Simon

Travel information

I am currently

Description

I did two Workaway trips to Germany both with my children, in 2016 and 2018, both involving lots of animals, as you can see on my feedback. We took a break from Workawaying, but this year my younger son (now 15) and I want to do some more.

I'm from Ireland, where I grew up in the countryside, with a variety of animals and a vegetable garden. We lived near the sea, so I spent a lot of time sailing small boats - and maintaining them. When I was 16 my mother went into fulltime farming, so I got plenty of experience setting up a farmyard and helping with cows and sheep.

I learned French and German in school, and studied Spanish and German in university, and spent my summers working abroad. In the 1990s I spent a total of three years in Germany, first as a student teacher in Gelsenkirchen and Essen (NRW), and then in Berlin, where - among other things - I cooked in an alternative "café" and helped to run a fair trade shop.
At the end of the 90s and early 2000s I worked with several small NGOs, providing support for refugees in Ireland and campaigning on international human rights issues, particularly in Latin America. I made three trips to Mexico (a total of nine months), working as a reporter, as a human rights observer and constructing water supply networkin remote villages. Before starting a family, I shared flats and houses for many years and with many different people, from three in a flat to thirty five in a house.

In 2001 I moved to Barcelona (where my first child was born in 2004 and we set up and ran a kindergarten with other families), before moving to a small village in the south of Catalonia, where my younger son was born in 2008. We had a vegetable garden there, and I used to help neighbours to harvest olives. I now live in a small town and no longer have any land, but I enjoy helping my brother-in-law in the Pyrenees with his cattle. I work as a secondary school teacher.

I enjoy cycling, swimming, walking and reading. I used to ride as a kid, and in recent years I've ridden occasionally again and would love to do some more. I can juggle a little too.

My son Liam (15), who will be travelling with me, is a keen rider. Last November he came second in the final of the Copa Catalana showjumping competition in the 80cm jumps class, and this coming season will be changing horse and moving up a class or two. He spends all his free time at the riding centre and other summers has worked on the Pony Camps. He's really keen to do a Workaway with horses in Ireland, because in the long term he plans to move there, and his ambition is to become a professional rider. He speaks fluent English, Catalan and Spanish.

Interests

Languages

Languages spoken
Catalan: Fluent
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Intermediate
Irish: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I can help you to learn English, Catalan, Spanish or German. And I'm always interested in learning new languages.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

Some knowledge of:  

General Maintenance

Life at a Farmstay

Helping around the house

Animal Care

Hospitality/Tourism

DIY and building projects

Babysitting and creative play

Creating/ Cooking family meals

More details about your skills

Professional:
language teaching
accompanying teenagers in their personal development
organising groups of people to do different activities (work, travel etcetera)

Advanced (but not professional!):
Bringing up children and doing the housework

Basic:
farming (vegetables, animals, cutting wood),
building, painting, electricity, water
bicycle repairs

Very basic:
juggling (3 balls and 3 clubs)

Age

57

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  No

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  Special dietary requirements
  No