Experience life in a co-housing community while helping us with daily chores in Kalmthout, Belgium

Details

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  Description

  Hi! We are a 6-person cohousing group, sharing a spacious house and a big garden in a beautiful green location, right next to a very special nature reserve in the north of Belgium, called Kalmthoutse Heide.
  
  About us
  We are 6 individuals, non related, and of different ages, but living together as a family. The youngest is 41, the eldest 72, and then some in their fifties and early sixties. Four women and two men, with different professional backgrounds and walks in life. All choosing to share a house and home, rather than living alone. The living room, sitting room, kitchen, washing room, terrace, garden, two garages, the multifunctional room with kitchen and all other space in and around the house is shared. The daily chores are divided as efficiently as possible: cooking, gardening, part of the cleaning, grocery shopping, repairing, etc. is done according to every person's working schedule, talents and preference. Individually or in group.
  
  About the house and garden
  The house is rather big, and needs quite some maintenance, cleaning and small repairs on the inside and outside. The garden is around 3000 m² and needs attention all year long. We have several smaller projects like reorganizing the wood shed, improving the compost area and keeping away invasive plants, all while maintaining the garden as good as possible.
  
  The location
  Our house is a 10-minute walk away from a train station where you can catch a direct train to the cities of Antwerp and Brussels, and even Roosendaal in the Netherlands. It's easy and quick to get to Amsterdam by train, Rotterdam, Ghent, Bruges, and even Paris or London.
  Shops, supermarkets, bakeries, restaurants, coffeehouses are just 10 or 15 minutes away on foot.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  What's this?
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  We would love to give Workawayers the opportunity to experience this form of communal living. Guests will be welcomed as a part of our group and invited to help with all the chores and every day functioning of our community. We have a language teacher among us, so Dutch, English, French, German, Spanish and even some Italian can be included in a language exchange. :-)
  We are located in between Amsterdam and Antwerp, and at walking distance from public transportation, so there are great opportunities to discover many historic centres and architectural and cultural gems. We can tell you all about the interesting towns and cities, museums, landmarks, and whatever aspects of Belgian and/or Dutch culture you are interested in. We are but a few kilometers away from the Dutch border.

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  Help

  We would love it if you could help us with the everyday cooking, small DIY projects, general maintenance and any work in our big garden. Chopping trees, removing invasive plants, taking care of the compost area, keeping the waterways open, etc. Small painting jobs, repairing the fence if necessary, weeding, painting of garden furniture, etc. 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Dutch: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
  You can contact them directly for more information.
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  Accommodation

  Sofa bed in a big separate room. You will share a bathroom with two people. Meals: breakfast you take from the community food, lunch is together with those at home, dinner is always together. We provide all your meals but we will ask you for help with cooking and grocery shopping.

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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

  This host has indicated that they love having digital nomads stay.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week