CURRENT MISSION

We're flying to New York!

ABOUT ME

We're all right. Nothing fancy, just a couple doing their thing in Amsterdam. We're quite excited about our home at the moment. We live with 18 really nice people (5 children) in a very big house. We are supposed to be a "culturele broedplaats" for our part of town.

Ben is the only German boy in the Netherlands without a German accent. Marieke is glad that the Germans find a Dutch accent cute.

We immediately suspect you to have attended a Waldorf School when you tell us you've played violin.

Although this is a shared profile page, most descriptions have been written by Marieke.

PHILOSOPHY

Is it necessary to have one? We'll not have figured this out until we're 81,5 years old, probably.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfing and hosting. Making the life of travellers easier and more pleasant, we hope.
We host and surf.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We have some experience, and enjoyed the couchsurfdays, both as a surfer and as a host. It has been good.

Interests

A part from biology related stuff we like water, sailing lakes or oceans or anywhere. Making music and listening to music..ice skating, running, cycling, breakfast, drawing, trying to make a website, apple pie, avocado, lots of candy (Ben) good cognac (Marieke), french fries, walking.. for example.

Ben plays squash, Marieke doesn't.

We've both sailed a lot, working on traditional sailing ships. We like making sailing trips together but since we do not have a boat or a lot of money we are considering to become pirates.

• cooking
• breakfast
• vegetarian
• running
• walking
• flying
• boating
• juggling
• drawing
• music
• guitar
• violin
• cycling
• hiking
• surfing
• scuba diving
• sailing
• racquetball
• biology
• teaching
• languages
• hitchhiking
• lakes
• squash

Music, Movies, and Books

I leave it to Ben to describe his own taste, which differs from mine.

Some music I like: One of my favourite bands is called "Tin Hat". Other than that I like: 3leg torso, some of John Zorn's Filmworks, Michael Nymann (for Peter Greenaway movies,)Brazilian klezmer, Ethiopian 70's pop, Dengue Fever, Roberta Sa with Hamilton de Holanda.. Somehow I have a weakness for brazilian music in general... Djavan, even like the sleazy stuff. Different kinds of jazz, Norwegian balkan boogy, Finnish tango, Boom Pam (the tuba is great), Beirut, M.I.A. (if only I were cool like she is)Carlos Paredes (also with Charlie Haden), Tim Sparks, Chano Dominguez, French musette.. most French music with an accordion..http://youtu.be/HufYtsZO3qI
And Mathieu Boogaerts..Some songs by Sylvie Vartan, Andrew Bird, Dave Douglas, Tom Waits, Charlie Haden, Kronos Quartet, Rob Burger(!!!)
Two surfers introduced me to Edmar Castaneda: check it out, it is wonderful and very impressive!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SNhAKyXtC8

I hope couchsurfers will introduce me to more beautiful music.
I like singing, have sung a lot of jazz. Ben gave me a tango dance course for my birthday and we enjoy the lessons very much. I do read but not as much as I would like to. Ehh for example: Cloud Atlas I really liked. Life of Pi too (maybe due to circumstances while reading -->trapped on a boat with someone I did not trust). I just read Lord of the Flies, impressive.
Ehh Murakami, Mark Haddon, Nick Hornby, Dave Eggers, Saramago..

Movies.. Well for example: "Another Year", Peter Greenaway's "Drowning by Numbers" (beautiful music from Michael Nyman) "Me an you and everyone we know", Pani e Tulipani. Emir Kusturica's movies (cool music too) But also Mary Poppins..sorry..
Series: Flight of the Conchords!

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

This question somehow asks for boring answers...everything we state here will sound silly, or pretentious..Once you get us started about our sailing days, we start to brag and tell big stories about how we sailed these big ships to far destinations. It can be hard to stop us once we've started, so beware.
Anyway, Ben has just managed to sew a button back on his shirt! I have just opened the top button of my pants, because I ate too much. To be continued! We'll keep you updated.

Teach, Learn, Share

We are on a hitch-hiking trip from Amsterdam to Bretagne

I bought a curling iron to curl my hair.. I absolutely love curls, but I am not very good at making them. My hair is deteriorating fast. I would appreciate advice.

I like learning languages and practicing together. I would very much like to improve my French and Portuguese and English..And my German, but since Ben is German, I should probably be learning from him.

I have learned a bit of diving, but no diploma yet. Would like to improve that! Ben can dive.

I have an accordion, but I cannot play very well..I do enjoy playing and making up songs. If you can teach me how to play better..I would be grateful. But if you prefer the guitar, we've got two.

I do not know what I can teach. I am an enthusiastic biology teacher and am usually full of stories about the kids I teach. Many couchsurfers state their juggling experience..well: I do a max of 4 balls.
We can teach you how to sail, a bit..but let's find us a boat first.

I enjoy drawing together with people, but whether I can teach you anything depends on your level..but that goes for most teachable things, I guess.

I am enjoying cooking more and more. Vegetarian. Cooking together, exchanging ideas?

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Denmark, France, French Guiana, Germany, Italy, Mauritania, Monaco, Portugal, Romania, Saint Lucia, Spain, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United Kingdom

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