I come from my beloved Tenerife 💖 🌴🌅one of the Canary Islands (Spain) and I spent many years living in bonnie Scotland.

I am also of Swedish ancestry and anything Scandi makes my heart flutter 🙂 hehe.

Currently living in Sofia, the capital city of Bulgaria.

I recently quit my job as an accountant and on 21st October I started my first research position -mix of Due Diligence and Politics- in this country, excited and feeling a little proud of myself! That is Monday to Friday.

I am three subjects shy of obtaining my MBA 🤓📚 🎓-via a Scottish university; I fly back to the UK twice per year in order to sit the exams - too so yep, I definitely keep myself busy.

Teetotal. Non-smoker. Childfree by choice.

Swimming - Politics (my first degree was on this subject) - Digital Nomadism

Long Handwritten Letters 📮- Irish Potato Farls - Train Journeys

Cooking & trying out new recipes

Traveling (Istanbul, Brussels and Geneva are among my favourite cities in the world and I return for a visit as often as budget allows)

My dreamlands are Namibia, Chile, Alaska & New England states (USA), Armenia, Canada and Georgia the ex-Soviet republic. I hope to visit these places in the next few years

Shiatsu - Literary journals - Ballet performances

Pistachio Ice Cream - Anthropology - Polaroid cameras 📸

Husky Dogs (but I do not have any pets at present)

Matrioshka dolls and all things Russian

Art Galleries; I have recently taken up painting 🎨... I can tell already I won't be the next Picasso 🤭

Pottery - Chess - Vegan leather - Ikea (furniture and the veggie hot dogs!)

True Crime - European Cinema - Drinking Tea (NO black tea though; caffeine-free only)

Pizza 🍕- Zines - Cacti & all Succulents

Books (YA, Science-Fiction, Anthropology, Crime/Mystery, Haiku, Poetry)

The Sound of Taiko Drums - Botany - Holidaying in Bansko (google it, it's gorgeous!)

Coconut - Cinnamon - Turmeric - Oregano. I have loved these flavours since I was a child

Etsy - Robots - Philosophy - Online Learning

Hiking - Coding (Rust, now starting to learn Ruby on Rails)

Oxford shoes - The Smell of Cherry Blossom and also Jasmine

Learning Foreign Languages

🎶 🎸Country Music (also Jazz, Classical composers, Rap, Dutch DJ Martin Garrix and Twenty One Pilots) 🎶 🎸

Smokers and their whiff when passing by... yuck! 🤢

Drama llamas

The ones involved in animal cruelty (hunters, bullfighters... all those sub-humans)

NO black tea - repeating this as in two recent swaps I was sent black tea only which I cannot drink. It is too strong for me; keeps me awake at night

Religious stuff

Anything with butterfly drawings on it

Buttons, lace, sewing items

Christmassy things - I don't celebrate it

Blythe dolls and similar ones, clowns... creepy!

Friendship books, slams, decos, x-slips

Kawaii, Hello Kitty, Gorjuss etc... I am 41 years old; stopped liking all of that years ago :-) buuut two exceptions: the Moomins (Finnish characters, they are unique) and the yellow thingies (Minions) as my pupils adore them

Typed letters - Aaaargh! Massive pet peeve of mine

Washi tape & stationery (pleeenty of that at home)

Cinema tickets, used tickets of any kind, restaurant menus, tourist brochures, loose envelopes, glitter, "Post-It" type sticky paper... I have no use for any of that

ATCs (artist trading cards) - A lot of work goes into them and it would be a pity to send them to me as I only collect lighthouse postcards and zines; everything else gets either used - stationery-, eaten - soup packets, chocs etc- or donated. Better to send them to someone who can appreciate them and has space to keep them

I don't use makeup other than cherry, pink or red lip balm/ lip gloss. I am a redhead and many facial products cause me a rash if these contain artificial stuff so I only use products made with aloe vera, argan oil and Bulgarian rose, Swedish Bio-Oil and Polish brand Ziaja. I buy all of it from my local pharmacy

I would send by recorded delivery for (my) peace of mind.

