Come stay with us and help around our home in the beautiful southern region of Norway, 1 hour outside of Oslo

Details

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  Description

  UNFORTUNATELY, WE ARE FULLY BOOKED UNTIL JANUARY 2020
  
  Hello! :)
  We are a Norwegian-American family of five living in the south of Norway (Våle, Vestfold). Our family consists of Jason (43, American), Terese (42, Norwegian-Hungarian), Helene (18, oldest daughter), Nelle (16, youngest daughter), Johan (14, son), our 14 tarantulas, 2 dogs (Tara and Albert) and 2 cats (Percy and Isis). We love travelling, being out in nature, wathing movies on friday nights, music, animals, politics and hosting guests. :)
  
  We are looking for someone to help around the house, and to whom we can show our beautiful corner of the world. We will only require a few hours of your day for some chores, otherwise you are free to do whatever you want, either letting us enjoy your company or exploring the area on your own. IF YOU HAVE ANY CONSTRUCTION OR RENOVATION SKILLS, WE WOULD HIGHLY APPRECIATE YOUR HELP! :) These workawayers will be prioritized, but we also except workawayers who do not have these skills! :)
  
  WE NEED HELP THIS NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER! We are especially looking for a NATIVE SPANISH SPEAKING PERSON!Look under "Help".
  
  Vestfold is a very historic region with a lot to see from viking/ medieval times and earlier. It is most famous for the town Tønsberg, which is Norways oldest city, and also where the kids go to school and where we work. We live 20 MINUTES OUTSIDE OF TØNSBERG AND 1 HOUR OUTSIDE OF OSLO :). Our house is right next to a beautiful medieval church, which you can see in the pictures down below.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  General Maintenance

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  Animal Care

  Language practice

  Teaching
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  During the regular week we are quite busy with work, school, homework and after-school activities, etc. However, Vestfold has a very good and affordable bus system which will take you just about anywhere. You can pay for each individual bus ride, or you can buy a card which will allow you to travel anywhere for a whole month.
  During the weekends we have a lot of free time, and we would love to show you Norway by taking you to places, such as the castle on the mountain (slottsfjellet) in Tønsberg, Karl Johan in Oslo, Mølen beach, Stavern and Kristiansand dyrepark, Langedrag Naturpark, to all the beautiful norwegian beaches in our area, and more.
  
  Some weekends we rent a cabin up in the mountains and hike. Allthough we don't love to skii ourselves, there are skiing facilities everywhere up in the norwegian mountains, and we would love to take you there. We also love taking the ferry over to Sweden, where we go shopping as things are much cheaper in Sweden than in Norway. :) If there are any other places you would like to go in the vacinity of where we live, we will take you there :).
  
  To get the most out of your culture exchange, we recomend that you stay during one of there dates:
  - May 17th: Norway's national day.
  - The first weekend of June: The big medieval festival in our town
  
  We are gone during these dates in 2019:
  - June 23rd: Sankthansaften, the festival of John the Baptist
  - July 11th - July 13th: Music festival in the coastal town Stavern (stavernfestivalen.no)
  - July 19th - July 21st (2019): Music festival at slottsfjellet. (slottsfjell.no)
  
  - November 30th: Not really a Norwegian thing, but our family hosts a big Thanksgiving party :). All of our Norwegian friends think it's so fun to experience some of our American culture.

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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

  NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER 2019:
  We would like some help this November and December with:
  - SPANISH LANGUAGE PRACTICE! (We will prioritize People from Spanish speaking countries!
  - Shoveling snow
  - House cleaning
  - Walking dogs
  
  AROUND THE HOUSE:
  Our daily lives are very routined: During the week the kids go to school and we go to work. When the kids come home they usually walk the dogs and tidy up. Terese comes home earlier than Jason, so she makes dinner, does the laundry, cleans and etc. Jason comes home relatively late, and usually primarily does the dishes. This routine works fine, but it can be quite stressful as there always are other things to do, which we never have time for. Therefore, we would like your help with our routine so that we have time for the other things we would like to do. We might also require your help for some outdoor work. :)
  
  CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATION:
  We are also looking for someone who can help with some CONSTRUCTION AND RENOVATION work, as we don't have any of these skills ourselves. We have a cracked foundation we would like to get help fixing, and we would like to lay some new floors in our house. In addition, we need help with some outdoor paiting.
  
  We need help with:
  - Everyday chores, such as tidying up and vacuuming
  - Cooking, primarily dinner (An easy task, but also time consuming for two parents with full-time jobs :))
  - Walking the dogs
  - Helping Terese with the laundry
  - Outdoor work, such as raking, gardening and painting
  
  - Fixing a cracked foundation (if you know how)
  - Laying new floors

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Norwegian: Fluent
  Spanish: Beginner
  Hungarian: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  We have one guest room in our house With a single bed. It is downstairs by the kid's rooms and by our bathroom . The guest room includes a closet and a nightstand.
  
  We eat a very norwegian diet, which largely consists of bread with different spreads, like butter, cheese, ham, leverpostei, makrellitomat and brunost (look them up :)), kaviar, cream cheese and more. For dinner we usually eat fish, cooked vegetables and potatoes, or chicken, rice and tossed salad, but we also like dishes or simple foods, such as spaghetti, pizza (Grandiosa - Norway's "national" food) and tacos. WE ALSO CATER FOR VEGETARIANS, as Jason and Nelle are vegetarians. They often eat falafel, or the same meal as the rest of the family, just with beans instead of meat.
  
  As cooking is one of the things we need help with, we will teach you how to make many of the meals we eat every day. You can also cook meals or snacks for yourself at any time outside of the regular meal times.

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  What else ...

  The bus system in Vestfold allows you to travel just about anywhere in our local area. However, if you would like to travel further by yourselves, the national train system takes you about anywhere in Norway. There are a lot of things to see in our area, and we probably won't have time to take you to all of them, so we will provide you with a map so you can explore on your own. In the "cultural exchange" section, I have mentioned a few places wich our family would be willing to take you. We advize you to look them up :).
  
  If you're interested in other places in the country to visit, we have som recommendations, but we aren't able to take you there:
  - Bergen
  - Trondheim
  - Jotunheimen nasjonalpark
  - Trolltunga
  - Tromsø
  
  You can also take a ferry over to Denmark, or a very affordable two-night cruise to Kiel, Germany and back.

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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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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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  Hours expected

  Maximum 3-4 hours a day, 5 days a week

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