Help our French Lithuanian couple and enjoy the village of Asmenele, Lithuania

Details

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  Description

  We are a French Lithuanian family with 2 kids (Marius, 4 year-old and Tilda, 1.5 year-old) living in the countryside, 20km from Vilnius in a typical Lithuanian village with wooden houses, storks (in summer time), fields and forest around.
  
  In the last 6 years, we have built there, together with workawayers, friends and relatives a house - bakery. Bakery is on the ground floor and we live in the 2nd floor.
  
  We currently bake bread once a week, on a traditional wooden oven that we have built ourselves. We mix the dough manually, use sour dough and local ecological flour. Dough preparation happens on wednesdays evening and we bake on thursdays morning, delivering afterwards in Vilnius and in the surroundings.
  
  We need help for 2 different projects :
  - Building a solar oven, based on Lytefire technology (solar concentration with a 5m² mirror panel that focuses the sun rays on the oven). We need people who have experience working with metal / iron : cutting iron, drilling iron, welding ideally (we ourselves do not know yet how to weld but we will learn somehow !)
  - Building a traditionnal root cellar (to store potatoes and veggies during wintertime) with a space, on top of it, for additionnal wood storage and drying. For this project, we just need motivated people who are not afraid of hard building tasks : moving heavy stuff around, using chalk or cement etc.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Help with Eco Projects

  DIY and building projects
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  During your stay, you can experience both rural life in Lithuania.
  You can learn also some building techniques.
  We will be happy to share ideas and experiences around a good meal with you.

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  Projects involving children

  This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.

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  Help

  We need help for 2 different projects :
  
  - Building a solar oven, based on Lytefire technology. This technology is based on solar concentration with a 5m² mirror panel that focuses the sun rays on the oven. Initially developped for sunny countries (like Africa or India), it works also in France or anywhere, on a seasonal base. The advantage of this technology are numerous : no carbon emission once the oven is built, free energy when the sun is here, low-tech technology that anyone can understand and duplicate. We have bought the technical plans from Lytefire and we now need people who have experience working with metal / iron : cutting iron, drilling iron, welding ideally (we ourselves do not know yet how to weld but we will learn somehow !)
  
  - Building a traditional root cellar (to store potatoes and veggies during wintertime) with a space, on top of it, for additionnal wood storage and drying. We have done the plans ourselves for this building : the cellar part will be in bricks / cements / stones and the upper part (wood storage and drying) will be in wood. For this project, we just need motivated people who are not afraid of hard building tasks : digging, moving heavy stuff around, using chalk or cement, drilling, screwing etc.
  
  Depending when you plan to arrive, we will be focusing on one project or the other one. Tell us which one you are mostly interested in and we will see if it matches our schedule. For the solar oven, we will of course prefer persons who have experience working with metal.
  
  Regarding the schedule, you can join us 3-4 days a week as you wish. You are welcome also to take part to baking bread if this can be of interest for you. The rest of the time, you can visit Vilnius, the surroundings. Minimum stay : 1 week. Maximum stay : 2 weeks.
  
  As we are a family with small kids, we tend to stick to a regular routine : waking up around 7am, lunch around 11:30-12:30, kids nap between 1-3, diner around 6pm and kids going to bed around 8pm. You are not forced to follow exactly our routine but just make sure that you life style can match our daily life (no big noise indoor for instance when kids are sleeping).

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Lithuanian: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate
  Russian: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  We both of them speak fluently French, Lithuanian and English. We are ready to speak in any of this language if you want to practice your language skills.
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  Accommodation

  We will host you in the house-bakery we have built ourselves, in the village of Asmenele, close to Rukainiai, 20km from Vilnius, eastwards.
  
  You will be sleeping in a private room (bunk bed, two single bed) located in the ground floor, behing the oven Your private room is really small but it includes a nice view on the surrounding fields and forest, a desk with a chair, 3 electricity plugs. We will share the bathroom, the toilets (we use only dry toilets, indoor and outside as well), the kitchen and the dining room.
  
  We have all the confort needed in our flat in Vilnius : hot shower, wifi, fridge, oven etc.
  
  Regarding food, we will provide breakfast, lunch and dinner during your working days. For your days off, you will have to cook by yourself lunch and dinner. We are almost vegetarian, eating very rarely meat or fish.

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  What else ...

  Our flat in Vilnius is close to downtown which is UNESCO world heritage.
  
  Feel free to go there, visit museums or try the local beers !
  30km from Vilnius is the famous castle of Trakai with lakes where you can swim around.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  You will have your own room : it is really small but there is bunk bed, a desk, 3 plugs, a light and a window with a view on the forest. it is possible to work in this room. Connection internet is available, it is not very strong (4G) but it works for simple tasks.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We live in the countryside so we have a lot of space. You will be able to leave your campervan on our field, close to our house. We can possibly bring electricity up to your van. There is also dry outside toilets that you will be able to use if you prefer sometimes not to enter in our house.

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  Can possibly accept pets

  We can accept workawayers with pets but only if pets stay outside. We do not allow pets indoor.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours/day, 4 days a week

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