I just found out about this wonderful app right before a trip to Charlotte and am hoping to start my couchsurfing there but I have so many places I want to go! I can see this being a really great way to travel and host other people's travels and start to "make new friends along the way" as Jason Mraz says in The Sunshine Song!!! I used to be a full time missionary and when we traveled we would stay in "host homes" and I met some of my favorite people in the world that way. I love the idea of reciprocity and think it would be far more exciting spending travel dollars on experiences with others than a boring hotel room. I think thad together we can find out that we as people all over the world from so many different walks of life have so many more things in common that bring us together than we have differences that set us apart. Very happy to be joining such a wonderful tribe!

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I was reading in International Living about couchsurfing and fell in love with the idea
I already had an Airbnb reservation for my trip to Charlotte NC for a weekend retreat as part of a larger plan to reclaim my life and work on myself this year. As soon as I found out about couchsurfing, I canceled the reservation and decided to try this out! I am reminded of who I am meant to be and getting back to some of the things I love and traveling and meeting new people is way up on the list! Hopeful that this will just be the first of many couchsurfing adventures!!!

Interests

I went on my first missions trip to Brazil I'm 1990 and that is when I fell in love with people and traveling! I was in my first year of my Associate's degree I'm accounting and it was the recession and not a good time to go into a flooded field. I wound up finishing college and worked my tail off so that I could pay it off and go to YWAM (Youth With a Mission) in Tyler, TX to train as a fulltime missionary. I got out in 1997 pretty broke but went to to live in Mexico from 1999 to 2000 as a fulltime missionary. I'm a very eclectic life long learner and am always hungry to learn more about this great big world! I adore languages and am pretty fluent in Spanish speaking but not writing. I know a smattering of other languages too. I've been a driver's ed teacher since 2003 and started my own school in 2006. I am very passionate about working with teens and setting them up for lifetime good driving habits but I also love the idea of teaching them about their wonderful brains and neuroplasticity and how any negative habits we've wired in can be unwired and rewired with positive ones. Our brain's DNA is literally changeable! We can create new neural pathways!!!

• pets
• books
• wine
• beer
• wine tasting
• motorcycles
• gardening
• thrifting
• reading
• volunteer work
• music
• volunteering
• beaches
• food
• travelling
• antiques
• foreign languages
• people's stories
• story telling
• yard sales
• epicurian

Music, Movies, and Books

All of it! Everything from C.S. Lewis and Tolkien to Robert Ludlum and Robert Jordan. I love to read! I have super eclectic taste and am obsessed with Dr. Who..."WHAT???" and Marvel. I love all genres from action to comedy to romance to history and everything in between. I love the movie Shining Through and The Princess Bride is a staple. I'm a Christian but love all kinds of life and art and music and have lots of growing up in the 70s stylistic choices. I love everything except stuff like Insane Clown Posse!!! I love talking about anything and everything!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Lived for over a year in Mexico as a full time missionary. It's my other country! It's hard to pick just one thing though.

Teach, Learn, Share

I've taught Driver's Education for teens and adult drivers as well as international prospective drivers from many nations over the last 20 years. I do very regular private driving lessons and tutor those who need help knowing how to retain the knowledge portion of the rules of the road. I love teaching them about critical thinking, which is sadly lacking in the US educational system today, but is essential for safe driving. I also teach our points reduction program for those who've been naughty drivers and need to work on habit identification and reforming. I love it! If I understand enough about any topic, I can figure out a way to teach it. I'd also very much consider myself a student of history and I love history and literature and languages. I teach things from a neuroplasticity side and we work on identifying learned behavior and making positive changes to our habits from day one in our program. I love love love it when I get an atypical learning style or co-occurimg disorders or unique learning styles to work with! I've thought about going back to school for neuroscience of some sort; neurolinguistics, neuropsychology, neuroplasticity or something along those lines, but I already study and use many of the techniques.

What I Can Share with Hosts

Great conversation about a wide variety of interests; I consider myself a decent conversationalist mostly because I'm a life long learner and have a hunger for learning new things. Working with teens keeps me younger than my 51 years most days. I am an animal lover and have pics of my Bengal kitties and my plants indoor and out. I am a rookie gardener but am obsessed with plants and beauty! I have some seriously funny and also heart aching moments and wisdom I've acquired as driver's ed teacher moments with it being my occupation since 2003! I am a Christian but I love a good drink of anything. I'm not narrow minded and love to try new foods and life experiences. I genuinely love people and would love us all to roll up our collective sleeves and make the world a better place! No hook ups though. I'm way too old for that shitake! 🤣

Countries I’ve Visited

Brazil, Costa Rica, Germany, Mexico, Peru

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico, United States