CURRENT MISSION

Hi, my name is marianna and I am living in New Zealand. I am curently hosting people from all over the world through our backpackers hostel. I am also hosting wooffers, that means workers on farms in exchange for accomodation.

ABOUT ME

I came from Holland in 1981 to visit my relatives in New Zealand. There I met a NZ farmer who fell in love with me. We married a year later. We have 4 sons who are now all grown up( except one) and they all travel the world, it's in my genes.
I still love to travel and have done a lot since we married. We are married 26 years this year.
We run a backpackers here in NZ and so we meet a lot of people from all over the world.

PHILOSOPHY

We are a Christian family and base our lifestyle to the word of God. We are not fantatics, so don't worry, but we do not compromise the gospel.

I have made 3 trips to Fiji, as a nurse.
Just returned from 80 days in Europe.( 12 countries)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Last year I travelled 3 months through Europe, Central Europe, Scandinavia and South France.
You can follow those adventures on
http://marianna-in-europe.blogspot.com
I have stayed in some hostels like: Vienna, Prague, island of Texel in Holland, and in Estonia. In Paris I stayed in a small hotel. The rest of the time I stayed with relatives and friends.
I had a fantastic time, however I didn't use the couch surfing ...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have my first couch surfers staying with us these 2 days, and it is fun to spoil them . 2 friendly German boys.

The only way I have couch surfed is the unofficial way, by staying with friends and family which is what I am doing at present.

Interests

My interests are traveling, seeing the world, meeting new people from other cultures, learning new languages.
I like computing, new technology, my i-pod, horse riding, walking, swimming, snorkeling,beach riding, horse camps. Also doing things with my family.

• culture
• running
• walking
• clubbing
• technology
• traveling
• surfing
• snorkeling
• swimming
• languages
• nursing
• beaches
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

The bible, The Lord of the Rings, the Chronicles of Narnia and many others I can't think of at the moment.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

The most amazing thing I did was , 3 MONTHS TRAVEL through Europe, alone , but visiting friend and family. The places I stayed alone in hostels are: Vienna, and Prague. The Hostel in Vienna( Ruthersteiner hostel is excellent)In Tallinn me and my friend stayed( Vana Tom) but it was very noisy outside on the street and a strip club upstairs.

The other amazing thing I have done is 2 weeks on GERMAN CRUISE LINER FOR ONLY 10 euro's a DAY. This was 2 weeks of bliss around the Vietnam coast visiting lots of ports. Seeing the Vietnam was amazing. I love Vietnam and its people. I want to go back one day.

The other thing which was an amazing thing , we took our 4 kids overland from Holland to Morrocco and back through many countries to see , meet and explore the high Atlas Mountains of Morocco and became friends with local Berbers who lived very isolated village.
Those people had never seen white European CHILDREN before.

Teach, Learn, Share

I like to learn from each culture and country I come across and learn a bit of their language.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Brunei Darussalam, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria