Canada
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Hello and thank you for visiting my profile! Would you like to LEARN ENGLISH? Would you like to come help me with my reuse recycle farm idea? There is typically a BIG group of young travellers here. Come see the Rocky Mountains and some of Western Canada. About once per month I do road trips and take the workawayers. The farm is located JUST outside Edmonton which is a city of over 1 million people. There is ANYTHING you want to do here. Festivals, bars, pubs, nightlife, shopping, cinema, theatre, sports, spectator sports (hockey / football), gymnasiums, ice skating, native Indian pow wows. Edmonton has the biggest urban park of any city in the world I think. There is amazing hiking in the river valley. We have the biggest shopping mall in North America and possibly the best in the world. We have lots of spring downhill skiing in the Rocky Mountains just a short drive from my farm. I can possibly take you to throw axes, ride motorcycles, go snowmobiling and dog sledding (in winter). You shouldn't be bored in this place. When working you will be cleaning and organizing. We will be planting trees, raspberry bushes and a huge garden. If you have skills you could help with renovations and building. Expect hard dirty work but good food. Or maybe you just want to commit to being our PAID au pair starting in August (minimum 5 month commitment to be an Au Pair for money)
June, 2019 volunteer update:
- A 25 year old Spanish woman (Carla) is here for a couple of months until the end of June. She's very friendly and hard working. She likes to smoke cigarettes outside and talk with people. She laughs a LOT.
- A 22 year old German guy (Patrick) is here now. He likes to drink beer and smoke cigarettes. He loves to party by the campfire, play beer pong and go swimming in the pool.
- A 20 year old German girl (Adele) is here now. She is very respectful and smart. She is also quite sociable.
- Melvin the 19 year old French guy is here now. He's sociable and loves having a beer by the campfire.
- A 21 year old model from Chile (Tomas) is here for most of the summer. He speaks English extremely well and is extremely friendly and warm.
- Sonoka is a 23 year old girl from Japan. She is learning English and is quite funny.
- A 22 year old Danish girl Maria is here now. She loves animals. She's very friendly and sociable. She hates being alone and loves to work hard in a group.
- A 25 year old French man (Maxence) is here for most of the summer. He is just learning English now so I am giving him intensive lessons.
- A German guy (Lukas) is coming from July 4-18.
- A 19 year old German girl Jessica will be coming in June and July.
- A 19 year old German girl (Selina) will be coming this summer
- A 23 year old Italian (Simone) is coming here for at least a month this summer.
The workawayers are usually hanging around the farm playing billiards, watching movies, playing SONY playstation 3, watching satellite TV, having tea, doing Skype, using WIFI, playing trivia, practicing English, eating food, having drinks. It's warm now outside so we're doing more cycling and swimming in the pool. We have a campfire very often. I have a canoe here and I can drop people off for canoeing as I know the best rivers for that. If you want to come join the group let me know. I'm usually driving into Edmonton every day so you can experience rural life on my farm as well as urban life in the city. I can pick you up in the city and drop you off when you're ready to move on in your travels.
Gardening
Building
Babysitting / child care
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Language practice
Help with Computers / internet
Learn about recycling (and reusing). There are many things to know about it. Expect to learn LESS about farming because we are just planting trees and watering them. You won't learn much from that. We do plant a huge garden every year. But you can learn about all the reusing and recycling we do here. If you're an environmentalist you will benefit from this knowledge. Let's save the planet! I am an AVID recycler and this is my passion. You can learn about my recycling system in which I have recycled over 2 million kilograms of waste.
Learn perfect English from university educated professional anglophones. You will get a LOT of English practice here. I usually have English lessons.
Matt is a teacher and will have lessons for you in English (he also speaks German, some Spanish, French, Russian so that will help translate)
Experience REAL Canada
You might be able to join me on a trip to see the Rocky Mountains, hot springs, waterfalls, canyons, hikes
See BOTH rural and urban life in Canada
Learn about and meet Native Indians. Go to their pow wows to see traditional dancing. Attend a sweat lodge to engage in ancient ceremonies with Native Indian people.
Probably visit Native Indian reservations and learn about the history of Native Indians in Canada and also North America. (remember that Matt used to be a history teacher).
Possibly go dog sledding if you pay for it. I provide transport and bagged lunches
Possibly go whitewater rafting if you pay for it. I provide transport and food
Possibly go canoeing if it's summer (this is free as I own canoes)
live on a farm with a true Canadian family with young cute children
use power tools and practice carpentry
drive vehicles (even if you don't have a driver's licence or ANY experience) I can still teach you to drive and have you on the back country roads driving my vehicles.
drive equipment and machinery
Learn about mechanics and how to keep machinery running in cold weather
Learn about renovations and how to use power tools (I used to be a high school wood shop teacher)
Probably get a ride on a Harley Davidson motorcycle
Possibly ride snowmobiles in winter
Probably try snowshoeing in the deep snow because we have snowshoes here for you to use.
get exercise by working so hard (you probably will work hard but some tasks are lighter duty if you don't want to work so hard physically)
Eat good healthy food every day
Learn about organic gardening with NO pesticides or fertilizers
Party and have a few beers by the outdoor campfire with other helpers. We sometimes have up to 15 workawayers here! It's a big group of travellers. Make friends!
On Friday and Saturday nights I MIGHT be able to drive you and other workawayers into the nightclub district of Edmonton to go out for beer and dancing. Then I'd drive you back to the farm at 2:00 A.M.
Get free use of WARM clothes for the Canadian winter. I will provide the warm clothes. You can use any clothes I have here. I have ALL sizes.
Get free travel advice because Matt has been to over 60 countries and most places in Western Canada. My wife has travelled the world too. The other workawayers have travelled around the world too so you can exchange travel ideas.
Cleaning, organizing, dusting, moving items around, placing ads on internet to reuse/recycle items, shovelling snow in winter, mowing grass in summer, picking weeds, raking, watering trees, planting trees, gardening (all menial unskilled tasks) You will be doing English language practice. You'll learn how to clean, mechanics and also learning about recycling. You might be able to learn about renovations as well. Don't expect to learn much about organic farming because you'll just be planting trees, watering trees, and gardening.
*️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️*️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️*️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️. Please read this regarding CASH payment*️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️*️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️*️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️️ I need someone to be a lead hand. If you are committing to at least the ENTIRE summer, speak fluent English, are VERY trainable (good attitude and willing to learn), are very strong and have a valid international driver's licence I might be able to negotiate cash payments for you (on top of free accommodation, entertainment and food). This would ONLY be if you are someone who meets the criteria I'm searching for. None of the workawayers I have hosted as of yet would fit the criteria for a cash stipend. Most of them don't want to stay for many months and even if they did most of them wouldn't have the driver's licence, language skills or work skills to be the lead hand. They are thus only receiving accommodation, food and entertainment for free. Are you are the right type of person I'm searching for? Do you have nothing better to do than hang out and work on my farm for the ENTIRE summer? If so then you might be able to turn this workaway into a PAID workawayer position. I would pay for any hours over the 25 hours per week.
Also, we need a LONG TERM au pair (nanny) when my wife goes back to work in August. We could negotiate cash for you if you'd like to commit to this position as well.
Even if you don't commit to the summer I might still be able to negotiate some cash payments for you. IF you're a good worker I could get you doing more than 25 hours per week and just pay in cash for the extra hours. But if you're not that skilled with tools then you probably won't get extra cash.
English, Deutsch (German), poquito Espanol, Russian, un petit Français
You can stay in my home in an unfinished basement. It's like a dorm style shared HUGE room. You would probably have a Queen sized bed. If you need a private room it can probably be arranged. I have a bunk house next to the garage but you can’t get internet out there as it’s too far from the router. Or you can just stay out in the old 1974 retro RV motorhome in my back yard. Everyone always eats meals together as one big family. There is unlimited internet. There is a BIG recreation room with a billiards table, games, a library and fireplace.
I will provide all food for the workawayers. If you are doing the cooking for all of us you can cook whatever meals you want and we will pay for it. You could cook one meal per day or all 3 meals if you like. We're not that frugal to limit what you cook. If my wife is cooking she usually cooks 1 big meal per day. Lunch is usually leftovers from the previous nights dinner. Breakfast would just be porridge, oatmeal, banana, bowl of cereal and toast. There is dessert every night. You will not starve.
My farm is located just outside of Edmonton which is a city of over 1 million people. I go into the city almost every day. I can also provide free accommodation for you in the city if you want to stay in the city for a day or two. There is the best mall in the world (West Edmonton Mall) close to my farm. There is lots of nightlife in Edmonton as it's a University city. I will show you around the city as well. I sometimes take road trips into the Rocky Mountains to go hiking. I've been showing them around the city of Edmonton on their days off. We have done cycling, skating, hiking, sledding, sightseeing, Or we've been hanging around the farm playing billiards, watching movies, having tea, doing Skype, using WIFI, practicing English, eating food, having drinks, having campfires. When you're not working you can watch movies, use the high speed internet to Skype or WhatsApp your friends. Maybe use our big recreation room to play billiards or sit by the fireplace with a book and read. We have a library of books in our home. If you enjoy playing with children you can play with our 2 toddlers. They love it when people read books to them. It's warm now so we can start cycling and canoeing down the rivers. I know the best rivers. Also, if someone stays at least 2 months they will get a free trip out to the mountains. You might be able to come even if you don't stay for 2 months. We will be going again in late July. We also have a swimming pool on the farm and the water is at 22 degrees right now. You can swim all summer. We might throw some epic pool parties in July and August too.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
More than two
25 hours per week
Accuracy of profile:
(4.8)
Cultural exchange:
(4.9)
Communication:
(5.0)
