Benjamin

United Kingdom
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Profile information

Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
Activities i am interested in:
I've just come back from 10 months in Central America, and now I'm moving to the south of France for a new job. I like to try new things, meet new people and explore new cultures!
My next destination:
Montpellier, France - from May 2024
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Description
I've tried my hand at a lot of things—from IT and medical to teaching and cooking—and I am always challenging myself to learn new things, as well as trying to share what I've learnt with others. I'm a big language geek, and besides the languages listed below I've also dabbled in Serbian, Mandarin and Italian in the past.

I've lived all my life in the UK, but I spent the last year travelling in Central America and it was fantastic: I saw some amazing places, met some great people and had some unforgettable experiences. Now I'm settling down for a while but still wanted to scratch that travelling itch, so I've got a new job in a south of France.
Interests
Videography
Pets
Adventure sports
Nature
Animals
Sailing / Boating
Politics / Social justice
Mountain
Beach
Blogging
Outdoor activities
Photography
Cooking & food
Sustainability
Writing
Technology
Movies & TV
Languages
History
Hiking

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Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
French: Intermediate
Arabic: Beginner
German: Beginner
Kurdish: Beginner
More details about my language interests
I would like to practice my French and Spanish mainly, and I'm happy to help anyone practice their conversational English. I'm TEFL-qualified and could give more formal English lessons too.
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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Gardening
Some knowledge of:
Charity Work
Hospitality/Tourism
Helping around the house
Able to teach about:
Languages
Teaching
Helping with Computers/ Internet
Creating/ Cooking family meals
More details about your skills
• 🤓 IT SKILLS 🤓 I've been an IT guy for over a decade, touching on everything from software development and cyber security to radio communications and teaching.

• 🧑‍🏫 ENGLISH TEACHING 🧑‍🏫 I have a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) qualification and spent about a year delivering English lessons for asylum seekers & refugees in my local community.

• ✍️ WRITING ✍️ I've been blogging for almost a decade (at https://bengoldsworthy.net/blog), I have some journalistic experience and I've written press releases and white papers on cyber security topics. I'm a clear, effective writer and very good at making complex technical topics easy to understand.

• 👶 WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE 👶 I have experience working with children and young people, including teaching programming classes at a local elementary school and volunteering as a Scout Leader for several years.

• 📷 PHOTOGRAPHY 📷 I don't have any fancy equipment (only a tripod and my phone camera), but I've been developing my photography skills for a while and I think the results are pretty good! You can see some of my favourite pics on my profile.

• 🩹 FIRST AID 🩹 I have clinical experience working in pre-hospital/wilderness medicine, and I was previously responsible for organising and delivering clinical training for my local volunteer ambulance unit.

• 🧑‍🍳 COOKING 🧑‍🍳 I enjoy experimenting with new recipes, and recently finished a project trying to make every recipe from my favourite cookbook, adapting each to be vegan—you can read all about it at https://bengoldsworthy.net/series/bens-twenty/

• 🥾 HIKING 🥾 I love hiking in all sorts of environments, and I'm currently working towards a Mountain Leader qualification that will allow me to lead group expeditions back in the UK.
Age
28
What else ...
📖 I read allsorts. Camus and Dostoevsky are probably my favourite authors, but I seem to mainly read non-fiction these days 📖

🎞️ I love cinema! 🎞️

Some of my favourite films (in no particular order):
• Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring;
• Children of Men;
• Eurotrip; and
• La Commune (Paris, 1871)

🎵 I listen to all sorts of music; I have everything from Bosnian punk rock to musique concrète in my music library. My all-time favourite artist is Pat the Bunny, and I want to learn to play the guitar 🎶

🥋 I recently started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), and I did boxing when I was at university 🥊

🏄 I learnt to surf and dive whilst I was in Central America, and I really enjoy them both 🤿

📻 I've been getting into amateur radio lately, working towards getting my full license 📻
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
  no
- Special dietary requirements
  no, I like to try everything when I'm travelling

Feedback

10 Apr 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Help our community preserve ...)

I spent a couple weeks teaching and really enjoyed my time there. I spent most of time in the house (do an online search for 'hospedaja casa cultural wounaan' for some more photos and information), but also walked the nearby Manikin trail a few times: the second viewpoint is too overgrown to see anything, but the first has a fantastic view. Other… read more than that, I would often catch the bus to Quebrada Honda for lunch at Restaurante Arco Iris (try their arepas rellenas!). There is also a big supermarket there, as well as a bunch of small tiendas in Puerto Lara itself. You can also stay on the same bus a little longer and easily get to/from Santa Fe.

For the first week there was another couple volunteering with me, but on the second I was on my own. I would also recommend going with someone else, as otherwise you have an lot of time alone and the kids can be a handful. That said, I used my free time to catch up on some work (I had a good mobile data connection in the house with +Movil) so it was pretty convenient for me, and you could always go to the football pitches for a kickabout if you get bored.

I delivered lessons for the kids after they got out of school in the afternoon and in the evening for the adults. There's not much point scheduling specific classes for the kids as they just tend to come over at random times in the day; it was usually difficult to get them interested in the classes but they were always up for kicking a ball about or playing some games. The adults were very engaged though, and it was great to see the progress that everyone made whilst I was there.

