Gisela

Travel information

I am currently

Description

Currently doing my first workaway stop in the hills north of Barcelona. Getting a permaculture garden spring-ready.
I have worked in desk-jobs for most of my life and straight for the last 10 years. Now I decided to take a little break after my last contract managing a small humanitarian NGO ended in February 2026. I need to clear my head and see and do something different for a while an hope to get new inspirations. A couple of years back I had an amazing time wwoofing in Australia for 3 months, ripping overgrown gardens apart, making bush land fire-safe etc. This inspired me to try something similar again now.
My base has been Berlin for over 20 years but I lived for some time in Ireland, Indonesia and 2 years in Malawi. I am not a professional in anything useful or handy in real life but I can hold a screw driver, shovel sheep shit and drive a medium sized truck on both sides of the road. I am happy to try new things and will be able to sufficiently manage most of it. Up to now I have hardly any experience with animals (except mice and bugs), it's not that I don't like them, it's more a live and let live situation on both sides. But who knows what life brings around the corner.
Since winter in Berlin is bleak, I'm looking forward to going to more southern places in March and April and possibly May. I decided to not yet plan everything out to the last dot.

Interests

Events & social

Plant care

Hiking

DIY & crafts

Gardening

Sustainability

Politics / Social justice

Self development

Movies & TV

History

Languages

Cooking & food

Mountain

Nature

Beach

Cycling

Languages

Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
Dutch: Intermediate
Spanish: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I would like to brush up on the languages that are a bit lost because I havenˋt used them in a while: Dutch and Spanish. I don't know if I am a good teacher but willing to try - for German, my native language. My English is rather good but I'm not sure about teaching it.

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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Eco Projects

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Some knowledge of:  

Gardening

DIY and building projects

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

General Maintenance

Helping with Computers/ Internet

Languages

More details about your skills

I have worked around politics, transport, adult education and human rights for the last couple of years. This will probably not be very helpful in the real world.
But I had an allotment where I build a high bed for plants, tried my way around upcycling things and since my well was dry most of the summer, I tried some gardening without water - semi successful, I have to admit. The shed/bungalow was very run down when I took over and I had to rip out a lot of carpet, walls and other disgusting stuff. The rebuilding was mostly done by some professional builder, but around a garden there's always something to hammer, screw, saw, dig. And of course weed, plant and harvest.
I have a driver's licence for cars, trucks up to 7.5t, motorbikes and are not afraid to drive them.
I speak German and English fluently, Dutch I might be able to speak after 2 beers, I once were able to communicate in Spanish, learned French and Indonesian - not much left of these 2 languages though. If necessary I can do a couple of things with a computer.

Age

50

What else ...

I look forward to broaden my horizont. I have been stationary in Berlin for 12 years, The longer I stay in one place and do mostly the same things, the narrower my world feels. So: let's see what is out there in the world where I could be a little helpful and open my mind to new thoughts and possibilities.

Some more information

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  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  a little hay fever (mostly grass) and a tiny little bit against cats - they shouldn't sleep on my pillow.

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  Special dietary requirements
  I am not a strict vegetarian but it would be nice to be able to not eat much meat.