settle in for our first Russian winter!

ABOUT ME

Olivia: Third of four girls. New Zealand lover and advocate. Sport fan (playing not watching- soccer, kayaking, jiu jitsu, back yard cricket, ultimate frisbee, tennis...). Chameleon. Plane flyer. Teacher. Eater of good food. Drinker of Chai.

Mike: Second of four boys. Wisconsin born and raised. Lover of cheese. Also sport fan (ice hockey, soccer, water sports, snowboarding...), Teacher. Drinker of whiskey.

PHILOSOPHY

Be open to new knowledge, understandings, skills! Empathy is important.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I couch surfed throughout North America in 2009 and have hosted a handful of people in New Zealand since then. I surfed through Sri Lanka and Europe in 2015. Mike is just beginning his couch surfing adventures!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I love couch surfing because it gives me a chance to learn about the world without necessarily leaving my own town. On the flip side, when you do leave your own town, I think you get a far richer experience when you couch surf than you ever would staying in a hotel.

Interests

Varied and ever changing. Eating. Sleeping.

• dining
• cheese
• violin
• kayaking
• surfing
• snowboarding
• sports
• cricket
• soccer
• hockey
• tennis
• jiu jitsu
• teaching

Music, Movies, and Books

Olivia: It's too time consuming to write them all down... but my favourite book is Pride and Prejudice because I'm a hopeless romantic. Harry Potter.

Mike: Monty Python, Harry Potter, Green Street Hooligans, Rise Against.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Olivia: Flown a plane. On my own!!
Mike: Jumped off a waterfall in a gorge in China.

Teach, Learn, Share

Teach- twinkle twinkle little star.. on the Violin!
Learn- anything you can teach me
Share- Pavlova recipe

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Canada, China, England, Estonia, Fiji, France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, China, New Zealand, Russian Federation, United States