From: Netherlands
Couple account
Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Micronesia, Federated States of, Solomon Islands
13/09/2017 - 31/12/2021
We are a couple that has started a trip around the world in September, 2017. Starting in the Balkan countries, we travelled all over Asia until a year ago we ended up in New Zealand. We are both very Dutch, but having been around a bit we can defenitely adapt to other cultures and values.
In the meantime, as we both love to gain new experiences, we loved participating on WorkAway and had great experiences so far. Originally, Juda is an engineer and he loves to read books, have a conversation about politics, philosophy, etc (basically any topic) and is a big movie fan. Tineke studied International Business and Languages and worked as a project manager. She likes to spend her time cooking, making travel journals and being creative and is, thanks to our first WorkAway colleague, a big yoga fan.
Gardening
Building
Babysitting / child care
General Maintenance
Cooking / shopping
Farmstay
Other
Help with Eco project
Help in the house
Animal care
Helping with Tourists
Charity work
Language practice
Art project
Help with Computers / internet
Teaching
We are both quite easy going regarding tasks and chores and don't really mind what to help with, as long as it is in line with the ticked boxes in our 'Type of Help' section. So far we have done nine completely different WorkAway's.
- Thailand, resort:
Juda: he worked as a carpenter and did several things such as fixing and making hammocks, repairing docks and bungalows and painting terraces.
Tineke: she worked behind the reception for a few days, assisted the bartender, painted terraces and decorated bungalows with drawings.
- Japan, renovated guesthouse:
Juda: we had a great time at a soon-to-be guesthouse in Hadano were we helped renovating an old Japanese house. Juda laid some wooden floors, made a new library corner with plywood, painted it and made a drift-wood bookshelf, and helped in the garden.
Tineke: she assisted Juda with the wooden floor and plywood library, then cleaned and painted the corner, build a structure and permaculture soil for the new garden. She also knotted several planthangers with macrame knots that serve as decoration.
- Japan, pension:
Juda and Tineke: we helped every morning for a few hours with cleaning and preparing the rooms for the new guests. During busy weekend and week day's we assisted with breakfast and dinner service for a few hours.
- Korea, strawberry farm cq english experience:
Juda and Tineke: we both did similar tasks and helped teaching and entertaining little kids with pizza making. In the meantime, we tried to have little chats with the young kids about ingredients and showing them where food comes from. This way they were exposed to English in a very motivational learning environment, having so many (up to 15 WorkAwayers) English speakers around them.
- Egypt, housesitting:
Juda and Tineke: housesitting speaks for itself :)
- Sri Lanka, hostel management:
Juda and Tineke: we immediately felt a connection with the owner and the work to do, so we kind of took over the place instantly. So the owner could do his online work all day without worrying about anything. The work involved guest relations, communications with local people, cleaning, managing and planning Booking/Hostelworld/AirBnB etc., decorating, creating and planning hostel events, beach cleanup and much more.
Some reviews on booking regarding us as volunteers:
" This is a classic hostel, it is an awesome location right on the beach, the staff were without doubt the coolest cats and keen to have a chat and make you feel relaxed, not just like a visitor flying through, which is hard to do I have NO doubt! It was a fun, social and chilled out place."
" Really enjoyed my stay!!! Douglas and the volunteers go above and beyond to make you feel at home."
- India, hostel
Juda and Tineke: guestrelations and front desk.
- India, upcoming guesthouse
Juda: during one months many tasks have been done such as building walls with natural stones, painting, deconstructing houses and domes and many hours of metalwork to make picknick tables in combination with some welding.
Tineke: she has been busy with macrame wall-hangings and lamps, assisted with plumbing and electricity work, lots of digging and carrying up cement and bricks in traditional baskets, deconstructing houses, kitchen work and making ashtrays from coconut shells.
- New Zealand, beekeeping and gardening
Juda: for one month he helped with gardening, building a trellis and clearing the jungle tracks in the native bush.
Tineke: helped with beekeeping, gardening, cooking and painted a mural.
- Hopefully we can add our next awesome experience here! Please don't hesitate to contact us :)
English, Dutch, German, Spanish
27 & 29
Dutch
There is not much else. We don't have our trip fixed yet, so if you have an interesting offer please don't hesitate to contact us as we are flexible and always open for new things. Can't wait to meet you!
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
No
Special dietary requirements
No
