Experience a rich cultural exchange while being a part of our home in Larnaca, Cyprus

Details

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  Description

  Hellooooo there,
  we are a couple mid thirty, Rike and Ben, originally from Germany, but traveled and lived mainly abroad for more than the last 10 years. After being passionate back- and then bikepackers, travelling through Europe and Africa and volunteering in many different places ourselves, we've settled down about 1 year ago on the sunny and relaxed island of Cyprus. We are living in Larnaca, a small city of appr. 50.000 inhabitants, in a lovely two-bedroom apartment with a beautiful roof terrace with stunning views. Our little doggie, a small fluffy mix breed, is always with us. We are both working from home, founding our own company in the moment.
  We are living basically in the middle of town in a neighborhood that's mainly apartments and all amenities nearby, but still it's pretty calm, and not noisy as a bustling city.
  From the apartment it's only 2 km to Finikoudes beach, which is a big sandy city beach with seafront cafés, shops and the "city center". In winter time it's really beautiful, then there are no sunbeds occupying the beach, and it's perfect to walk the dog there on sunny days. In summer of course it's pretty crowdy, but still, it's the beach and the Mediterranean Sea just around the corner, which is a big luxury ;)
  Larnaca in general is a pretty "sleepy" town, of course there are all sorts of entertainment, bars, clubs, cafés, but still, it's nothing to compare with big European cities. At first sight, it's not the most beautiful town, but after a while also you will recognize the hidden beauty, for example there are many abandoned places that tell you about former prosperity of the island, the city is full of history, we have ancient sights of Kition, which was populated about 3000 years ago, and just 5 min by feet from our flat you reach the old Turkish quarter, that has only small houses, narrow streets and gives an impression of the time before Cyprus was divided. We will love to show you some of our favorite hidden gems.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance

  Help with Computers/ Internet
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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Since we've been traveling so many years, we have a lot of funny and weird travel stories to share and would also love to hear yours.
  We love to study and talk about languages, find differences and similarities in the way different cultures express.
  Ben is a German master chef, and he will be glad to show you some of his best tricks and recipes for tasty, freshly cooked meals.
  Additionally, we have a wide spread knowledge of kitchen herbs, wild herbs and mushrooms, and would love to share it with you, for example how to take care of aromatic herbs, that we grow on the roof terrace (since growing plants here is pretty difficult through very hot weather conditions in summer), their use for cooking and healing.
  We are also looking forward that you share any knowledge you have with us, since we are mainly interested in everything :)

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  Help

  We are mainly looking for someone to accompany us in day-to-day activities, to help with general household chores, walk our doggie, water the plants and so on. We have a lot of plants on the balcony and the roof terrace, some veggies and a lot of aromatic herbs. We are happy to explain you how to take care of them and also share our knowledge of use in the kitchen and for healing.
  Also in spring we gonna start some smaller (I mean, really small) "wood projects" on the roof terrace, such as building a paneling for an old Jacuzzi, that we have on the roof and that we want to make a flowerbed out of.
  Please note that we can't accompany you all the time, since we are busy with our jobs during the week and also on an hourly base on weekends for our side projects. So, we only need people who are self-reliable and can work on their own, also people who are motivated and happy to help.
  As you see, there are no certain projects that we have in mind, mainly we appreciate help with daily life chores, and we will also find something that fits your abilities; no worries, we won't give you a big project and then leave you on your own ;)
  We would appreciate if you let us know what you are good at, and then see how we can combine your knowledge and talents with something that we could need help with.

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  Languages spoken

  German: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Beginner
  French: Beginner
  Italian: Beginner

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  Accommodation

  You will have a private bedroom with a queen size bed with a very good mattress and a big wardrobe. We have two bathrooms, that we will share with 3 people.
  Also of course we will share the living room, the kitchen, balcony and the roof terrace, everything fully equipped.
  We are eating regular meals, breakfast, lunch, dinner, that you are welcome to share, also the fridge is always full and you are welcome to prepare your own food.
  Our food is freshly cooked and well balanced, we eat meat, veggies, fruits, dairy products, eggs, some bread, rice, pasta, potatoes; we try to reduce wheat products and sugar, but we are not strict, also we mainly buy whole foods instead of processed. We prefer to buy local, and especially in the summer months the Cypriot fruits and veggies are amazing, we have local tropical fruits such as bananas (they are small and very tasty), mangos (you will LOOOVE the mangos), melons, papayas, kiwis and more.
  Please note, that we won't cover the costs of any special diets like vegan food, plant based milk or similar. There is a big choice of food available at any point.
  We hope it's not necessary to mention, that we expect you to keep your private space such as shared areas clean and tidy. We are not "clean-freaks", but won't accept someone creating dirt and chaos in our lovely home.
  
  Not to forget, that we have a big barbecue on the roof terrace that we love to use during the warm months a lot :)

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  What else ...

  We expect our guests to have a common sense, we are tolerant and respectful people and are only looking for like-minded individuals.
  Please be aware that we are pretty busy, so we can't entertain you all the time, so you have to be able to be on your own and explore the city yourself, which doesn't mean, that we are not happy spending the evenings after dinner together, have a coffee or some sunny hours at the beach on weekends, go together for walks with the dog or make a nice barbecue with friends on the roof terrace.
  We are moving through the city by bicycle, since it's the fastest way. We have two very good bikes and you can borrow one to drive around, the city isn't big and you can reach anything fast. One bike has a basket, and we would appreciate you to take out our doggie for a ride. There are no cycling paths, so be aware that you will cycle on the roads, which are pretty crowdy especially during the holiday season. Also there is left-hand traffic, but you'll get used to it very fast.
  Of course there are city busses, but they are slow, also there are these car sharing cars all over the city, in case you want to drive. Also there are cheap intercity bus connections to the bigger cities on the island, for example to the capital Nicosia, which is the last divided city in Europe.
  Please note that summers in Cyprus are tough, so if you can´t stand the heat, June to August is not the time for you to come.
  
  Musicians of all kind are very welcome! Ben is playing the harmonica, also we have an electric guitar and some friends near by who play music. We are also happy about any other artists. And the most important thing: Come as you are :D
  
  Last but not least: The maximum duration of stay is 10 days (1 or 2 days more because of flight dates can be discussed). Please don't send requests for longer periods. Thank you :)

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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

  There is a desk in your room, wired and wireless internet available in the apartment and on the roof terrace.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  We have a covered parking just in front of the house, but then we would suggest you to sleep in the guestroom and not down in the car.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  One

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