Cultural exchange, exploring in variety of nature near Amsterdam / Utrecht, Netherlands

Informationen

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  Beschreibung

  Goal:
  Cultural Exchange is the goal in our hosting offer combined with DIY, exploring nature, sewing, spinning, dogs.
  I invite you to read below what we are able to offer to you.
  Many other workawayers from over the world visited before you and left their feedback, so you can get an idea from them aswell.
  WW's who enjoy and are used to work with their hands ( like woodwork, sewing, painting, doing things around the house, in the garden and creating) are welcome to get in touch for a cultural exchange.
  We are used to be and live outside when possible in the good seasons.
  In fall, winter, spring it mostly is cold and wet in the months of Oct.-March; gardening and DIY outside will be very limited then (depending on the wether).
  There is no elderly care and dogs-care needed 😉
  
  Area:
  We live in a beautiful area with lots of variation in nature and culturallly interesting area's to visit.
  Like forests, lakes, biking- and hikingtrails, castles, fortified cities and waterways.
  Biking-trails and walking-trails are starting next to our house.
  You can also enjoy the lakes close to us; with rental kayaks, sailing boats or subs ( take a dog to join you).
  Going there on bike takes appr. 30-40 min. from our house: there are many cycling-paths crossing fields and forests or on the dykes following the rivers.
  There are bikes available to explore nearby.
  There's also a bike-trailer for 1 dog available to be attached behind a bike.
  And there is very good public transport to bring you everywhere in the country. With a busstop next to our house.
  
  Netherlands are famous for their blooming bulb-fields in April/May and beautiful skies.
  It's worth to visit enjoy them and see the Keukenhof and bike around in that area.
  The bulbfields are bringing the spring-sensation with bees, butterflies and odor in the air.
  Dutch nature explodes then with babyleaves, ferns unrolling, birds startig to make their nests.
  Terras-season will start around April.
  Worth to join: National Kingsday end of April (typical dutch) in Amsterdam (canals fild with boats)
  Spring and summer is the time for biking, hiking, swimming, exploring nature.
  It's beautiful light green everywhere and it smells like fresh grass and flowers.
  
  We live in a small city with a next-door bus-connection (1 min. walk) to the trainstation; every half-hour schedule. Therefore Amsterdam, Utrecht and other area's are easy reachable with public transport.
  We live in a typicall dutch neighbourhood on walking distance from the stores and terraces or nature to relax or be on yourself.
  If you come by car, there is more then enough free parking available next to the house.
  
  Nearby:
  - Beautiful forests to walk/bike through
  - Fields with cattle and lots of birds
  - Lakes for swimming, sailing, canoeing, renting a sub
  - Bike-boat over the river
  - Old fishermantown/harbour with classic sailing fisherboats
  - Offgrit / tiny houses neighbour- hoods
  - Famous icecream store (yummie!)
  - Villages with cosy atmosphere and terraces to relax and watch
  - Very good flex-workingspots
  - Naarden Vesting (fortified old city)
  - Utrecht;beautiful old student-town
  - A typical dutch grain mill
  - Museum
  - Piet Oudolf gardens (famous garden architect)
  
  The area Utrechtse Heuvelrug is an old historic forest-area with low rolling hills that started in the glacier time.
  It offers many beautifull trails to explore hiking and biking in May/June when the leaves / ferns are light green.
  Or in fall when the leaves turn golden/red.
  Also the sand dunes and blooming purple heather in August are a treat to stroll through.
  
  This is us:
  Bien, Elko, Doenja, Ch'aska and some more.
  Used to travel, free nature-camping and international cultural exchange for many years.
  I love to interact and connect with all kinds of peoples with an open respectful honest mind.
  I'm a sportive, active, creative naturelover, former gymteacher and host for many children, young adults and peoples from over the world also for CISV.
  Our household:
  3 big enthousiastic German Shepherds living in the house and 3 wonderfull adult children who will visit some times, so you probably will meet them. They have been travelling for cultural exchanges themselves several times.
  Me, Bien + 3 BIG GERMAN SHEPHERD DOGS respectfully live together under one roof. Our animals are part of our daily life and we expect you to treat them with dignity. They're honest animals who will respect people with a good sincere hart and love for animals and nature.
  
  For the dogs:
  It's important that you are able to CONNECT with animals/dogs to feel at ease here (don't under-estimate!!)
  You need to have an understanding of dog-behavior in a herd, preferably Shepherds, and what they need.
  You can get a good idea about what it takes to make a good connection by looking to Youtube-films.
  You don't learn it overnight (!!); it takes love, being able to respond at the moment from insight and calmness.
  PLEASE BE AWARE:
  Liking animals / dogs doesn't mean that you can cope with living together with 3 big shepherds in a moderate house. So realize that you can connect with that. The dogs will be around you and close to you all the time.
  Care-taking of my dogs is not necessarily part of the tasks.
  If it gives you pleasure, you are always welcome to spent time together with the dogs.They are well trained and love peoples. If you want to walk with the dogs, you must have a natural authority to communicate with them; no force, but mentally capable from understanding and connecting.
  
