Help a multicultural family with the garden and play with their kids in Herbolzheim, Germany

Details

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  Description

  Julia is a 38 year old british-american kindergarten teacher with a love for plants, art and music, and I, Loïc, am a 32 year old german carpenter and work in an administration and am responsible for the maintenance and renovation of buildings like kindergartens, community halls, churches and more. Our 2 girls are 4 and 2 years old and go to kindergarten in our little village. We raise them bilingual and mainly speak english at home. We live in the black Forest in southern Germany. 6 years ago, we had a workaway experience in norway on different farms for a year, which has been one of our best times in life. 2 years ago, we bought a house in a little village, and since I don't work as a wood worker anymore, we both can put our creative (Julia) and crafting skills (Loïc) in and around the house.
  Since we live in a mainly rural area, we are dependant on a car, though you can reach a lot of places by bike too.
  We have a cat named Teddy, he is an outdoor cat but stays inside some time too.
  Next to my job and my family, I am an active member of the voluntary firefighters. Julia is interested in social politics and her dream is to open a kindergarten of her own some day.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Babysitting and creative play

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Interests

  

  Sustainability

  

  Cycling

  

  Languages

  

  Art & design

  

  Architecture

  

  Cooking & food

  

  Dancing

  

  Movies & TV

  

  Technology

  

  Politics / Social justice

  

  Farming

  

  Culture

  

  Mountain

  

  Hiking

  

  Sailing / Boating

  

  Nature

  

  Outdoor activities

  

  Camping

  

  Carpentry

  

  DIY & crafts

  

  Gardening

  

  Plant care
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Our family can offer you a stay in the nice area of the black forest, next to the french/swiss border. You can reach the next bigger town/city Freiburg in 30 mins, the adventure park "Europapark" is 15 minutes away. To Basel / Bale you need an hour by car, 1,5 hours via train. We have a couple of public swimming pools in the area. The black forest basically starts right on the back of or house and invites you to all sorts of activities in the forest.
  Next to the possibility to speak english and german, you can learn about Germany in a more rural area, but with enough infastructure like culture, super markets, etc. You can learn things on wood working, gardening, parenting, and more. We do most of the work on our house on our own. When we don't know how to do something, we just learn it. You're welcome to join :)

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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 moved into our old house 2 years ago - with the big garden, the old barn (soon to be workshop) and the kids, there is always something to do. Help in and around the house or the garden would be much appreciated. Depending on what your skills and interests are, that could be work in the garden (planting trees/vegetables/bushes, lawn mowing, wood fencing or building a kids playhouse, ...) or the house (playing with the kids, cooking, cleaning,..)
  Depending on the kind of work, an amount of no more than 3-4 hours a day/ 5 days a week would be nice. We are really flexible that way and would like to make a plan with you, that you`re comfortable with.

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  Languages

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

  This host offers a language exchange
  Since we raise our children bilingual, any english input is welcome, if you're interested in learning some german, Loïc can help you with that.
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  Accommodation

  We have a large guest area on the top level of or house, that is usually used for family guests and as a play area for the kids. There is an extra bath room on the same level. You would have your privacy up there, the kids have plenty of room to play somewhere else during your stay.
  The kids and our bedrooms are on the main floor, together with the kitchen/dining room, the living room and a small bathroom that we use. Loïc has his workshop/homeoffice next to the entrance, this is the base level.
  We sleep on the main level, where we have the kids room, living room, a small bath room and the kitchen with dining area. We usually cook fresh every day ...
  Our house is very old from 1880, but mostly renovated, decorated nicely and cozy.
  Since the house is on the north side of a hill/small mountain, it is nice and cool in summer - but we still do get enough sun and light. We have a terrace and a big garden, where you can enjoy a barbecue, a paddling pool or some quiet time.
  Our area is very quiet, behind our house, the black forest begins, and we hardly have any direct neighbours.
  
  Next to the accommodation, we provide 3 meals a day. During the week, our breakfast is usually sort of "on the go", cause the kids have to go to kindergarten and we are going to work. (I, Loïc, work 30% in homeoffice) Julia is usually home after lunch with the kids. Supper/Dinner and all the meals on weakends are "family time" You would participate in all that - though you are free to spend some time on your own and eat separatily from time to time, if you would like so.
  We usually eat cereals or bread with cheese/ jam/... for breakfast, and cook freshly for lunch and/or supper with a healthy mediterranean diet (italian, british, german, asian,... meals) Since we do not always have time to cook freshly, we precook too.

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  What else ...

  Mobility: Public bus every hour, you could use one of our bikes
  Highlights in the area: Europapark, city of Freiburg, hikes and biking in the Black Forest, visits to France/Switzerland, old castles and fort ruins

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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 could use my homeoffice from time to time. I have a large work desktop with 2 big screens, our Internet is fairly fast with 250 mbit/s. I only work in homeoffice for an amount of 15 hours a week. For the rest of my fulltime job, I'm out of the house.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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