Description
Hello!

Here is a little update to the information below (update of march 2023).

We are a family now. We have an 8-month-old little boy, named Tárin :-)
So, life has changed and also the kind of help that would be great at the moment.
If you feel like joining us for some weeks then it would be nice if you can just help out with the daily things that are there to be done, like playing a bit with Tárin or going with him for a walk, some cooking and some garden work for example (or any other of simple tasks, and also more complex if you will :) ).

We have a caravan for you to stay in in our garden (see pictures).
Families are also welcome...
We prefer a minimum stay of one week, two weeks would be great and if you then enjoy living here with us, then we can see if it is possible to stay longer.
If you have any questions, just let us know.

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Hello dear people!

We are a couple, Efrem (born Portuguese) and Ilja (born Dutch).
We are living in a small village called Schweinitz, about 80Km south of Berlin. We have been living here now for around one and a half years (before that we lived for some years more in the south of Germany and before that in Portugal).
It is an old house with a barn, some land and a little bit of forest. The land and the house still need quite a bit of love and attention to make it a nicer place to live in :-)
When we arrived here there was no kitchen, a very old bathroom, and some rooms. We now have a kitchen and a bit nicer bathroom but there is still a lot to do. We transformed the piece of forest that you couldn’t really enter because of the brambles into a nice little corner. From there you can walk to the river that is behind our land.
And we started to make an organic vegetable and flower and (medicinal)herbs garden last spring and summer.

We have a small theatre company and play theatre-circus shows mainly for children and families.

Besides that, we have lots of different interests and we love to keep on learning and exploring life, trying to somehow find out what this is all about :-)

We use to be a lot on the road traveling with the camper van that we built ourselves as well.

If you feel like spending some time with us, we are very happy to receive you.
We like to share our skills, things we have learned by doing, and learning things from other people. We love to travel and to meet new people, and being able to receive travelers at our home when we are not traveling ourselves is a great way of sharing, and some extra hands to help around are always welcome :-)
All the basic services are available for comfort staying (including Wi-fi)

P.S. If you want to contact us start your message with the salutation: "Ding, dong!" so we can avoid losing time with copy-paste messages. Thanks
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
Although your cultural experience over here will be in Germany, you will have a mixed Portugees-Dutch-German experience :-)
You can improve any of these languages here, as well as Spanish and English if you like.

We have a nice lake at 3Km from our home where we use to go for a swim, it has a nice sand beach. We also have a canoe and the river with beavers and some nice waterbirds is just around the corner.

We have bicycles available and possibilities for cycling in our area.

The nearest train station is 6km (Holzdorf) and there goes a train to Berlin there. We are happy to drive there to bring or pick you up from the train station
Help
The kind of tasks we will be doing in and around the house in the upcoming months is probably some projects in the house and the barn, using eco-construction techniques but also any kind of creative solutions to re-shape the place, using skills from carpentry to plumbing and electricity-related projects (we have experience in all of them and you don’t need to have those skills yourself when you are happy to learn and help around you can learn a lot together with us :-) )

We are probably going to plaster the wall of a room (with lime plaster, we are thinking about making it a bit more artistic than just plane straight walls…), and to put a wooden floor in some rooms (we have made boards out of some oak trees that came down with a storm, it has been a great adventure to cut the boards :-) , now the boards are waiting to be transformed in a wooden floor)…

There is also going to be gardening and some forest maintenance.
Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
French: Beginner
This host offers a language exchange
We are happy to teach you some of the languages we know
Accommodation
We offer a basic caravan for you for staying over here (for a single or a couple) or a tent in our garden. If you are traveling in a van, you are also very welcome, we have space in our garden for parking and camping.
We offer meals (mainly biological) that we will enjoy together.

About the hours of help per day and week: we are easy-going :-)
We are enthusiastic about the stuff we are doing and see working as having fun at the same time, but we also like to take free time, no day is the same as the other, we are not very routine-like. So don’t worry, there will be no strict schedules.
A little more information
- Internet access
- Limited internet access
- We have pets
- We are smokers
- Can host families
Space for parking camper vans
This host can provide space for campervans.
Can possibly accept pets
This host has said they are willing to accept those travelling with a pet.
How many Workawayers can stay?
More than two
Hours expected
Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week