  Offer:
  I always show my guests around and will try my best to give you a good time.
  It's the concept of exchanging that made me choose to being a host. I'm interested in your culture and stories and like you to bring me an experience of tasting/listening to you about your culture.
  I respect your own need for privacy and me-time and also need my own privacy and me-time: therefore communication is important.
  
  If you're interested in coming I'd like you to let me know what you're looking for in an exchange and what you can offer/bring from your own talents / experience that gives you pleasure in doing and that contributes in an exchange (please let me know your skills/experience with DIY, sewing, gardening, etc...)
  
  There are all kind of things that can be done here; there is a list you can choose from.
  1) help with DIY / putting things together outside (Februari-October;
  (like making a woodconstruction together for climbing roses and grapes, making a pattern with stones, creating a rainshield from old re-useable materials, etc...)
  2) help with pruning, planting, seeding in the garden
  3) help with sanding and painting
  4) sewing a seatcover together
  5) sewing a patchwork blanket
  6) help with reorganising the attic and preparations for painting + painting the ceiling
  7) putting together an outside mini-library from used/leftover wood
  8) help with adjusting a sunscreenattachment
  9) help with adding an extra m2 to the roof of my gardenhouse. (low roof with shingles)
  
  What can I offer;
  -A simple modest home with your own private bedroom, a good fresh bed and a clean shared bathroom.
  -Healthy tasteful meals to share; always breakfast, in between snacks, lunch and 1 meal on helping days.
  I love cooking , reduce my meat-consumption, lower my plastic-use and koolhydrate/sugar-use, but I'm not vegetarian/vegan.
  You are welcome to cook together and do suggestions and cook a dish yourself for the shared meal.
  I love to taste typical food/meals from your country :) and I'm interested in learning from your cooking-knowledge😀
  There is a BBQ ready to be used and we love to put on the fireplace and talk together or stare in it with our own thoughts, do a board game, make some music, read a book, etc...
  
  On free days we are used to have breakfast together (if you want) and after that WW-ers usually leave to explore the area, go biking, visit a nearby town, museum, nature-area according to their interests.
  During those free days WW-ers have their meals during their trip elsewhere.
  Most of the times, WW-ers meet each other in my house and enjoy exploring together.
  
  There are books and maps to inform you about, trails, biking routes, historic places to visit etc...
  
  PLEASE READ CAREFULLY;
  We look for workawayers who have handy hands and have DIY-pleasure!
  Workawayers who bring their own skills + enjoy wood connections + know how to use tools.
  Who have joy in putting things together, solving a puzzle and enjoy finishing a project with the kick of celebrating a good result together.
  
  The working hours are reasonable according to the Workaway-principles. Planning your helping hours will always be done together to what fits with the expected weather and your wishes for exploring-time.
  
  The Netherlands are rainy sometimes....you need a rain/windjacket in the NL's :)
  
  for the Hosting:
  I'd rather not have to mention the 2 following issues, but it's IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO KNOW and hopefully a no-brainer;
  We do not use drugs.; if you're used to that and wish to, it would be better to look for another host. The dogs will sense it and it will be a reason to stop hosting you. Sometimes just a joint is not what I mean with this. That's something to talk about. Occasional smoking can be accepted outside the house keeping distance to us. Addiction, frequent drug-use and heavy smoking is impossible here.
  
  For our hosting offer is based on a mutual exchange in contacts, we are gladly hosting people who limit their use of social media to when they are on there own and after helping hours and social meals. We are aware of the necessary use of mobile phones, I-pads etc... as we use them ourselves too. We are looking for WW-ers who are seriously looking for exchanging cultural backgrounds, foods, etc... by being in contact and having meaningful conversations.
  After a the day it's totally understandable that you want some me-time and/or time to explore....you can take a bike or public transport to discover the area.
  If you're just looking for a cheap place to stay, it's probably not a good match.
  
  Helping hours: average 4-5 hours a day for 5 days a week. I'm flexible about the times en we can plan it together per day. If you want to work a full day for a full day of for exploring it's possible. On working days 3 meals are provided. On free days; only breakfast. Special needs can be spoken.
  I love to cook and also like to learn from your cookingknowledge; we eat together.
  Evenings can be spent together according to eachothers wishes..
  In the evenings I have to prepare for my work.
  
  We normally have a video call with workawayers who are interested to feel if there is a click.
  
