CURRENT MISSION

For couchsurfing, it's generally just when we're on a long car journey and passing through somewhere, to rest but also meet nice people and see a place from the insider's viewpoint.

ABOUT ME

Hi, we're Anita and Martin, and our sweet (and house-trained) dog Major Tom.We are a couple who moved abroad from London (Irish and English origin). When the recession hit, we decided to escape the rat race and go explore what else life had to offer. So we've been around Spain and France, doing 'workaway' projects, building cob houses (teaching natural building courses and workshops), and doing house-sitting/caretaking of different properties.We are also 'artisans', making and selling our own melodic steel tongue drums at markets (we call them AM Drums).https://sites.google.com/site/amrustic

PHILOSOPHY

Life is all about an exchange, giving in return for what you receive. We try to do this in every area of our lives, which is why we so often live in work-exchange situations, as they work very well for both parties involved.We believe in treating others as you would like to be treated yourself, and that goes for peoples property as well as their person.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We do move around a lot, but usually we stay longer-term and do work exchanges. So for couch surfing, it's usually just when we're passing through on a long car journey, but would like to see a new place and meet some lovely new people too.

We're not sure about hosting yet, as we don't own our place, we are 'caretakers' and therefore we'd have to ask permission really. We'll see how it goes with surfing, and then maybe we'll do some hosting.

The only reason we're not 'verified' is because we prefer not to give out credit card details willy nilly, unless absolutely necessary...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We haven't done this before, but are experienced with Helpx and Workaway.Using those sites, we have been around Spain, France and Monaco, doing work exchanges, meeting some really beautiful people.What we love about all of these sites is that it is based on trust. And we've only ever had positive experiences, and we hope we have given at least as much, if not more back in return.We also acted as hosts for workaway/helpx people last summer when we ran a voluntary project building a cob house (natural building material, made of earth/clay, sand and straw). The project was 2 months, so that allowed us to give back to others some of the amazing experiences and hospitality that we had received before.At other times in our lives we have also visited India, Israel, America, Canada, Portugal, Germany, Czech, Hungary and so on...

Interests

Music, creativity, therapy, spirituality, films, nature, travel, learning, self-sustainability, 'up-cycling' :-D

• dogs
• cooking
• partying
• movies
• traveling
• music
• guitar
• drums
• cycling
• surfing

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Rock, metal, punk, industrial, world music, folk, blues ... we're very open minded.Favourite movie: Amelie. Otherwise all kinds really, we watch a lot of movies, as we avoid TV and there isn't much entertainment where we live.Books:Currently reading 'The Transition Handbook: from oil dependency to local resilience' by Rob Hopkins.Also 'A Brief History of Everything' by Bill Bryson.Recent read:  'For Tibet, With Love: A Beginner's Guide to Changing the World'.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Well a beautiful thing was when we just happened by coincidence to be sat (with our dog) staring at the moon, on some huge rocks (on a site where druids used to have ceremonies in France), when the eclipse of the moon happened.

We had no idea it was going to happen, and we were just sat staring at it at JUST the right time. It was pretty amazing

Did anything like this happen to you?

Teach, Learn, Share

Natural building, making stuff from recycled materials, living cheaply and/or self-sustainably. Um.... guitar lessons maybe? ..... erm help with English language/grammar and basic French?We could have a music jam with you on our beautiful steel drums (and/or any other musical instruments you have).We would also be happy to cook for you (maybe) if we could share the cost of ingredients.