Come enjoy our slice of heaven, teach us a foreign language and help in the garden or house in North Otago, New Zealand

Details

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  Description

  We are a friendly middle aged couple living on a lifestyle block in beautiful North Otago. Patrick is a retired teacher and Sara is an architect, working from home. We are both relaxed, easy going, intelligent and well read.
  
  Sometimes our good friend Barry lives with us. He works remotely in IT and is Patrick’s personal butler and chauffeur.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Elderly Companionship

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Our place is really beautiful and we live a simple kiwi lifestyle. We have travelled overseas and love to meet new people because we are both pretty social.
  
  Our property is in a tiny village which used to be a gold mining town. There are no shops. There is lots of history in the area and lots to see and do. Sara is crafty and likes to sew and make things. We have a small vegetable garden and have started to grow lots of nut and fruit trees. Sara likes to preserve fruit and bake.
  
  Our property is 6 and a half acres or 2.2 hectares. In the winter we sometimes have snow which is exciting. We often enjoy sitting around an outside fire. We have an outside wood fired oven set up so that it can heat an outside bath which is fun when the weather is nice . There are no street lights here so the star gazing is amazing.

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  Help

  Patrick is recovering from a recent stroke and is really keen to return to foreign language learning to help him rebuild his brain and recover his speech. Patrick knows basic French, German and Russian. He is also interested in Spanish. Patrick suffers from fatigue so it would be great to have a hand around the property with some gardening and mowing. We would be looking for someone who can provide some language practice and a couple of hours in the garden or house daily. Patrick is not able to drive now but he likes to go to the gym in Oamaru for rehabilitation exercise. It would be great if you could drive him using our car and give him a little help with some of the equipment.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Beginner
  French: Beginner
  Russian: Beginner

  This host offers a language exchange
  Patrick can speak beginner French, German, Spanish and Russian. Patrick is also interested in Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew. Sara can speak intermediate German. Sara would love to learn to speak Dutch. We both speak English but Patrick is from Scotland so he has great accent. Patrice has a mild speech disability after having a stroke but still loves intelligent conversation.
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  Accommodation

  We have a cosy sleep-out with a queen size bed and nice bedding. The sleep-out is solar powered and has a deck with a great view. It is private from the house and has it's own outside toilet. (No smoking or cooking in the room please but you can make a hot drink there). If you are travelling with someone who you don't sleep with, we can offer a second cute sleep-out which is usually Patrick's office , where the language lessons happen. Because our house is really small we also have a shared outdoor dining room and living area where we spend most of our time.
  
  In the evenings we often watch a movie or documentary. We like to cook but nothing really fancy - it is mostly home grown vegies and local meat. We sometimes make our own bread. We preserve a lot of fruit from the garden.
  
  Eating food informally with friends and neighbours is a big part of our weekly routine. We often have friends to stay for a night or two. Sara does most of the cooking for the evening meals because she knows what Patrick can eat. Because of this we find it difficult to host vegetarians or people with special diets.
  
  You would need to make your own breakfast and lunch, keep your room clean and change the sheets when you leave. :). We will provide all the food and you can help us with the shopping if you like.
  
  Because Sara works from a home office the internet is limited to social media and emails, as movie watching etc uses too much of our internet. (The sleepout is too far away for WiFi).
  
  We don't own any animals, but we do have a pet cat called Wendy. Most of our neighbours have animals. Sometimes they graze sheep on our paddock.

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  What else ...

  The place we live in is called Livingstone. We live a half hour drive from Kurow and Oamaru and are close to Danseys Pass. We have a couple of bicycles to use and we are near the Alps to Ocean bike route. We go to Oamaru a couple of times a week for shopping and socialising. Our area is well known for its fossils and interesting geology. We are close to the Waitaki Valley and there is a river you can swim in nearby. There is no public transport but we can arrange pickups. Nearby us within about a half hour drive you can fish, kayak, sail, ski, swim, go to the pub and ride a bike.

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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

  Sara works from a home office with good internet connection via an aerial. We have an A3 printer scanner and an A4 black and white printer. We have had several friends work from here over the last few years.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a large property and you can choose a fun place to park your own vehicle. We have a 'long drop' toilet in the garden. We may be able to provide power - we can discuss this with you.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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