CURRENT MISSION

enjoy life

ABOUT ME

I’m Dutch and living in Berlin at the moment. In the past I have lived abroad for appr. 10 years, of which 3 years Berlin, 7 years Israel (Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and 5 months Sydney. I returned to the Netherlands when I was pregnant. My son's father is still living in Jerusalem Ein Karem, with his new wife and their little son.

Last summer my son and I have moved from Almere (Holland) to Berlin (Germany). We are renting a cute 2-room-apartment in Berlin. It is too small to invite couchsurfers on a regular basis, but people we've met are always welcome to visit us, or to even swap houses during school holidays. Berlin has a lot to do and to see, for all kinds of interest. Flying with Air Berlin or Easyjet is very cheap if booked in advance, and also trains and Blablacar are convenient.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

The Couch Surfing project is a great initiative. Not only for saving money, but also for meeting people! Just like in the old days when I would just hitch-hike and see where to spend the night. Only a bit more planned.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Before I was a mother, I used to travel a lot by hitch-hiking. All through Europe. I met a lot of friendly drivers and got sometimes offered a meal or even a place to stay for the night. I am very grateful for that. Once I was stuck in Paris with a male friend and we didn't know where to spend the night. A German guy we met in a cafe took us and another person home. It was a long way by underground train. He let us sleep with him in his one-room apartment in the outskirts of Paris and told us he had to go to work in the morning but would leave us the key and after we finished getting up, shower, breakfast we could lock the door and put the key in the mailbox. How nice!!!! Once I was hitchhiking from Rotterdam to Berlin and on the way I met an American male hitch-hiker, he told me that he was actually travelling by bike but when his bike was stolen he continued to hitch-hike. We decided to continue travelling to Berlin together and I offered him the first night sleep in Berlin at a friend's house. Nowadays we sometimes use Blablacar for rides and Couchsurfing. In Almere we once hosted during summer holiday 5 Czech students with bicycles, and a Russian mother and son from St Petersburg. That was absolutely fun!

Interests

We have a lot of interests, like Israel, traveling, meeting people, languages, good food, watching movies, listening to music, photography and Apple. We speak English, Dutch, German and I speak Hebrew too. My son would love to learn Hebrew and guitar. He is also into skateboarding (despite his kneeproblems at the moment). Last year he celebrated his bar mitzwa in Jerusalem during summer holiday and he is keeping in touch with the friends he made at the skatepark.

• photography
• dining
• breakfast
• movies
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• hitchhiking

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Scuba-diving in Egypt – Sharm El Sheikh.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Jordan, Malta, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Germany, Israel, Netherlands

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