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- Last login 8 months ago
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Overview
About Me
CURRENT MISSION: To learn about sustainability and (slowly) transform my life into a more useful, clean and positive living. Develop my language and communication skills, re-start writing (blog/ diaries, napkins - whichever, as long as I keep on writing my own , original thoughts and observations) and explore tranquility of photography (Instagram: wild_evie). To live my life as colorful as some of my favorite book characters.
ABOUT ME
The more I think about things, places and people important to me - the more I realize that the biggest part of me is a The TRAVELLER. I love to travel, I dislike hotels and hostels with their rules and linen on the bed, although a hot shower from time to time does seem like true bliss, and prefer to discover, adventure and get lost than go on organised tours and activities another thousand have shared on their Instagram or Pinterest.
I most likely will never own a flat or a house as all me "free" money is invested in something banks or other people wouldn't be able to take away - me, my memories, my experiences and adventures.
Travelling goes well with my spontaneity and adventurousness, for example, after having third glass of wine I could easily agree upon going on hitch-hiking trip and in six hours stand on the side of a road with my best buddy next to me and our thumbs up. (Okay, I lied... I would agree also without having the wine :) and might be a train ride to Moscow)
Another huge part of me is a DREAMER - I am a strong believer of positive thinking and visualization, I believe in good people and I wish to spend more time turning myself into an even better form of human. This part of me sometimes also comes with loads of philosophical questions and ponderings.
And last, but not least - many times I have the feeling that I am living in the wrong time and place. I rather spend my holidays camping in the woods, fishing and having portable shower, than stay at a five star hotel. I hate mobile phones (note: I do own one) and I still send my friends and family postcards from the trips I go on. I find myself weirdly comfortable in living without electricity, walking rather than taking public transportation and getting lost just about anywhere, which usually leads to interesting stories. I rather read real paper books and get rid of other stuff on my shelves to make more room for them. I do believe that once in my life I most likely will either own a book-shop or become a librarian :D
I am a A.I.F.G. - as my brain is capable to remember only funny, interesting or weird information some of my friends have started to call me an "Another Interesting Fact Girl".
PHILOSOPHY:
"Man's will - his heaven" [Z.Maurina - a Latvian author]
"The only person you can change is yourself!" and "Good words do not cost a thing, so don't keep them to yourself!" (My Mum);
PAY IT FORWARD - repay the kindness of a stranger in random acts of kindness towards other strangers.
Why I’m on Couchsurfing
HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING
These days my participation might have gone down due to me visiting other hosts as I have been moving around a bit, but intend to pick up hosting once will 'settle' enough to have a place to live in long term. In the meantime - I usually am free to show around/explore together the city I live in (Auckland at the time of writing this description).
COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE
Well, apart from my first couchsurfer I must say the experience been great... ;)
My first couchsurfer was travelling around the world and the only reason why I wouldn't say it was a great experience is that it must have been a too strong of a cultural difference AND a personal one. But we all must learn somehow, don't we?
While living in Porto at one point ended up hosting about seven people. One was a legit Couchsurfer that arrived as a guest of my friend, but as she had to leave the next morning for her holidays, he ended up to be mine :) the rest where friends from USA, Finland, Turkey, The Netherlands and Latvia.
Time in London was more filled with people that knew someone from my friends, not real couchsurfers, but interesting encounters never the less :)
And the rest of my experience has been:
The wonderful Victor from Brazil that hosted me and my friends in Porto, showing around places even I didn't know, despite having lived there for half of a year;
Fantastic Guillermo from Spain that didn't think that five Latvians will be too much to handle in his country-side property;
Fellow Journalism student Clement from Paris that met me for dinner before storm at Staten Island, while I was visiting New York;
Amazing and funny Pierre that made my and two of my Estonian friend experience in Paris unforgettable;
Charming, funny and witty Stephen and his flatmates that made our trip to Dublin simply one-of-a-kind experience! Starting from intellectual conversations, loads of jokes and enormous amount of hugs (that's how I roll, people!);
And then came the Americans...!!! :)
Watch out, people, they always come in twos :D I had the pleasure to host world-travelers and explorers from Seattle, two brothers - Michael and Nicolas - that immediately felt so familiar and cozy that felt like family members (the ones that you actually like);
About two days later I had the wild and amazing Courtney from Alaska, who had picked up on her way a lonely soul from Texas - William. Both experiences have been extremely positive and somewhat shaped a deeper understanding of American values, lifestyle and interest in nature and wildlife. Can't wait to see these people again! (P.S. Courtney and Michael also have given audio interviews that will be included in my radio news feature that I will try to add here somehow, sometime :) )
And of course, once you host Americans - it is time for Canadians :) I had the pleasure to be chosen by the super-positive and lovely Celia, who same as me and my partner loves naps and came along on an impromptu road-trip around Scotland. We couldn't have her enough, so we even met up with her and her mum, when they came down to London. It was my boyfriend's first CS experience and now he is completely mesmerized by this community. Thanks, folks! x
Most of the times I have itchy feet, but sometimes they are just SO itchy that I just HAVE TO GO and so it happened that due to having Freddy Mercury singing 'Barcelona' on the radio, I decided to visit this stunning city and got lucky to be hosted by Pavelito - a young musician that is definitely a traveler/explorer at his heart. Usually he doesn't host anyone in the middle of the week, but we just hit it off straight away. The dude was awesome - had moved to Barcelona from India and not only spoke perfect Spanish, but also learned Catalan out of respect to the local people :) How can you NOT want to stay with someone like this? :)
Another great example of how awesome is CS was the story of Leo - a world traveler me and my partner stayed with in Corfu, before chartering a yacht and sailing around the Ionian islands. Due to last minute plans a few of our friends couldn't make it, so we invited Leo and another his friend Rosie to test how they would feel living on the sea for a week. It was amazing time - we shared morning coffee and breakfast together, spent afternoons swimming and snorkeling, stalking the local sea life and creatures, sailing into a new port every evening and paying our respects to the local hospitality by gaining weight in pasta, seafood and beer. Nothing beats the Greek hospitality.
