Czech Republic
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Hello dear volunteers,
here is Marta (33) + Michal (38) + Mia (3) and Elio (our new entry, 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 Marta is an Italian teacher with the dream of becoming a writer and illustrator of children´s books.
We have been living in Prague for some years and now 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 and the smell of the pines :-)
We definitely prefer country life and don´t want to live in the city, but I (Marta, Italian :-) ) understood I cannot spend here the rest of my life (too cold and long winters, no sea...). That´s why we decided not to buy or build a house on our own and to move somewhere to the South - my dream is to live in Greece, where I feel home and we have many friends thanks to long-term volunteering in the past. That´s also why we would prefer a Greek mothertoungue who is willing to speak to Mia in Greek. Or an Italian mothertongue, so that Mia can hear more or my language (an mee, too!) But - if you are not Greek nor Italian, but you feel you would really love to come to our place, contact us in any case, that may be interesting, too :-)
Since Mia was born we have really little time for our projects and for the household in general, so what we need is some help with her and around the house - maybe the tasks we will give you may sound too "basic" (like - going for a walk with Mia, washing the dishes, preparing some tea, hanging the clothes to dry...), but believe us - every little thing is welcome like a big precious help!
We are also willing to share every piece of our life and passions with you according to what can be interesting for you and for us - for sure we can share music, languages, cooking, playing games if there is time...Marta can share painting
It is also nice for me (Marta) to have some future friend around, since life in the village is sometimes a bit lonely - even though we have friends we can visit and we often go to trips to small cities and you will be always welcome to come with us! :-)
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, 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 Mia.
We mostly need some help with our little child Mia (born September 2017) and with basic household. We´d also like a Greek (the best) or Italian mothertoungue to talk to Mia. Every day tasks will include playing with Mia, going for walks with her/us, caressing the cats from time to time :-), preparing breakfast for the child...and spending some short time every day to tidy up a little bit, doing the washing up, helping us with simple everyday house-tasks in and around the house...well, our goal is that the house is not in a constant mess and there´s space on the floor where you can place your foot without stepping on a toy or a banana leftover... :-) Actually - (almost) all the work is fun and there is always place for talking and taking decisions about your work together.
Sometimes I may ask you to stay with Mia for a couple of hours because I want to go on with my project - writing an illustrating a children´s book - and it is difficult for me now to find some "quality" time fot it. Of course we will try you Mia in "good" conditions - with clean nappy, not hungry nor angry :-)
Also, we are going to make our flat nice and cozy, by painting, projecting some forniture, in order to make it nice and unique, so your ideas will be always welcome if you have some!
You don´t need any specific skills, just the will to help our small family, to share everyday life and to truly love children - for me this means to really have fun with them (if you have fun, then they will have fun, too!) and not to treat Mia as "only a small child", taking her seriously, too, and speak to her like to a human being. I also know you need some time to get used to a new place and people, and to get to know the child, too, 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: Intermediate
Greek: Intermediate
This host offers a language exchange
This host has indicated that they are interested in sharing their own language or learning a new language.
Please 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 and Mia) in our house and have a room on your own with sight on the garden and the village. If you are a couple, 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 grandma will be happy to cook for you some Czech dish if you wish :-)
We live in a small village, so the public transport is not so often, but if you need to go for a trip on your free day(s) or plan any smaller trip, there is no problem to drive you to the train station from which you can get everywhere to Czech Republic :-) We live surrounded by nature - hills, the forest, small lakes, in five minutes from our house you are in the wood, listening just to the wind among the trees and the birds singing. We are also willing to take you with us to every our trip to the city! There are also many nice trips to the nature you can do - or to castle ruins, or whole castles... And if you are a music lover, Michal can give you some advice for sure (he´s a musician). Prague is two hours by train from our place.
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 - however we are flexible if you are, too!