Interested in receiving...

Soup packets. Looove soup and finding out about the most popular ones in other countries! Nothing with meat, please

Lighthouse postcards. And those of beautiful buildings, cathedrals etc... I am passionate about architecture

Cherry colour nail polish 💅 (it is difficult to find it here; I used to buy Cherry Love colour from one of the Oriflame distributors but they stopped offering it in Bulgaria, boo!)

Reusable shopping bag - in bamboo or cotton material, no plastics/acrylic- from your local supermarket

Anything that would help me in my foreign language studies (currently focusing on both Dutch and Swedish): a magazine article written in the language, an exercise book, a crossword puzzle taken from the local newspaper, flashcards would be awesome! a children's book

I once got in a swap maple syrup in a maple leaf-shaped 🍁 little bottle. The bottle got lost during one of my moves across the EU and I would love to get another one. Once it is empty, it looks adorable in the kitchen for decorative purposes

I am crazy about the tiny house movement. An article on this issue from the magazine Dwell or any other in paper format would make my day

I can send (for private swaps)

Stickers - I have hundreds and I stopped collecting ages ago

Postcards

Tea

Chocolate (Bulgarian, Ukrainian and Polish brands = the ones sold here)

Letter paper

Second-hand books in English

Bulgarian souvenirs (fridge magnets, rose or lavender soap, local snacks, Bulgarian rose essential oil)

And I welcome any suggestions as long as it fits in a padded envelope.

In 2009 I had a very unpleasant experience in Swap-bot. I have decided to leave on my profile the text I wrote at the time in case it helps other members going through the same situation.

The text was as follows "I have done my best to sort out the problem with the handful of parcels that got lost in the mail and it seems I am not getting those 1s removed anytime soon. Tired of being held hostage by some swappers who seem to expect me to send dozens of replacement packages.

On top of that very disturbing experience getting death threats and insults by email from those who think of themselves as Swap-bot police. I was shocked when a person emailed me "I hope you get a cancer and die".

Thanks to Samantha and the (very few) members who have supported me during this period of having to deal with difficult members. It has been really disappointing to say the least the behaviour of some I considered to be friends"

Look forward to catching up with those members who were lovely towards me during that period of time several years ago. Thank you.

Please contact me if you would like to organize a private swap for these things I would looove to have:

Maria Gripe novels in Swedish

Idahoan brand packets of mashed potatoes - I (literally!) dream of trying all the flavours! I have read it is very good and mashed potatoes is my comfort food

Yogi Tea Lime Mint (Yogi tea is sold everywhere in Bulgaria but not this flavour)

Turkey Hill brand Maple tea (Canada)

Any tea that tastes like pear 🍐

Second-hand Agatha Raisin cozy mysteries in English

Anything from the Korean shop Postcard Office, especially those stickers depicting a postman

Anything from Namibia

A back issue of The Fiddlehead in good condition (Canada)

A few pages of a The New Pioneer magazine issue. Articles on homesteading, tree houses, woodwork, organic fruits etc (USA)

A parcel with all things Danish (fridge magnet, chocolate, snacks, postcards)

A back issue of HUMO in good condition (Belgium)

Korean teabags 🍵 - any flavour is fine :-)

Postcards of Stave churches (Norway)

Brazilian candy

Sopa de camarón y chile, en sobres de cualquier marca (Mexico)

Papel de cartas de Mafalda (Argentina)

Los sobres azules del correo argentino. Los amo (Argentina)

Las novelas de Roberto Bolaño. De segunda mano pero en buenas condiciones. De cualquier editorial. Adoro a este escritor QEPD (Chile)

Correspondencia con otras latinas como yo que tengan gustos similares para enviarnos cartitas y de vez en cuando paquetes con cositas

Biographies, magazine articles etc on mathematicians of any era (in English)

If like me you are starting out as a coder, it would be lovely to receive a letter handwritten by you telling me about your experiences, which coding language you learned first, your favourite one, what/who inspired you to learn Coding, your goals in the field for the future.