Come and help to improve our 110 year old family home in Maastricht, The Netherlands

Details

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  Description

  We are a busy, multi-lingual family who have settled down in Maastricht, the Netherlands. We speak English, Dutch and a little bit of Spanish. We are vegetarian, health conscious and lead an active lifestyle. We love nature and animals. As international teachers we are always around people from all over the world and we would love to extend and share our home with someone who would like to help us look after our pets and assist in renovating our home.
  
  We live with our 3 boys, 2 dogs, a cat and two rabbits in an old fixer-upper (1905) that we are slowly renovating. The house is located in Heugem, a small village on the edge of Maastricht. On a bicycle the old city centre is about 15 minutes from our home. Yet the hills and beautiful country side is also within a 20 minute bicycling distance. Maastricht is situated in the far south of the Netherlands and also lies a mere cycling ride from Germany and Belgium.
  
  We are looking for someone who can help us look after our pets and do some small renovation and construction work over the summer. Experience is a plus, but not necessary. A sincere love for animals, patience, willingness to learn and an open and flexible attitude is the most important :-) At this time we are doing quite a bit of carpentry, sanding, painting and general handy-work. In addition we are doing a lot of organization and cleaning up. Wood needs stacking and organizing and we could use some help gardening. Sharing your cooking talents is very welcome but not a necessity. We are looking for someone who would like to work along side David, but who could also work on their own. Most importantly, as we hope to travel for several weeks this summer we would like a person who would like to house-sit our home and look after our pets while we are away.
  
  We are a vegetarian family and don't eat meat, fish, nor chicken. We would ask you respect this and not eat it yourself while in our home. We don't smoke and are very health and eco-conscious. We are into sports and lead an active lifestyle. It is important to us that workawayers are non-smokers and that they are respectful of our life-style. The non smoking factor is very important to us... We don't have tv and encourage our kids to be active. We do like the internet, movies and love spotify, good conversations, arts and crafts and music. Other than that we would like to say that we are a very open family and welcome anyone of any religious affiliation, culture, nationality and LGBTQ+ community.
  
  While being here, we can offer you a private room as your bedroom. The bathroom is semi-shared. Additionally, there is semi-private entry to the house you can use. Of course the rest of the house is open to you as well and you are free to borrow one of our bicycles while you are here. Although we are not in the position to offer you luxury, we are a warm, hospitable family that you can share your stories and experiences with. We are very appreciative of your help!

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Light gardening

  Creative DIY projects

  Animal Care

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  Light maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Travelers will find a very open-minded household with a warm and loving family. If you are looking for a place where you are not judged, where you can be yourself and do some soul searching, this is the place. On a practical level you will have the opportunity to practice your English and/or Dutch and learn new skills in terms of how to renovate a house. Our pets and kids are very skilled at teaching you how to live in the moment. Nature nearby and our warm home will allow you to reflect and ponder about the next stage of your life. In return we hope you will want to share your stories, your humor and positive energy. We hope you will work and play and be an active participant in our household. Your presence will teach our kids to value diversity and your cooking will introduce new flavors into our household. Of course, your help in fixing our home will get us further in our journey to realizing our dream home :-)

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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

  Help with the construction and renovations to our old home. For example, restoring a brick wall, help build a fence in the yard, sanding and lackering, organizing a woodstack, cleaning out and organizing a shed, painting a staircase, general clean-up, weeding and some gardening, painting, and general help around the house. Dog care, cat and rabbit care (such as walks and giving attention). When the whole family is here, hanging out and playing with the boys.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent
  Spanish: Intermediate

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  Accommodation

  private room on ground floor. Share bathroom with family.

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  What else ...

  You can borrow and use one of our bikes and explore Maastricht and surroundings. There is lots of opportunity to be active (hiking, running, canoeing). Public transport in the Netherlands is very good but may be a bit pricey, depending on where you wish to go. We can give you lots of information about the sights, where to go, what to visit, and so on. There are always interesting things happening in Maastricht (many of them free of charge). There are also cheap alternatives for traveling, such as couch-surfing and car-sharing. You are free to read our many books :-)

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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

  we have a normal internet connection that will serve regular needs

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  Two

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  My animals / pets

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