It's early Saturday afternoon and Sonya and I have just spent the last half an hour chatting about shopping, make-up and traveling (perfect girl talk in my humble opinion). 22 and from St Petersburg, she is our first couch surfer and we are her 8th hosts all very exciting stuff although I do wish that I'd taken a wee bit more time to tidy up - I'm really not feeling all that house proud at the moment!
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| From Blogger Pictures |
It's now Friday again and almost a week has gone by since Sonya visited and we are back to wedding and trip planning with a vengeance particularly as Ds application for a UK wedding visa was rejected - if at first you don't succeed try, try again! Thinking about our trip and all the couchsurfing we'll be doing made me think a little bit more about the ideals behind the whole idea.
This extract is taken directly from the website:
"What is CouchSurfing?
CouchSurfing is an international non-profit network that connects travelers with locals in over 230 countries and territories around the world. Since 2004, members have been using our system to come together for cultural exchange, friendship, and learning experiences. Today, over a million people who might otherwise never meet are able to share hospitality and cultural understanding.
Our mission as an organization is to create inspiring experiences: cross-cultural encounters that are fun, engaging, and illuminating. These experiences take many forms. CouchSurfing's initial focus was on hosting and "surfing" (staying with a local as a guest in their home). Alongside these core experiences, we now also facilitate a growing array of activities and events.
We have a vision of a world where everyone can explore and create meaningful connections with the people and places they encounter. Each CouchSurfing experience shared by our members brings us closer to that vision."
I've only just read this but it gives a bit more detail to what I was thinking about this whole business - that it's a great way to meet other people and make some really lovely new friends. I hadn't thought too much about CS before because I didn't really get the idea of it - why would/do people open their homes to strangers? I guess I still don't really get it but having someone turn up on your doorstep who, despite emails and text to confirm details, is a total stranger and welcoming them into your home is such a lovely feeling. I was a little worried that I would feel taken advantage of, after all they don't pay to come and stay with you, but nothing was further from the truth. We welcomed her like we had invited her and she was so lovely and chatty. I guess it's a bit like having new friends delivered to your door, whether you stay in contact only for the time you're together or arrange to visit each other long after the initial visit. The more I think about it, the more in love I am with the idea, more so since we have hosted (a touch of the guilt complex when up until last weekend all we'd done is be hosted) it's so nice to be able to help people out in small ways and not expect to recieve anything for the little trouble you go to. And when I reflect back on our TransSiberian adventure last summer I just can't imagine not having met all the people we did when CSing through all the different cities we visited. These people met us, put us up for a night, even if it was only on the floor, talked with us, showed us around and were just genuinely interested, welcoming and friendly. Such a lovely feeling to start this weekend with!
And on a note completely unrelated to Couch Surfing, make your own Russian Haired Sausage!
http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2009/07/13/russian-haired-sausage/#more-3344
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