Spain
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I am a 35 year old woman who moved to Spain last year. The property is pretty rural, so I preferably need people who are ok to stay in a place that is not busteling. I am gay (just to let people know in case they have an issue with that) and originally from Norway. I like to garden, read, listen to podcasts, music and audiobooks, to do small hobby projects, read news, discuss the state of the world, drink coffee and tea, boardgames, anything 50s and 60s, my amazingly cute dog and cat, cooking (even if I do not get to do it as much as I want), sun, watching good tv series and lots of other things. I am very sociable, sometimes more than is good for me. I am open minded and social, but also need some time for rest every day.
I have Myalgic Encephelomyelitis. This condition has made me disabled, and is the reason I am not working. I used to work at the university of Bergen, before I got disability retirement. I require a bit of help in my everyday life. To explain my condition I usually describe it like I am a cell phone. I charge over night and wake up with 20% battery charged, as my body is an old and "faulty" phone. So just small tasks in everyday life can drain me, and I will have to prioritize things and chose between eating or showering. The only proven treatment is rest. The main symptom is post-exertional malaise, which means that if I push and do more than my body can cope with, I will get influenza-like symptoms for days and weeks after. This is one of the few illnesses were exercise will make you worse. Also using my brain to much can make me ill. And with both physical and mental exertion my cognitive abilities decline a few days.
I do not expect anyone to act as some kind of medical professional in my home, but I need help with some everyday tasks.
I have a lovelly little (medium sized?) dog called Asha. She is a rescue dog, and is very weary of new people. She sometimes barks when people arrive, but is very friendly and has never been agressive. She will probably keep away from the voluteers, as she is scared of people in general. She leaves a lot of tiny white hair that will end up on your clothes. Now a kitten has also adopted us, and has moved in. She has gotten the name Freya, and she will try to get you to think she has not been fed. She usually have been ;) My animals are allowed on sofas and chairs.
The house is a simple, but comfortable country house. It is not huge, but has room to sleep quite a few. The kitchen is on the smaller side, and the bathroom too, but the living room is decent, and the outside terrace is really a nice spot. I have an outside kitchen/paellero, toilet and shower in addition to what is in the house.
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Help around the house
I do not speak very good Spanish yet, so we could learn together. I am not the best place to come to learn about local culture, as I am not from here, and have not been here that long. If you want to learn about "kos" and "koselig", which is almost the same as the danish concept of "hygge" or about other parts of norwegian culture, I am happy to share.
I can offer housing, food and very flexible work. We can come to an agreement that suits us both in regards to working hours/free time, and also which tasks you will do.
My house is in the country side, in a small urbanisation, which means there are some neighbors, but not many amenities. A lot of the houses here are holiday/weekend homes. On the other side of the road is "wilderness". So it is more of a quiet area, and not the belly button of the world. It is a perfect place to relax in the sun and swim in the pool. There are only two buses a day going to Lliria.
I do not have much parties, but I do not mind people going out, or having some glasses of wine or other beverage. There are no places to go out in walking vicinity, but taxis from Lliria or even Valencia are not overly expencive compared to other western european rates (off course if you are from a different part of the world, they might be extreemly expencive). I like to play board and card games.
I do need some help with daily/weekly task like cooking, preserving produce from the garden, vaccuming, tidying, hanging, folding and putting away laundry, carrying stuff (not really heavy things, just what I can not manage myself, like soil bags and similar), grocery shopping, general maintanance and gardening.
I have a whole lot of food allergies and intolerances, so I need to have my food cooked from schratch. I do eat meats, so if that is a problem for you to see/cook, this probably would not be the right place for you, as cooking is the everyday task I need help with. If you want to eat different meals than me, I will accomodate for that, as my diet is quite unusual. I am open to you eating totally different to me.
Gardening is my favorite hobby and I am interested in growing my own food in a permaculture sort of way. I have not lived here that long, and has just started on this. I do have some ideas for projects in the garden, but I do not have the capacity to do them alone. So if you have an interest for permaculture, vegetable gardening and want to try building or designing in the garden, I would be really happy for the assistance. I have read a few books and watch quite a lot of gardening videos on youtube, but am by no means an expert.
I also have some projects that would need a bit of carpentry skills (but more on a hobby basis, you don't need to be an educated carpenter).
If you only want to help with the garden or only cooking/housework, that would also be ok. Just let me know, and I will try and accomodate.
Some of the projects I would like to do are:
- Improve the soil with green manure, composting, vermacompost and mulch
- Making a simple water catchment system/installing gutters
- Establishing a vegetable garden, possible in home made raised beds
- Plant some more fruit trees
- Plant an edible hedge
- Establishing a perennial food garden
- Building a chicken/duck and/or quail coop
- Painting raised beds, pool, path edges outside
- Upcycle some furniture pieces
- Building a deck at the back of the house
- Trimming and woodchipping trees.
All these projects are long term, so I do not expect one workawayer to do all of this. Most of the work here will be everyday tasks. But if you have a particular intrest in any of these, I would greatly appreciate the help!
English: Fluent
Norwegian: Fluent
Portuguese: Fluent
Spanish: Beginner
Private room, shared kitchen and bathroom. If you are two people, you could get seperate rooms if you want. I have parking if needed. I do sometimes have guests coming for a week or a few weeks, and if you know each other, I might ask if you could share a twin room for the period I have guests.
I live in a small urbanization called Monrabana close to Domeño, Lliria and Casinos in the Valencia region. There is a twice a day bus to Lliria, although a bit unreliable, and a metro from Lliria to Valencia. There is a lot of lovelly towns and villages around, and also natural parks and mountain areas to visit if that is your type of thing. I have parking if needed.
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
The driveway is a bit narrow, so it might be a little work getting it in. The space were it can be parked is on a little slope, so it needs to have the possibility to level it.
My dog is a bit scared of other dogs, so only quiet, non-dominant dogs. She is ok with my cat. My cat on the other hand is not great with all cats, but don't care at all about dogs. Your pet will need to go on well with both dogs and cats though.
More than two
4-5 hours a day / 5 days a week
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