Marlene and some of the other volunteers (see the other feedback) put together a helpful document of information for volunteers, so I'd recommend dropping them a message here. Communication was the biggest issue with this Workaway: Jonatahan (the Workaway contact person) stopped replying to me a few weeks before I was due to arrive, and it was only by messaging Workawayers who had left feedback that I was able to confirm where I was going and that they knew I was coming. Things improved once I was there though: Neldo and Cristela (two of the project organisers) would come over a couple times a week to check in and Cristela lives just across the road if you need anything.

Overall, I really recommend this as an opportunity to see a part of Panama that most people don't, and to really empower people in a small community by developing useful skills. Just like the others have said, I would love to come back if I'm ever in the area again to see how things have progressed, and with more time to spend and better Spanish I think there would be more opportunities to get involved with other aspects of life in Puerto Lara.

(Excellent )

25 Feb 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Help develop our farm into a ...)

I spent a total of four weeks at the finca and had a great time. Kobus and Deon are super knowledgeable and always happy to share what they know, whether that's about ecology and farming or the nitty-gritty of how the local economy works.

When there were only a few volunteers most of the work was watering trees, which was pleasant and relaxing… read more

(Excellent )

7 Jan 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Helping on our naturist ...)

I spent two periods of time: first, during the rainy season closure/house-sitting period when there were no guests; and second, during Christmas when there were.

The site itself is fantastic: you really are right in the jungle on the outskirts of Corcovado and you will see all sorts of wildlife. The trails are great fun and you owe it to yourself… read more to wake up early and get to the lookout point in time to see the sunrise at least once. The hostel is clean and has pretty much everything you could need, but expect that your first days there will be spent heading back down to get groceries and creature comforts that you realise you have forgotten to bring. The vibe is very relaxing, I didn't see a big difference between when there were guests there and when there weren't; everyone is very chill. I managed to kill my phone shortly after arriving (my own fault) and after a stressful day wandering around Puerto Jimenez trying to get it fixed I instantly felt a lovely wave of calm when I got back . We also organised a couple of film nights over Christmas and other social events for guests and volunteers, but it's also possible to mostly your own thing if you would rather. Val and Ron provide a lot of information via a volunteer WhatsApp group.

I have given 3/5 for profile accuracy because despite what it says, this Workaway is *absolutely* not suited for anyone who needs to work online. Internet at the hostel is provided by a single old mobile phone working as a hotspot, which is incredibly slow at the best of times and completely unusable when more than a few people are connected (or when it rains). Your only other option is to try the Wi-Fi at the tourist office in Dos Brazos, but this is a long walk away (through a river) and also incredibly flaky.

I have also given 3/5 for communications for two reasons: one is that the hostel initially forgot I was coming despite me messaging monthly for 4 months to check we were still good to go, although in this case at least this worked out okay. The other is that whilst during the closure/house-sitting period we just did whatever needed doing and it worked out okay, when the hostel was actually open we were supposedly supposed to do 20hrs/week, but it was very difficult to get information about how we were supposed to achieve this. There were 5 of us (almost 1 per guest) and just not 100 hrs/week of cleaning/general chores to go around, but we never really got any information about supposed other projects we could have got involved with despite a lot of asking, and acting on our own initiative was discouraged (at least in my experience). However, it's worth nothing that I only stayed for a short time over the Christmas period and everyone was obviously busy with their own celebrations, so it may be that this is less of an issue in more normal times — your mileage may vary.

(Very good )

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Friends

Photos

Kostas on the beach at Puerto Jiménez, Costa Rica (2022)

Lonan the kitten, Puerto Jiménez, Costa Rica (2022)

Tree full of parrots in Puerto Jiménez, Costa Rica (2022)

Crab on the beach at Puerto Jiménez, Costa Rica (2022)

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Summit of an unnamed mountain in Buckeye, AZ, US (2022)

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Monkey Run Scotland, UK (2022)

Visiting Chernobyl, Ukraine (2019)

Competition photos

Feedback

10 Apr 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Help our community preserve ...)

(Excellent )

25 Feb 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Help develop our farm into a ...)

(Excellent )

7 Jan 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Helping on our naturist ...)

(Very good )

7 Jan 2023

Left by Workawayer (Benjamin) for host (Help in the house and in the ...)

EN: I spent about a month with Philippe, Hélène and their menagerie of animals and I had a great time. They're both absolutely lovely people, the food was great, the work (mostly cleaning, painting and walking the dogs) was fair and the town is great fun. We had a little difficulty with understanding sometimes, but we were always able to work… read more

(Excellent )

7 Jan 2023

Left by host (Help in the house and in the ...) for Workawayer (Benjamin)

Et voilà, Ben vient de partir , le roi du risotto.. 😁😁 .. Nous avons passé presque 1 mois avec Ben et tout c’est bien passé.. Il a su m’écouter et se remettre en question rapidement pour effectuer un travail parfait de peinture .. Je n’ai pas mis 5 pour la communication, et il sait pourquoi .. ( dur pour Hélène pour le comprendre ) Nous avons eu… read more

(Excellent )

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