CURRENT MISSION

Finish renovations in the house so it can be open to CSers again.

ABOUT ME

Flo: I was born in Tahiti and lived in the French overseas territories until I graduated from high school. I moved on to mainland France for 5 years to study and moved again to the US because I didn't have enough of studying...

Valera: Russian/Ukrainian/Belorussian, married to a French girl in Italy, residing in the US. Born in USSR and lived, until the age of 11, in the lovely town of Pushchino, Russia (a center for biological research) on the banks of the beautiful Oka river. Our family came to the US for 1 year (parents are researchers)... but somehow still here.

We met each other while studying at Purdue University (well, we actually met at a party, not while studying). Since then, we've lived together and separately in a few different places (Davis, Seattle, San Francisco) and have now settled in the quaint village of Berkeley.

PHILOSOPHY

Humanism. Be true to self and people around us, be happy wherever we are, believe in universal understanding. Never stop learning.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We host, surf and always look forward to hanging out with couch surfers.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Mostly great. Sometimes just good. Rarely so so. Never horrible. Surfed together and separately several times in US, France, Germany, Australia and Colombia. Hosted many lovely people.

One very wise couchsurfer once told us (having just given us the keys to his place 5 minutes after we showed up at his door) - you know, at this point, even if something bad was to happen to me through couchsurfing, I've already gained so much from it, made many friends, heard interesting stories, shared great meals... that at the end, it still would have been worth it. This kind of trust and approach is what keeps this community going (hopefully for many years to come).

We have found that CS profiles (well, those that are filled in) are generally accurate reflections of the people we end up meeting. Thus far, we have not had any surprises. Reading profiles (and filling out your own) is useful.

Interests

Flo: Dancing (Lindy Hop, Swing and the like), photography, cooking... and eating! (anything that has to do with good food and good wine, I'm in!), travelling, meeting fun people

Valera: travel, photography, football (the one where you use your feet to play with the ball), mountaineering, hiking, skiing, music, good conversation (over a tasty meal), cooking... especially trying new recipes, live music, trying something new.

• photography
• dancing
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• wine
• partying
• flowers
• reading
• traveling
• music
• live music
• hiking
• mountaineering
• skiing
• soccer

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Just a few of our favorites: Much Ado About Nothing, Amelie, Lives of Others, Goodbye Lenin, Il Postino, Urga, Volver, Da Godfather I and II, Tarkovskiy's movies (Solaris, Stalker) and other Russian classics...

Music: We'll give anything a shot, but we usually let Pandora pick for us. Some of what we liked: Emilie Simon, Air, M83, Zakir Hussain, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Buddha Bar, Jazz (Peterson, Brubeck, Miles), Paris Combo, Benabar, Zemfira, Kino, classical with a bias towards piano (Chopin, Beethoven), acoustic guitar (Friday Night in San Francisco). Valera also likes trance (Tiesto, PVD, Armin Van Buren).

Books: The Alchemist (and most of Coelho's books), Dance Dance Dance (and others by Murakami), The Emperor of Scent (Chandler Burr), L'Ensorcellement du monde (Boris Cyrulnik), Dune (Herbert), Character of Rain and others by (Amelie Nothomb), 9 Prices of Amber (Roger Zelazny), Kundera, Vonnegut, Russian classics (Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevskiy), cook books.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Dolphins. Pink dolphins.

Teach, Learn, Share

Together, we're decent cooks, so we'd be glad to share recipes, meals and anything that has to do with good food. Flo can give you insight about the mechanisms that regulate aroma production in flowers, fruits and vegetables. Valera can teach you how to write automated UI tests for Android applications... or we could just discuss the intricacies of modern football.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belarus, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, New Caledonia, Russian Federation, South Korea, Spain, United Kingdom, Vatican City State

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, French Polynesia, Russian Federation, Réunion, Ukraine, United States

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