Romain & Shana

France
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UPDATE : WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO HELP ANYMORE

Hello,

We are Shana and Romain, we are 27 and 28 yo French and currently traveling in Canada.
We are interested to help with animals, horses, garden, cooking, or in another way so don't hesitate to send us a message, it's always a pleasure to answer you :)

About us, we both use to work in Human Resources in France. Shana is also an equine and wedding photographer.
We have a (very strong) passion for animals, particularly dogs and horses. We love sports and love to stay active.

I (Shana) started to ride horses when I was 6 years old and I studied the management of horse stable during 3 years. I have had many experiences in different stables (showjumping, dressage, eventing, polo where I rode 1 horse and had 4 on lead at the same time, horse riding tour guide), in France and in Australia.
I also have experienced with petsitting. I have a driving license for driving cars and trailers.
I was Au Pair in Australia for 5 months and I did a lot of babysitting on my time off so it's completely fine to work with kids.

I (Romain) love going with Shana when she ride horses and help to take care of her horse. I discovered a real passion for horses so I started to ride horses a year ago to learn as much as I could. I really want to improve myself with them and I'm very curious to learn new things, with horses or not. I'm strong so I can help with building works.
I grew up with dogs and cats so I'm familiar with them, i also do petsitting. I have a driving license for driving cars.
I love cooking so if you need help with it, I'm the one you need !

We are both curious, helpful, we have a lot of humour and we are always happy ! We are non-smoker people.

If you think we could be perfect to help you, let us now ! :)
Interests
Astronomy
Hiking
Videography
Van life
Team sports
Outdoor activities
Nature
Pets
Photography
Music
Movies & TV
Gardening
Fitness
Farming
DIY & crafts
Events & social
Cooking & food
Beach
Animals
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
French: Fluent
Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn
We're interested in:
DIY and building projects
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
Babysitting and creative play
Able to teach about:
Animal Care
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
More details about your skills
Shana :
- horse rider
- petsitting
- cooking sweet things
- babysitting

Romain :
- help for building works
- petsitting
- gardening
- cooking salty things
Age
27 & 28
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements
  No

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31 May 2025

Left by Workawayer () for host (Country life living close to ...)

We would like to alert future travelers about this experience that was supposed to take place in May and June 2025. Cornel & Patti had accepted us for two months.

Everything started well — we were warmly welcomed. We worked weekday mornings from Monday to Friday, which left us time for our personal and professional projects in the afternoons. We… read more also worked on a Sunday morning to pick up trash in the nearby streets with the neighbors, a Saturday afternoon to prepare dinner upon their request, and another afternoon.

Cornel gave us to-do lists for the work we had to do. He had mentioned that it would be good to do as much as possible in May to enjoy the nicer weather in June for horseback riding — which sounded like a great idea!

Our tasks included: removing rocks, twigs, pinecones, and leaves from the grass; pulling weeds; filling holes in the grass and seeding grass; cleaning the garage and windows; installing fences around trees; removing old fences and posts; grooming the horses; help for cooking — and we got to ride three times. These weren’t the most exciting tasks for us, since we came mainly to learn new things, as discussed in the beginning, but we still completed them with motivation.

After two weeks, Cornel told us we had to leave before June 1st because their plans had changed and they were going on vacation with their grandchildren (even though school in Alberta runs until the end of June #redacted#). He made it clear that it wasn’t our fault, that we were doing a good job, and that the only reason was to spend time with their grandkids.

It was a stressful blow, but we didn’t say anything and remained as understanding as possible. We kept smile and stayed motivated, even though finding another Workaway within 15 days at this time of year is very difficult. At any moment they wanted to help us or even showed interest to know if we found something else. They simply didn’t care, even though the situation was entirely caused by them.

One of us was often criticized by Cornel. Since English isn’t our first language, some technical terms are hard to understand. This happened mostly with the horses, and at times, Cornel would sigh in frustration. I had clearly written on my profile that I had started horseback riding just a year ago and wanted to learn more — something that was clearly not considered in his expectations or reactions. But I stayed quiet, thinking it was just his personality and not to take it personally.

We had sensed something was wrong for a few days,#redacted# Cornel was always quite reserved and cold, not very interested in our lives or very communicative, so we didn’t notice a big change with him. But his wife, who had been cheerful and kind at first, suddenly became cold and distant in the last few days. She spoke sharply and gave us dark looks. I remember going into the kitchen like I did almost every day to offer help, and her response was so cold that I just went back to my room. It was nothing like the person we had first met.

We also got unfriendly comments or looks when we took things from the fridge, even though at the beginning they had told us everything was available to us unless specifically labeled for certain recipes. They often talked about the previous workawayers they had like « these one ate too much bread, they drunk too much orange juice »..

On Friday, May 23rd at 8:30 a.m., just as we were about to start work, they asked us to leave the house, claiming that, in their opinion, we weren’t having fun while working. Ironically, it was during these last few days that we had started to enjoy ourselves — we had access to tools like a weed trimmer and sander, and were supposed to do some painting that day, something we were really looking forward to!

We have no idea why they thought that, and honestly, we believe they just wanted to give an excuse to get rid of us without feeling guilty, after asking us to do uninteresting tasks. We were extremely disappointed. If there had been a real issue, asking us to leave without even having a conversation was immature. We expect people their age to be able to communicate and taking responsibility for their choices #redacted#. Those are values we don’t share.

Travelers, be cautious. This is exactly the kind of situation every Workawayer dreads, and yet, it can happen to anyone. Unfortunately, being motivated, dedicated, and sociable isn’t always enough to feel safe.

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