Help a small family in the countryside, Tuscany, Italy

Details

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  Description

  Dear Workawayers
  
  We are a family living in tuscany in the countryside. Situated near a small town called Pontedera, the next big cities are Pisa, Florence, Or Livorno.
  I'm Anna, half german and half malay and my partner Adam is half italian half colombian so we speak a lot of languages (English, German, Malay, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Italian) and have travelled a lot and lived in many different places.
  We have three daughters Suraya ( 10 years old) and Lalita Serena (6 yrs old) and Luciel is 1 and a half. We have moved to this place march 2020. it's a place with a lot of space outside where we are building and trying to grow a little paradise to host children and lovers of outdoor life. We are planning to finish our small pond, take care of hazelnut bushes and apple and wild cherry trees. We need help in growing our own vegetables Next to the house, cut and store the wood we need to keep us warm during the winter from the woods nearby. We have chickens and a dog all strolling freely in the garden.
  Adam is very talented with music and plays all kinds of percussions, african and latin american mostly, and builds houses with natural materials, straw, earth, clay, lime, wood, hemp etc. together with other bricklayers and carpenters.
  Me, Anna, am quite focused on the upbringing and fulfilling needs of the kids. I'm interested in loads of things and have gathered some experience in working with kids, language, circus, some outdoor skills and am trying to finish a PDC online course right now.
  Suraya needs to move a lot to use up all of her super enthusiastic life energy outdoors and loves to be in company, also with adults and is always surrounded by friends. She usually is the boss of the gang and knows how to handle and build stuff on her own.
  Lalita is more the indoor kind, artistic lady with a lot of style and super talkative. Loves to draw and paint and dance and everything that is part of the feminine aesthetic artistic world.
  Luciel is just adorable and has just learned to walk and is super funny to be around with.
  
  We are focusing on fixing a few things in the house and preparing a nice wood and pottery workshop in a big space under our house, which used to be a stable for cows. Right now it's a huge mess with loads of tools and we would like to clear and arrange everything in order to be able to do some nice handcrafted production.
  
  There is a big community with a lot of other families with very similar lifestyles nearby and we let our children get together all the time and help each other in our gardens, for the wood etc. and especially often host friends in camper vans in our yard and garden.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Language practice

  Help with Eco Projects

  Teaching

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We are a very intercultural family so we have a lot of things to share. I guess a lot of aspects of rural Italian life style and ecologic or permacultural thinking and living. I think we are quite "different" to the traditional ways when it comes to raising the kids. I like to respect their rhythm and not always push and impose my "responsable" and "important" adult world over their enthusiastic ways of approaching life and everything they meet. I encourage and want them to feel free to express their feelings and thoughts... So these kids are not raised to only being "well manered" and "polite". This of course does not mean that they don't know how to treat their surrounding nicely, they really do. They just know how to speak up and respect their own time.
  I would like to share and do some creative things with you as well, if you feel like. Use the turntable and do some pottery, share recipes (e.g. how to make fermented veggies, jams, pickles etc.) or do some music or acrobatics, juggling. Languages. Adam has "golden hands" as they say in italian and can help you build or repair anythings you are also interested in. And we are especially interested in learning from 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 can need a lot of help in the practical field of building structures with wood, clay and natural material; maintaining the garden and outdoor buildings, getting and cutting wood in the woods, the vegetable garden...
  
  It would be really great if you get up early :) (we get up at about 6.30/7.00 during weekdays) and help to tidy up, clean. Especially the extra cleaning tasks... dusting shelves or cleaning in angles which usually stay untouched for some time... vaccumclean, hang up clothes, wash the dishes, bring out garbage, harvest vegetables and remove weeds, sow and plant small plants, cook, bring and chop wood or collect twigs in the forest, play, converse with Suraya and Lalita and Luciel, read books to them or support them during their projects.
  
  Now in August we want to build a nice “Russian style oven” which collects the heat in a thick clay layer and then slowly irradiates this warmth during the day between our bedrooms and collect the wood for the next winter. Would be awesome to get help

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Italian: Fluent
  Malay: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  In our house we have one bedroom with a double bed for guests and we have a Camping Car that is parked nearby with a small toilet and even stove to heat up or cook small meals. Our kitchen, the bathroom are always at your disposition but we think it is also important that you have your own space so I think the Camping Car is the best solution. You can see the inside and outside of it in the pictures.
  
  We eat a lot of vegetables and rice, pasta and other cereals. It is not at all a problem for us to respect religious or ethical rules or reasons for nutrition. So Halal food and vegans, kosher or "everything eaters" are welcome and will find a mother who is open to cook anything and who is very keen to get to know your favorite food aswell.

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  What else ...

  I think it is very important to like the countryside if you come to stay with us. Pisa and Florence are easy to reach by train and we have a small lake nearby and near Livorno there are some nice beaches..
  Pontedera or San Miniato are small towns nearby and I usually don't go to the big towns but have enough cultural program around the neighbourhood because we have a big community of musicians, friends and alternative thinking people around. In our community surroundings we have enough indoor and outdoor space where we meet up with friends and afternoon or evening activities such as Contact Impro, Circus, Choir singing and free and improvise music around the fire and know nice places where to get to concerts, theater or cinemas as well. During the weekend and on many weekdays there are nice farmer Markets nearby where I usually go once a week to get some cheese, vegetables that don't grow in our garden and for the fun to meet people and friends by chance...

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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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  Space for parking camper vans

  Motorhomes and Campercaravans can be parked directly next to the house

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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