  In return for your serious help, you will have a good fresh bed in your own room with information of the Netherlands/the area, bikingmaps and I'm gladly willing to show you around and take you to special places so you will have a good idea of the Netherlands and our culture.
  In our Workaway-hosting we are looking for considerate, honest people who like to connect and contribute to each other.
  You will find a warm welcome here with interest in who you are and for your travelling plans.
  We're used to work hard and joyfully share the thrill of the accomplishment with shared meals of good food/drinks/ candles and a burning fireplace or a picnic near the waterfront or in the woods telling eachother stories of our lives with the animals near to us, play ball, swim in the lake, etc...
  
  If you'd like to help us out for some hours and stay with us, feel welcome to just get in touch by telling who you are, what you can do to help us, what experience you have to offer and what you're looking for.
  
  If you have any questions for a possible stay; feel free to ask :)
  We will respond shortly ;).

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  Arten von Hilfe und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Heimwerker- und Bauarbeiten

  Hausarbeiten

  Handwerkliche Arbeiten

  Haus- & Haustiersitting
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  Interessengebiete

  

  Nachhaltigkeit

  

  Selbstentwicklung

  

  Kultur

  

  Haustiere

  

  Musik

  

  Kochen & Backen

  

  Tischlerarbeiten

  

  Architektur

  

  Tiere

  

  Wintersport

  

  Mannschaftssportarten

  

  Natur

  

  Wandern

  

  Erlebnissportarten

  

  Gärtnern

  

  Fotografie

  

  Gartenarbeiten

  

  Heimwerken & DIY
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  Kultureller Austausch und Lernmöglichkeiten

  Your possible benefit from our cultural exchange can be, that you have a typical dutch experience in a typical dutch neighbourhood with very good connections to explore the wellknown dutch things to visit, like f.i. the City of Amsterdam /Rijksmuseum and other museums in Amsterdam, the mills, the typical landscapes to bike through on yourself or together with us, and a place to stay with people who can speak several languages and can tell you about and help you with exploring The Netherlands.
  Being in touch with house-animals (3 big dogs and a cat) and having some time in your travel to meet, exchange cultures and practise/learn languages. It will suit you if you know about dogbehaviour.
  
  On non-workingdays most workawayers go out exploring and take their meal somewhere.
  I can teach you about gardening, soils, planting, herbs, plants, pruning, wild eatable plants and mushrooms, etc...
  I can help you learn dutch language and dog-bodylanguage
  Further If you like it, we can show you around, let you meet friends and family, visit cultural heritage, visit University-area's to meet students, help you plan or find information on what you look for or want to visit, aswell as learn you what eatable plants you can find in nature and how you can use them.
  You can make a trip to the beaches of the westcoast, visit the Keukenhof in bulb-season (April/May; really beautifull!)) , walk the Waddenzee with low tide (=cultural heritage), combine that with visiting the beautiful islands in the north, visit historical cities around, visit many beautiful beautifull museums, make a canal-tour in the Amsterdam Canals, go canoeing or waterbiking in Utrecht, etc.....
  These are suggestions to concider when you are looking for a host in the Netherlands. It will be very inspiring to learn from your background and travel experiences and I will be thankfull and thrilled for your honest help in accomplishing some cores that will remind me daily on our positive exchange in our contacts!

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  Arbeit

  For the coming half year the following things are on my to do list:
  Outside:
  - in my gardenshed: would appreciate some help with making a cushionbox from rest-wood
  - putting together a grape-construction from galvanised metal
  - making some welding-connections or soldering (?) in a chairframe
  (I would be gratefull if you can help/teach me your experience with soldering or welding)
  - gardening (febr. - april) some help with pruning, preparing soil, seeding / planting
  - creating a herbalcircle from riverstones
  - making an borderedge from re-usuable stonematerial in a "floting"-like-construction
  - creating a mini-library from leftover wood ; for people to take free books
  Inside:
  - sewing project for a chaircover ( maybe you can help/teach me?)
  - rearranging the attic
  - some paintpreparations on the attic-roof
  - help with sanding/painting 3 windowframes
  - connecting a drawer to the cabinet-door in the kitchen
  ( I'm afraid to do it myself; needs to be straight...need extra hands and eye for detail)
  - preparing and spinning wool (spindler or spinning wheel)
  I have some bags of sheep-/alpacawool that can be prepared for spinning on my spinning wheel
  
  If we have a good click and your connection with and handling of the 3 shepherd are in line, I might ask you to help me with watching the house and taking care of dogs for 2 or 3 days. So that I can visit some friends/family that live further away. That's a big responsibility that I've never asked from others uptill now 😉(don't under-estimate;you really have to be a pack-leader and need to have knowledge about dogbehaviour); it will show while you're here.
  
