Czech Republic
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Hello dear people,
here is Marta (34) + Michal (39) + Mia (almost 4) and Elio (born April 2020)!
We are a Czech - Italian family living in the Czech countryside in a region called Vysočina - "the Highlands" - near the more knowned Moravia, two hours of train South-East from Prague.
Michal is a musician (piano teacher and choir director) and teaches in a school about 20 minutes of car from our village. If he says he doesn´t like people, don´t believe him! He´s the only one to say that in the world and he is very friendly instead :-)
Marta was an Italian teacher with a bachelor in Mathematics ;-), now a full time mom - with the dream of becoming a writer and illustrator of children´s books - well, after we stop having kids probably! She´s also a passionate yoga practicer. She´s quite talkative...but she is able to stop if asked :-)
After living in Prague for some years, we went back to Michal´s village Havlíčkova Borová, where we live in the same house with his parents - in separate flats with shared garden all around. The nature around is wonderful and in five minutes you are in the forest, surrounded by trees, animals, small lakes and the smell of the pine trees...
We definitely prefer country life and don´t want to live in the city, but Marta understood she cannot spend here the rest of her life (too cold and long winters, short summers, no sea...). That´s why we decided not to buy or build a house on our own and to move somewhere to the South before Mia starts attending primary school (might be Greece, Croatia or...who knows - we spend every summer travelling in some South-European country in order to search for "our own place" to settle down one day).
Since Mia and Elio were born we have little time for our own projects and sometimes even for the household in general, so what we need is some help with hthe kids and in/around the house - maybe the tasks we will give you may sound too "basic" (like going for a walk with Mia, doing the washing-up, preparing some tea, hanging the clothes to dry, take care of the sprouts and in general trying to keep the house in a condition which does not remind an explosion...), but believe us - every little thing is welcome like a precious help!
In general we enjoy a lot sharing with volunteers our daily life and passions (music, languages, cooking, paiting, making barefoot shoes or stamps, sewing...) and that´s actually the main reasn why we are here - we like to have company around and the kids enjoy it as well. On the other hand, we need a person or couple who is able to be independent and "have fun" by him/herself since many times we just don´t have time or are too tired (especially after our second kid was born) - usually, when we have a little free time, each of us runs to do all the stuff he/she didn´t manage during the last days/months/years :-)
Please note: we live in wonderful nature and like going to trips sometimes (however - kid friendly trips which may sound a little boring for "normal people"...), so we are willing to show you the surroundings and take with us at any occasion of "life" we´ll have. However remember in our village not much is happening, especially in winter, so if you are not a nature lover and need city life, this place is not for you - except for the case you need a rest from that!
Gardening
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Help around the house
Maybe we are not the most demanded destination in Europe - "just" a small village in the Czech countryside - but we are an open, "colourful", playful family, willing to take you as a member of us and to share life, talks, trips, friends, games, music, languages...and whatever will come out "naturally" during our time together. You will also learn much about small children, too - does it sound boring? I can ensure you it is a very exciting, funny, adventurous world! Maybe you will even learn some (Czech or) Italian by listening to us speaking to the kids.
Together we can do plenty of nice stuff. We can practice yoga, bake cookies with the kids, paint, play music and sing, make barefoot shoes or stamps, talk in front of a hot tea in the cold winter evenings...
This project could involve children. For more information see our guidelines and tips here.
We mostly need some help with the kids and even more with basic household. Every day tasks include being with the children, going for walks with them (as soon as they start feeling at ease with you...and you with them!), caressing the cats from time to time :-), preparing breakfast, cooking, spending some time every day trying to prevent the house from "exploding" with stuff everywhere, doing the washing-up, helping us with simple everyday house-tasks in and around the house...
Actually - (almost) all the work is fun and there is always place for talking and taking decisions about your work together.
You don´t need any specific skills, just the will to help our family, to share everyday life and to truly love children - for me this means to really, sincerely have fun with them and not to treat them as "only a small child", taking to them seriously, too, and speak to them like to a human being (unfortunately this is very rare in adults...).We believe in nvesting a lot of time and energy into parenting and for us it is very important to behave to the children just normally and truly. We try not to scream at them (not always we succeed, but almost every time this happens, that just means we made a mistake..) , to treat them with respect and to find solutions together. (It is incredible what you can discuss about with a toddler!) When you are here...we will talk more about that all :-)
We know you need some time to get used to a new place and people, and to get to know the children, too (they need the same!) - so don´t be afraid - we don´t expect everything to work perfectly from the beginning, just give it a try with good will and heart.
Languages spoken
Czech: Fluent
English: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
German: Beginner
Greek: Beginner
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.
We live in a house with Michal´s grandparents and two cats. The flats are separate however, so you will live together with us (Marta, Michal, Mia, Elio, sometimes the cats) in our house (upper floor) and have a room on your own with sight on the garden and the whole village. If you are a couple or friends, you will sleep together in the room. We cook vegetarian, but there is no problem to buy for you meet some times - and I am sure Michal´s mother will be very happy to cook for you some Czech dish if you wish :-)
We are other platforms and Workaway in the past years (Greece, Czech Republic). This means we know a little what volunteering is - and is not - about.
We will welcome you as a member of our family and we need from you...to behave like that.
This means we share everyday life, have fun together but also that we all have some "roles" or "duties" in the household and we really ask you to be active in trying to see what needs to be done. Sometimes we just do´t have the time to follow you and tell you step by step what needs to be done...if you see something you think needs to be done, just go for it!
So in general we need responsible, independent and active people.
Also, we try to be flexible with you and discuss everyone´s needs and we don´t like to "count the working hours".
However, after some not very good experiences with volunteers in the past, we feel to say - we need you to fulfill more or less that working time and stay open to discussion. We like to talk very openly also about problems that might show up and things we don´t like or we think do´t work in order to make them better, find solutions together and avoid misunderstandings or frustration - we expect you do the same with us! We believe that´s the only way this interaction and sharing can work well.
:-)
________
If you have any questions, feel free to ask whatever you´d like to know.
Thank you for reading us!
M+M+M+E
Internet access
Limited internet access
We have pets
We are smokers
Can host families
We don´t have wi-fi in our house, but in your room there is a LAN cable you can use to connect your laptop.
Two
5 hour a day, 5 days a week
