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Description
Hi! I live just outside of Belgrade on the slopes of Avala mountain, in a two-story house with a garden that I share with three lovey-dovey dogs (two grown-up Aussies and a newly rescued pup). The vibe: forest walks, starry nights, muddy paws.
To me this area feels like the Goldilocks zone between the rural tranquility of a Serbian village amidst rolling hills and clear lakes, and the nearby urban buzz of a city strewn with fragments of empires, socialism, art, ruin, and raw hopecore possibilities.
The house and the garden are the focal points of a few ongoing projects in sustainable renovation and rewilding for birds and pollinators. There are fun materials suitable for climate change resilience (geopolymers! mycelium! and so. much. cork.), power tools galore, and my personal proud contribution of a heady AuDHD mix of careful evidence-based planning and cheerful Chaotic Good implementation.
I work from home, leading a research and experience strategy Sociocracy circle in a worker-owned co-op social impact tech startup (now that’s a mouthful 👻). It grew out of exploring an unmet need: most of my friends are neurodivergent folks, and over time I noticed we kept running into the same challenges. The starting point was practical, but has grown into something closer to existential, shaped by insights from occupational science, neurodiversity studies, decolonial studies, neuroscience, critical pedagogy, you name it.
At the end of the day, the house, the garden, the tech — it’s all one exploration really, of building a life worth living by doing, being, becoming, belonging. If that resonates, come join 💫
Types of help and learning opportunities
Help with Eco Projects
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Animal Care
Interests
Technology
Sustainability
Politics / Social justice
Pets
LGBTQ
Culture
Charity work
Plant care
Photography
Gardening
DIY & crafts
Cooking & food
Books
Carpentry
Art & design
Astronomy
Animals
Cycling
Winter sports
Nature
Mountain
Hiking
UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve
Cultural exchange and learning opportunities
My background spans disciplines and places: I grew up between Moscow and New York, did my BA in Fine Arts (new media) in the Netherlands, traveled around Europe, started a Master of Science in Information in the US (unfinished — U.S. tuition costs 💸). That left me with a grab bag of cultural experiences and expertise in stuff like participatory creative practices, social impact tech, research, systems thinking, and design ethics. On top of that, I’ve always been a tinkerer with a can-do attitude and an insatiable drive for head-first dives into occupational rabbit holes, so along the way, I’ve collected a motley crew of random bits of knowledge and skills.
I’m a transplant here, still discovering the cultural heritage and deep layers of human history of this land, stretching back to the Paleolithic. Add to that the forests, rivers, and mountains nearby, and there’s always a sense of connection to place. I often go on day hikes with the dogs, and you’re welcome to join.
What I value most in cultural exchange is learning how people in different parts of the world make meaning in their lives, especially outside the Global North (in what one of my favorite scholars calls the Majority World).
Projects involving children
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
Help
Currently, I need specific help with:
• Pouring a corkcrete terrace
• Finishing cork-clad façades
• Planting clover & tending garden after geothermal installation disturbed the soil
• Transplanting moss onto surfaces
• Occasional indoor touch-ups (painting, small fixes)
• Dog socializing support (e.g. coming on parallel walks to help the new pup integrate — simple, gentle stuff, nothing advanced)
Other than that, it’s just the usual flatmate-type courtesy basics. More humans = more entropy. I’ll keep doing my share, and I simply ask that you handle yours too, so together we keep the place livable.
This is not a hustle-culture bootcamp. Think of it more as connection and tending — to a place, to ourselves, to the living systems around us. I’ve been slowly doing all of this solo for some years, and I’d keep going if the Puppy Distribution System hadn’t handed me a newcomer who tipped the balance. So now I’d love some extra hands.
Some tasks are more intense (mixing, pouring, planting), others are more serene (painting, small repairs), and we can work together or separately. I’m happy to show you the tricks I’ve picked up, and I’d love to learn from your skills too. This is not about perfection, it’s about curiosity, sheer audacity to try, and figuring things out as we go.
