CURRENT MISSION

take my children to not just see the world but meet the people of the world

ABOUT ME

I am a mother of four children ( 18, 16, 14, and 9) We live in Germany and England , the children go to school in Germany , England and Canada. We love traveling, walking/hiking ( with our dog), canoeing, gardening , we enjoy preparing and eating fresh food and spending time with friends and family.

After traveling across the world before the children, then a lot in Europe,and more recently again further afield ( Africa, China, Canada) I would really like to change emphasis from seeing places to finding out more about the people living in different places , how they see their home town/country , how they see the world and what they think life is all about !

Over the years we have had lots of au-pairs ( I was myself an au-pair in London in 1981) and exchange students and we have always enjoyed the experience and have made some good friends.

PHILOSOPHY

I believe traveling and talking to people can be the best education you get. It makes you strong, confident and wise ! Travel is not just about the destination but the way that takes you there and in the 21st century is about the precious opportunity to see some places before they vanish .
We can all do our bit to emphasise what connects us rather that what devides us and we can engender respect and love for the marvellous things in this world.Being rather than having and sharing the finite resources of this earth.

Por qué estoy en Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I intend to travel with one or two children and hope to meet other members with children - our children have so much opportunity to see and experience far away places but it is still rare for them to communicate with people face to face in ordinary surroundings and find out about the way of life in different countries.
I find hosting people in our own home and showing them the place we live as rewarding as going traveling myself. I have the opportunity to host people in Germany as well as an England where we have a home west of London in Surrey.

I would love to share optimism and enthusiasm about the future of the world , concentrating an a more sustainable and person/communiy centred way of development .

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

just joined the community

Intereses

walking , gardening, local food, education - how and what to learn - , the natural world,sustainable development, photography, volunteering

• dogs
• photography
• education
• dining
• walking
• gardening
• flowers
• traveling
• hiking
• canoeing
• teaching
• volunteering
• au-pair

Música, películas y libros

Music - world music ( e.g. from Africa, Cuba, Ireland )
classical, especially piano music ( Bachs Goldberg variations), Benjamin Britten, R. Vaughan Williams ; jazz,Jaque Loussier Trio, Stephan Grapelli, and many other incl. Don McLean, Anne Sophie von Otter, Fleet Foxes, Eva Cassidy, Röyksopp, Par Metheny, ......

Books: I read lots - fiction and non-fiction - Alan Benett, Bill Bryson, Barbara Kingsover, Ian Mcewan, Charles Handy , J.G.Ballard "Empire of the Sun" , Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie "Half of a Yellow Sun", lots on the environment and education and some teenage fiction ( David Almond, Michael Morpurgo, Meg Rosoff) also classic literature and some poetry
regular reader of the guardian and Die Zeit

Algo increíble que he hecho

in the early 80s I went Lake Dal in Kashmir , stayed in a wooden houseboat, visited Mogul gardens surrounded by fabulous scenery, paddled through lotus flowers on the lake, then went on the most terrifying road into Ladakh

Enseña, aprende, comparte

no immediate thoughts on this yet

Países que he visitado

Canada, Morocco, Netherlands, Sweden

Países en los que he vivido

Germany