Help us settle in to our new family home and garden near Paris in Pontoise, France

Details

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  Description

  Hi You! We are a family of 4: Romy who's 2 years old - her big sister Nora who's 5 years old and their lucky parents Thomas and Helene. Thomas is a Physical Education teacher in a nearby high school and Helene is Talent Manager and Coach in an international organization.
  
  We live in the city of Pontoise, which is in the Paris area, it takes about 45min by car to get to Paris and 45min by train. We moved recently to a new house which is in a very quiet part of the city, next to many forest trails. Important: It takes 20-30min walk to go to the station (to go to Paris), sometimes we can drop you at the station with our car. There are trains every 20-30min to go to Paris. We can share with you an electric bike to go around (you can also board the train with the bike)
  
  We have traveled and lived and worked abroad: two years in India, three years in the USA (Nora is born in USA). We speak fluently English and Helene can speak some Spanish too. We love meeting new people, share about places, cultural habits, foreign food, etc. We prefer homemade food so we cook a lot and we often try new recipes. We eat vegetarian food most of the time and some non-veg food time-to-time. We don't work on weekends and on Wednesday either.
  
  Note: we ask our guests to make their own food arrangements for breakfast & lunch, it is easier for us to manage the groceries and the meals that way. That's the reason we set the volunteers hours to 15hours / week.
  
  Note: We are doing our best to save water&energy, for our planet, and for our wallet (energy in France may be costlier that in your own country)! Please turn off the heater and lights in your bedroom when you are not in there, take short showers and avoid running the taps unnecessarily.
  
  Note: Helene's breastfeeding Romy so you must be OK with that to live with us.
  
  Would you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask, we look forward to hearing from your trip,
  
  Warmly, Romy-Nora-Thomas-Helene

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Language practice

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  You're welcome to share our family life: cooking together, sharing meals, picking the kids with us from the school or from the nanny, going to parks and trains on the week-ends, coming with us as we visit family and friends, etc. We like to go to the weekly market to pick up bread, fruits, etc. We enjoy going to fairs and festivals. We have done a lot of hosting travellers in the past and is always a pleasure to meet people from different horizons!

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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

  Who are we looking for?
  - being handy: helping with DIY work around the house or gardening
  - keeping our house tidy
  - preparing dinners
  
  - We need people who enjoy DIY / doing renovation work : We moved to our house in 2019, and even if we did some renovation work before getting in, there's still a lot to do in our house... painting, removing some old tiles from the walls, adding some shelves here and there, removing wallpaper... and we have simply not enough time to do that stuff... so if you like transforming a house, we would love to have your help.
  
  - Gardening: there's plenty of work in the garden (and in the forest!!)
  
  - Keeping the house tidy & clean: hoovering, fridge cleaning, kitchen cleaning, folding laundry, etc. We take care of the loos and family bathroom, you will take care and clean your independant bathroom.
  
  - Preparing dinners: you take the lead on the dinners or we can cook together. We enjoy sharing the dinner meals with our guests.
  
  We appreciate that our guests are autonomous and self-driven.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  English: Fluent
  French: Fluent
  Spanish: 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.
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  Accommodation

  If you're joining our family, you will have your own bedroom (18m2) and bathroom (there may some unpacked boxes in there but we will do our best to leave minimum stuff possible). It is furnished with an HEMNES daybed (for 1 or 2 people). It has a beautiful view from the window. It is on the first floor, next to the other bedrooms.

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  What else ...

  You are 1h-1h30 from Paris, so there's plenty of stuff to visit there. We are not going much to Paris nowadays but are happy to do some visits there with you on time to time basis (and Nora loves going there as well!) We are close to the Vexin National Park and there are many hiking trails there. We are next to Auvers sur Oise, famous for Van Gogh and other impressionist paintings. Pontoise itself is a city with Middle Age heritage.
  
  Important: It takes 30min walk to go to the station (to go to Paris), sometimes we can drop you at the station with our car. There are trains every 20-30min to go to Paris. We can share with you an electric bike to go around (you can also board the train with the bike)
  
  Note: we ask our guests to make their own food arrangements for breakfast & lunch, it is easier for us to manage the groceries and the meals that way. That's the reason we set the volunteers hours to 15hours / week.
  
  Note: We are doing our best to save water&energy, for our planet, and for our wallet (energy in France may be costlier that in your own country)! Please turn off the heater and lights in your bedroom when you are not in there, take short showers and avoid running the taps unnecessarily.
  
  Note: Helene's breastfeeding Romy so you must be OK with that to live with us.

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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 share the Internet connection - Helene works from home full-time these days. We hosted two YouTubers and they shared our connection was the best they got for ages ;)

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  3 hours a day, 5 days a week

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