Elisabeth

Travel information

I am currently

Activities i am interested in:

My interests: taking care of children and playing with them, participating in household and gardening tasks, feeding animals and cleaning their place, or being a helper in construction work.

Description

My name is Elisabeth and I live in a beautiful rural and green village behind a dike in the Ooijpolder in The Netherlands. As a senior person and mother I have a life-long experience in taking care of children, keeping my home clean and organized, cooking, baking and making preserves and spreads. I am a handy woman (painting, repairing all kinds of items) and a gardener in my own household, but also occasionally for others. Before retirement, I was a scientist-biology teacher working with young persons in an international research facility. There, a pragmatic input, inventiveness, good communication skills, flexibility and out of the box thinking were needed.

My current occupations are diverse. Two days a week, I do construction work (e.g. claying walls, sanding surfaces, painting) at my daughter and son in law' s place and I also bring all workers healthy food that I cook at home from fresh ingredients, no waste. During three years, I have been a volunteer playing with children in a shelter for refugees and doing crafts with the kids. Another EXCELLENT experience has been to stay in Northern Iceland and on the Lofoten as a workawayer in two families with young children (see references). Thus, I am accustomed to accompany kids who are full of energy, without having a common language. Currently, I am adapting playing and educational material for the needs of blind or visually impaired children. Besides, once a week I go touring with elderly people of a nursing home, using a two-seats tricycle and I am contact person for a friend who has Alzheimer disease. And last, I have been teaching Dutch (and earlier French) online. Perhaps good to mention, I have been a host myself for Ukrainian refugees and a Chinese student, all rewarding exchanges on the human level.

Sharing quality time with my friends and family, breathing nature, or visiting a museum, is a major joy, but I can also stay happily alone. Of course, duties in my own household require attention, especially the big garden. Creative sewing has become a hobby. And then, I love being outdoors (biking is my main mean of transportation, as I have no car), and I also do fitness exercises, to help me keep good strength...
I would describe my personality as stable (in good mood), patient and flexible, just happy to enjoy simple things, open for new experiences and discoveries and willing to listen to others and adapt to the world of children.

Rather than being a tourist, I would prefer to discover your country and culture under your advise, as a helping guest, preferably in a family with children living in an Arctic region, for a period of 4-6 weeks, during the dark and cold winter months. I could take care of your (grand)children, help with the household work, like cooking (vegetarian, fish, meat or special diets), getting things organized in house or outside, cleaning and doing laundry, but I am also very willing to care for animals or do other maintenance tasks. Depending on your wishes I could follow your specific instructions or I could operate more or less autonomously, taking initiatives. Though I am not an appropriate guest for the most heavy duties, I am a hard worker, still strong for my age, being accustomed to lead an active live and doing regularly physical labour.

French is my mother tongue, but Dutch became my first language, since I moved to The Netherlands as a child. English has always been my main professional language. I am also more or less fluent in German, and I speak reasonably well Italian, as I have lived in Italy for some years. I am certainly interested to learn new words of my hosts' language.

Hoping for a happy match with a family!
Kind regards,
Elisabeth (Liesbeth or Piertje as nicknames)

Interests

Self development

Photography

Music

Art & design

Fitness

Performing arts

Movies & TV

Camping

Cycling

Outdoor activities

Vegetarian or vegan

Pets

Languages

Animals

Cooking & food

Gardening

Plant care

Sustainability

Nature

Farming

DIY & crafts

Culture

Charity work

Astronomy

Languages

Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Dutch: Fluent
Italian: Intermediate
Russian: Beginner

More details about my language interests
I am interested to learn a bit of Icelandic, Faroese or Norwegian from the host family, especially if children are involved

Find a language buddy

Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn

I'm interested in:  

Being an elderly companion

Teaching

Gardening

DIY and building projects

Animal Care

Life at a Farmstay

Babysitting and creative play

Creating/ Cooking family meals

Helping around the house

Hospitality/Tourism

General Maintenance

Eco Projects

Art Projects

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Some knowledge of:  

Helping with Computers/ Internet

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Able to teach about:  

Charity Work

Languages

More details about your skills

My skills are diverse, as a mother and currently as a childcare volunteer, but also as a person with a life experience in running a household (i.e. cleaning, doing laundry and ironing, cooking, gardening) and doing myself most repair and decoration work in or around the house (i.e., sanding, painting, glueing paper wall, drilling, sawing, laying floors, making curtains and more). But I still have to learn! As a (retired) scientist and teacher, and nowadays, as a social worker, I am familiar to interact with people of various ages and backgrounds, including (vulnerable) children and care-requiring elder persons. I have received governmental approvals that allow me to work with these people. Besides, I recently completed an extended first-aid course. I love doing crafts, creative sewing and special cooking (preparing preserved fruits and spreads as gifts) and I speak several languages (have lived in several countries) and am still a student.

Age

71

What else ...

I would like to express my sympathy to the people of Grindavík who are currently going through a hard time (Nov 15).🌷

Some more information

• 

  Smoker

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  Driver's licence

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  Allergies
  No

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  Special dietary requirements
  As a guest I eat everything, also meat, yet when on my own I am vegetarian, but eat fish. I can cook a broad variety of meals, including food with meat if hosts wish so.