CURRENT MISSION

To have a life well-lived

ABOUT ME

Hi! I'm a 49-year-old teacher (I work with teenagers with special needs and behaviour issues) and single parent. My grown-up daughter loves couch-surfing so I decided it's time for me to give it a go! I'm originally from Wales and the best description of me is: typical Welsh girl. I love adventures and human encounters, and enjoy visiting my best mate in New Zealand, as well as other close friends in Europe. I also enjoy my own company, love finding things out for myself and value my independence - friends generally regard me as a 'free spirit'. I lived and worked abroad before I had my kids, so I feel comfortable everywhere really.

PHILOSOPHY

Be yourself; everyone else is taken.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting - and also looking for couches in Australia and New Zealand in August 2014...

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have recently started hosting at my place - a very positive experience!

Interests

I'm always doing stuff! I love swimming (in the sea whenever possible) and saunas. I also enjoy hill-walking and long, rambling city walks too. I play a bit of tennis. I'm curious and like to learn something new every day. I like reading, crosswords and learning languages (I speak Welsh, German, French, Russian, Hungarian... and bits of lots of other languages). I've always been a bit of a political activist in the green/leftie scene but recently I mainly concentrate on working as a local rep for my union (the NUT). And of course, I love meeting up with friends down the pub, and, forever young at heart, I still like going clubbing!

• walking
• clubbing
• pub crawls
• reading
• surfing
• tennis
• swimming
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Patti Smith, Morrissey, The Smiths, Bob Dylan, reggae, Welsh folk music, punk....lots of random stuff...
Movies: European cinema rather than Hollywood blockbusters
Books: totally eclectic taste - but my favourite writer is Tolstoy

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I travelled by train from Budapest to Beijing in 1988, and got arrested in Mongolia due to overstaying my visa!

Teach, Learn, Share

I am a teacher-trainer, so if you're thinking about teaching as a career, or would like to learn more about working with teenagers (especially dealing with teenage mental health) I'm your girl!

Also I would love to teach you some Welsh folk songs!

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Malta, Mongolia, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Austria, Germany, Hungary, United Kingdom