I owe my gratitude and admiration to ALL of these people! And as a believer in PAY IT FORWARD philosophy, I will do the same for others.
Interests
TRAVELING. Rock and ice-wall climbing (beginner), sailing (Competent Crew Member), diving (hooked), snowboarding, swimming, hiking and camping, learning new languages, random, interesting and weird facts, books and so much more. Lately I have realized I have a particular interest in filming and editing.
In the near future I will become a certified scuba diver, will upgrade my sailing qualification to Day Skipper and would like to try sky diving, definitely want to do more outdoor climbing and lead-climbs.
- wildlife
- books
- photography
- cooking
- wine
- coach
- walking
- shopping
- news
- movies
- traveling
- socializing
- blogging
- outdoor activities
- fishing
- hiking
- camping
- scuba diving
- sailing
- snowboarding
- rock climbing
- swimming
- journalism
- languages
- hitchhiking
- mountains
Music, Movies, and Books
Music: Linkin Park, Frank Sinatra, Savage Garden, Aerosmith, Brainstorm, Cosmos, Bon Jovi, etc.
Favourite movies: "Pride and prejudice", "A walk to remember", "Bruce Almighty", "Mr and Mrs Smith", "The 5th element", "Erina Brokovich", "The Prestige", "Hangover", LOTR, etc.
Books: "The Book Thief", "Mud. Sweat. Tears.", "The Kite Runner", "Pollyanna", "The singer in the thornbush", "Daddy Longlegs" "Tuesdays with Moorie," "Five people you meet in heaven", "Chicken Soup for the Soul", "How to got from where you are to where you want to be", etc.
One Amazing Thing I’ve Done
The latest: I had bought several travel tickets in Europe to extend my summer, but, sadly, due to family emergency I couldn't make it myself. I wasn't so upset with losing my money as I was with just not using the tickets, so this interesting idea came to my mind - find other Ieva's Balode :) So I wrote on Facebook to another 39 of them and one (the RIGHT one) replied to me within 20 minutes. How cool is that?! Turned out that she's an artist and was planning to move to Portugal for the winter (one of my plans), she at the moment was unemployed and planning how she could make it - and I MADE IT HAPPEN!!! :) Seriously, I don't think I have ever turned out to be this lucky and although it isn't as selfish as volunteer work abroad and stuff, I think I am super proud of this idea itself. Yeah.... so there's that...
I have volunteered at the London 2012 and Sochi 2014 Paralympic Games.
There is definitely nothing that I have loved more than climbing a mountain (Scafell Pike in Lake District, Cuillin Range on the Isle of Skye, Ben Nevis in Scotland), diving underwater (Malta. Have done it just twice, but it was enough for me to want it more!!!), get to snowboard in mountains that are 7x higher than the highest point in Latvia (Sochi, during The Paralympics) and climb a glacier that might not be there in next 5-10 years (Norway).
Ran and finished Tough Mudder in 2014. For many this doesn't seem anything particularly hard, where for me it meant not only change the way I see myself, but also overcome my own fears, mental blocking and not give up! One more reason why this moment gets to be mentioned here is that TM Family is the best kind of family anyone could wish for - all the runners, participants and spectators, not to mention the fantastic volunteers!
Teach, Learn, Share
Always learning and always teaching! A sentence of a friend has stuck with me: "Always keep yourself surrounded by people from who you can either learn something or to whom you can teach something, others will not stick around!"
What I Can Share with Hosts
Awesome stories and laughter, home made meals, if we have enough time. Information and suggestions about the places I have been to, silliness and random jokes. If interest is strong I don't mind teaching how to climb or if the weather or mood is appropriate we can go camping or hiking.
I definitely would love to see my hosts again, so the popular Spanish saying: "Mi Casa es su Casa!" is VERY appropriate here! ;) (even if it says that I might not have a coach available - write to me!).
Conversations about books and movies (although I am slightly behind the popular ones at the moment), maybe a postcard from my future travel places... or random text messages, when you least expect it!
Countries I’ve Visited
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malta, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Scotland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States
Countries I’ve Lived In
England, Latvia, New Zealand, Portugal, Scotland, United Kingdom