Ok, umm. Well, I don´t have anything deeply philosophical to tell you and I surely haven´t found all the answers to the questions life has been throwing at me, whereas I try to do my best to answer my many pupils´ questions every day and have been doing so for the last over 20 years.

I´m honest, reliable, good-hearted, helpful and emphatic, and I guess I tend to often make my life a bit too complicated for myself because I can be quite serious, and I´m really self-critical. I also often am a bit quiet at the beginning, especially in a group, but as soon as I know people better, I become more bubbly.

I have been quite stressed out those last few years because teaching is challenging anyway, and when you´re an emphatic perfectionist, it can be quite a struggle and become too much at times. I therefore took a break from teaching and took a sabbatical (from August 2016 to 2017). That added quite a few countries to my list :-)

I grew up as the oldest of 3 (1 brother, 1 sister) and we´ve never had pets, but I love cats and am comfortable with dogs and other animals.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I´d like to meet other people who love travelling as much as I do. I think the concept is great - as a guest in a foreign country you get the insider´s perspective and can practise your foreign languages, as a host you can help others to get around and give them a warm welcome to your home.

Travelling for me is an elixir of life, pretty much as needed as oxygen and water. I draw a lot of strength out of my travels.

Interests

Travelling, singing (choir), photography, languages, cinema, long-term hiking (although I can´t do that any more, at least at the moment),...

• animals
• cats
• culture
• singing
• photography
• movies
• traveling
• hiking
• languages
• psychology
• au-pair

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: I have lots of CDs (French-speaking and English-speaking mostly, but also some classical music) but don´t listen to them very often - I guess I sometimes really need some peace and quiet after the hub of school...
I love Lhasa de Sela, many of Celine Dion´s French songs, Sia, Abba, Tschaikowski, Prokofiev, Puccini and lots more.

Films: many, e.g. Dances with Wolves, A Fish called Wanda, Chicken Run, The Hours, Love actually, Dogville, Notting Hill, The Shawshank Redemption, As good as it gets, Les choristes, Intouchables
And I confess, I passionately followed Game of Thrones.

Books: almost as many, e.g. the Harry Potter series, the Hunger Games books, (yes, I do also read adult books ;-)) Jane Eyre, The Remains of the Day

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Walked over 800 kilometres from Saint Jean-Pied-de-Port to Santiago de Compostella

Teach, Learn, Share

That sounds a bit too philosophical to me. Let´s keep it simple: I can teach you some German (if you have small children, how about a German lullaby?), I´d like to learn about your culture and we can share some globetrotter stories. I´d like to be able to say we could also share recipes, but I´m no good at cooking ;-)

What I Can Share with Hosts

With me as your guest, I guess you will always be able to have a good conversation and I´m an excellent listener, too.

I was an au-pair girl after my A-levels and loved it. So, if you have small children, I´d love to read them a couple of bed-time stories and/or sing some lullabies so you have some time to get done other things, or I can do your dishes, clean the kitchen or something, so you can tuck in the kids.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, Germany, United Kingdom