DIY experience is great, but not required. I’m just looking for people who are more “move thoughtfully and build things that last” than “move fast and break things” (if you know, you know).
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Russian: Fluent
Serbian: Intermediate
German: Beginner
Spanish: BeginnerThis host offers a language exchange
I’m especially interested in Spanish, so if that’s your language, I’m in luck. In return, I can offer fluent Russian and fluent English. Russian is my OG mother tongue, but I grew up bilingual, studied/lived/worked primarily in English, and even taught it for fun once upon a time. The dogs started out bilingual (English first), now they’re kind of trilingual with Serbian in the mix, though their Serbian is worse than mine 😅.
Accommodation
The accommodation is a guest bedroom I set up for occasional visits from friends, so it’s comfy and ready for use. There’s a 140 cm bed with a good mattress and memory foam pillows, fresh linen and towels, a wardrobe, bedside tables, and a nice view of the garden.
The house has a regular bathroom with a walk-in shower, hot water, and a washing machine you can use. The kitchen has a dishwasher, a coffee machine, an ice cream machine, a natto maker… yeah, I like tools of all kinds, don’t come at me 🙈
If you need a place to work, I have a spare table in my office room. I do need the work environment to stay quiet, so if we’re cool with that, you’re welcome to use it.
There’s fast optical internet with 2.4/5/6 GHz Wi-Fi. For downtime there’s a TV, a PlayStation, and an old but solid video projector you can set up in your room if you have a laptop. And of course, there’s a garden with now three dogs who think it’s their kingdom.
The guest bedroom, the bathroom, and the office room are upstairs, on the level above the ground floor. Access is via a spiral staircase. Unfortunately this means the space isn’t suitable for people with mobility issues, as the stairs can’t be adapted.
In case you’re curious about recycling: I sort as much as I can and compost everything compostable.
Now, about food (because this matters for expectations): I love cooking. Truly. If I had nothing else to do, I’d spend my days happily making food, experimenting with flavors, and feeding people until they were full of deliciousness. I’ve even done catering as a side gig, and my pantry/freezer are so well-stocked with staples and condiments that my friends joke they’ll all move in when the apocalypse comes.
But here’s the catch: as a NeuroSpicy 🌶️ person, I find the routine responsibility of planning and managing meals cognitively exhausting. I basically make one meal a day for myself, and sometimes I’ll happily make extra to share. What I cannot manage is being on the hook for making sure another human has three meals a day.
That’s one of the reasons I’ve set the workload lower than the Workaway norm (up to 16 hours a week instead of ~25). In return, I ask that you handle your own food day-to-day. The kitchen is fully available, there are always basics (tea, coffee, milk, seasonal fruit/veg, nuts, SO MUCH CHEESE), and I’m happy to provide pantry ingredients or take you grocery shopping in the car so you can get whatever else you need.
Incidentally, transport here is easy: there’s a bus stop about 200 m (5 minutes’ walk) from the house. Buses run several times an hour from early morning until around midnight, and it’s about 20–30 minutes to reach Belgrade’s southern transport hub, where you can connect to the rest of the city.
What else ...
A couple of things about how I live:
I think clear, open communication is the key to pretty much all relationships — human and otherwise. (One thing I’ve noticed is that clarity works surprisingly well across species.) Misunderstandings and tensions are part of the human condition, and that’s okay. My only “house rule” is that we talk things through when they come up, with empathy and respect for one another as fellow living beings. There’s always a way to find resolution if we remember we’re basically on the same side.
Also, I’m a fairly extreme night owl, I go to sleep well after midnight, and it makes life much easier if I’m not sharing space with someone who’s a hardcore morning lark. If your rhythms are at least somewhat compatible, it means nobody has to spend half the day tiptoeing around the house.
A little more information
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
Can host digital nomads
This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.
How many Workawayers can stay?
One
My animals / pets
Lito
A puppy we recently rescued
Luna
Leia
Photos
