Randy
& Tana

United States
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Profile information

Travel information
We are currently
At home
Activities we are interested in:
We are interested in activities that have a strong cultural exchange. We want to meet new people and learn from them. We are also interested in the Mediterranean diet and healthy lifestyle.
Description
Our biggest motivation in life is family. We have 4 adult children and 14 grandchildren. Spending time with them, and making memories together brings us more happiness than anything else. After that, we love seeing new places and meeting new people, which is why we believe workaway is a great idea for us.
Randy recently retired as a university professor in public health and international development. He created 26 programs for hundreds of students to intern in 19 different countries. We are in the process of starting up a company to lead small groups of adults to the Mediterranean region to experience the Mediterranean diet, lifestyle, and olive oil cultivation and production. We are currently looking for some experiences to live locally in the Mediterranean region where we can enjoy cultural exchanges, meet new people and learn deeply from them.
Interests
Movies & TV
Hiking
Gardening
Yoga / Wellness
Charity work
Videography
Writing
Self development
Photography
Languages
Fitness
History
Culture
Books
Blogging
Cooking & food
Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Spanish: Intermediate
Italian: Beginner
More details about my language interests
We are beginners at learning Italian and motivated to learn more. We are also interested in teaching English to those interested in practicing and learning more English. Tana speaks conversational Spanish, having lived in Central America for 18 months. Randy reads Spanish well and has focused on learning Italian this past year.
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Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn
We're interested in:
Charity Work
Gardening
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
General Maintenance
House sitting
Some knowledge of:
Hospitality/Tourism
Helping with Computers/ Internet
Able to teach about:
Languages
Teaching
More details about your skills
Tana is a natural organizer and teacher, having expertise in mental health education, home maintenance/upkeep, and helping people write their life stories and family history. Randy has experience in program development, promotion, writing, teaching with technology, photography and video making. We both have excellent "soft" business skills and greatly enjoy getting to know people and their stories. We have done some gardening and are eager to learn more in this area. We are happy to work at whatever is needed, as long as it doesn't exceed our physical capacity.
Age
70 & 70
What else ...
We don't drink alcohol
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements
  We like to eat a healthy diet

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28 Jun 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Help our happy family in the ...)

This spring we had a marvelous experience as workawayers in Mestrino with Lucia, Agostino, Andrea, Alessandro, Alice, and Arianna. For us, it was our very first workaway experience and we couldn’t have selected a better experience than staying with Lucia and her family. They were immensely welcoming and warm. We had the privilege of being a part… read more of their family for two wonderful weeks and joining them in family activities and daily routines. We were able to help in the kitchen and with other household duties and taking the children to their various sports, music, and school activities. It was a fantastic experience to be in a real Italian home and witness how caring Lucia and Agostino are in caring and guiding their children. The responsibilities and work that we did was enjoyable, clearly explained, and easily accomplished. They always expressed their appreciation for the help that we were able to provide. We felt like we part of the family, much like when we visit our own children and grandchildren. The room (and private bath) was very comfortable and clean. Mestrino is located in the beautiful Venito region and a delightful small town, which is easily accessible to and from Venice, Padova, Vicenzia, Verona, and other great places to visit. Lucia and Agostino offered very helpful insights on where to visit during our free time. We were lucky to be with them during a local festival (with Arianna participating in the parade) and during a local fun walk through the countryside, where we enjoyed participating with the family, including Mollie the family dog. A major highlight was eating the food that Lucia prepared. She is a very skilled cook and she made for us several Italian delights. We learned much about Italian cooking and the food in Italy through our discussions and tasting of the many dishes that she treated us with. It was also fun to practice a little of Italian with her. I really enjoyed listening to the family interact with each other and to try to pick up what they were saying with my beginning level of Italian. Lucia taught me important/common expressions, new terminology, and was patient when I tried to put together sentences in Italian to practice what I was learning. Her English is very, very good and she took advantage of us being there to improve her English and often asked us about phrases and words for her personal improvement. It was an enjoyable cultural exchange for us. We were very impressed by the positive steps that Lucia and Agostino are taking to raise their children to be happy and well-developed individuals. In all, an exceptional workaway experience!

(Excellent )

17 Jun 2025

Left by host (Help our happy family in the ...) for Workawayer ()

Randy and Tana stayed with us for 2 weeks in May-June 2025. It was the first time we hosted senior workawayers but I must say that their incredible dynamism and surprising vitality, combined with the desire to be useful to the family and the curiosity towards foods and family traditions proposed made them perform as well as and more than many… read more

(Excellent )