  How it works here;
  I'm used to inform you about the work that you can choose from and help you where necessary and show you arround. We talk things through and make a plan for the things you want to work on. Some workawayers like to do things on their own and some prefere to work together: it's your choice. Important for me is, that you do something you like to do and feel comfortable with. So it's important you have a feeling for the job and the quality of picking it up easily. (so it's more then just willingness to learn😉 )
  We daily plan according to the wheater and your wishes for exploringtime.
  In a video call I can show you and we can talk about this more.
  
  I'm an experienced DIY-er myself and have fun in working together with others who also enjoy creating solutions and putting things together from used materials from the perspective of sustainability. Because of my work I can't always be there to teach you, so your own experience/knowledge is needed to. Offcourse I will work together with you when I'm home and we can teach eachother.
  So Ww-ers who are looking for a cultural exchange combined with helping out on tasks that require working with your hands, making things, using tools and be creative (sewing) are invited to react.
  It makes me really happy every time we work on a DIY-project together; it gives me pleasure seeing peoples work with joy on their own craftsmanship!
  And I truly enjoy all the memories of all the workawayers that are connected to the results that surround me :) Even after years those memories bring a smile on my face and it's wonderful when workawayers return and visit again. Feels like precious contacts and almost as family sometimes.

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  Sprachen

  Gesprochene Sprachen
  Englisch: Fließend
  Niederländisch: Fließend
  Deutsch: Gute Kenntnisse
  Französisch: Gute Kenntnisse
  Spanisch: Grundkenntnisse
  Italienisch: Grundkenntnisse

  Dieser Gastgeber bietet Sprachaustausch an
  Dieser Gastgeber gibt an, dass er dir gern seine Muttersprache beibringt oder selbst eine Sprache lernen möchte.
  Bitte wende dich direkt an ihn, um weitere Auskünfte zu erhalten.
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  Unterkunft

  You will have a good bed to sleep in with fresh bedware in your own room.
  There will be a healthy breakfast with typical dutch and fresh ingredients starting the morning.
  We always have Yoghurt, fresh cheese, very tasty dutch bio-farmer cheese, fruits, nuts, peanutbutter, chocolate hail, homemade bio- jams, bio-honey. Everyday there will be a coffee-break between working-hours.
  After the helping hours/cores, you will ofcourse have your own free time to explore The Netherlands and the area. Bikes are available aswell as a busconnection 1 minute walk from our house (every half hour)
  You can use our shared bathroom considering, that you allign your time of use with the schedule of the peoples living in the house, and leave it as clean as it was when you started using it.
  Washing-machine+soap, kitchen are available and we assume that you consult the owners for the time of use so that is fits in the daily routines. Naturally you leave them clean and in the same shape after use and you are careful with the things in the house.
  
  For other wishes....we will try to make things right for you so you will have a positive memorable stay with us:)!

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  Was noch ...

  Furthermore;
  Distances are small here and the local busses/trains are good and frequent. Our country is very safe to travel on your own and most people speak excellent English to help you on the way when you need some help. Travel-schedules of public transport are pretty accurate.You can hire bikes, canoes, waterbikes easily on many locations in the area. There is kitesurfing and windsurfing on the coasts and sailing/canoeing on the lakes. Everywhere there are bikingpaths separated from the roads (not in the cities).
  We live within 30 min. car-distance from the airport Schiphol and with the train you can travel straight to Schiphol (main airport near Amsterdam).
  Our small town is situated in the middle of varied different kind of landscapes; forests, heather, meadows, lakes are all close by (biking-distance within an hour). The shops (grossery, medical, bakery, market, etc...are close-by within 15 min. walkingdistance. There are lots of interesting things to explore nearby and when you want to vitit the bigger cities we have good connections to do that on daytrips. If we're on the road and can take you somewhere on the way, you're welcome to come with us so we can drop you at some point or pick you up later. If you're interested, you're welcome to make trips/walks together with the dogs.
  Did you know the Netherlands has an very intreaging system of ancient waterworks, fortifications and tunnels to protect our country? It just is declared as a historical cultural Unesco heritage. And you probably would love the cultural heritage nature-area of de Waddenzee, where you can walk over from the main land to some islands when the tide is low....very special experience :) Or join a sailingtrip on a botter?
  See you!

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  Etwas mehr Information

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    Internet Zugang

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    Eingeschränkter Internet Zugang

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    Wir besitzen Tiere

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    Wir sind Raucher

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    Familien möglich

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  Kann Digital Nomads unterbringen

  There are several very interesting flex-worker places very nearby on biking distance. Others did that before you and loved to work there.

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  Platz zum Abstellen von Camper Vans

  I have 2 parkingplaces near my house where a small campervan can be parked.

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  Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

  mehr als zwei

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  Meine Tiere/Haustiere

  several dogs

  3 big German Shephards

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