Dejan

From: Croatia

Account Type
Individual account
Travelling to
France
Travel dates
10/08/2020 - 02/05/2021
Badges

My status
Travelling
Description
Hi there 🙂
My name is Dejan and I have been living in Croatia for my whole life. But in the summer 2019, I've decided to change that and to turn new page in my life. And Workaway was a great platform to start up. Probably you are asking yourself: "But why did he want to start new life?"... No worries, I will tell you that right now... so, short version is:
After I graduated Mathematics and Informatics at University of Rijeka, I've immediately started to work in the same institution as an assistant in mathematics. And I was working there for 10 years, till July 2019, when my contract expired and I didn't want to extend it. Now you' re probably asking yourself "But why didn't he extend his contract?"... Well, to be honest, I had everything what I need in Croatia - good job, finance, friends and a lot of free time. So I traveled a lot, in the beginning very conventional and later I've started adventurous journeys like hitchhiking and long cycling trips which I like the most. I like to be connected with local people so I used CouchSurfing and WarmShowers and met supercool people. But in the past few years something changed: I realized that static way of living doesn't satisfy me anymore and that I have to make the biggest change in my life: to leave the comfort zone and to live dynamic life not to be connected with one location. So what does it mean in practice? Using WorkAway, I live and work in one country for some period of time, see how the locals live and learn about the country and culture from the local perspective. Then move to other country and so on. My rough plan for 2020. is to explore beautiful France. Wait, I didn't tell you the best part: I am not going alone. My best mate, my dog Vučka is traveling with me.
It wasn't so short story, isn't it? :)
About my dog Vučka:
Vučka(means Woolfy) is 7 years old medium size dog (there are few pictures here). I took her and little Charlie from the shelter 3 years ago. Charlie is with my mum and Vučka is with me. She is very friendly, smart and loyal. She goes with me everywhere - walking, hiking, shopping, meeting my friends in the pub etc. She lives with me in the flat, she is very quiet, listens to me and behaves very well in the flat. She is clean and doesn't have any smell. She doesn't have any problems with other dogs but she likes humans more. I have a lot of friends but she is my best one.
And a few lines of my personality:
I am very friendly, communicative and have a lot of energy. Always open to meet new people and make new friendships. I like deep conversations and discussions. I am very curious about almost everything so I ask a lot of questions. I love nature and I enjoy spending my time doing outdoor activities - walking, hiking and cycling.
Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Life at a Farmstay
Eco Projects
Animal Care
Charity Work
Language practice
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
General Maintenance
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Helping around the house
Helping with Computers/ Internet
More details about your skills
- Teaching - for the past 10 years I was teaching math and programming in University.
- Bike repair and maintenance - Cycling is my favorite sport and in 2016. and 2017. I made two cycling journeys. First was from my hometown to Tallinn(Estonia) and second was from Atlantic coastline in France to the Black sea. So before those journeys, I learned some intermediate bike repair methods and maintenance.
- basic IT knowledge - I am more into programming but I will do my best if you need any help regarding computer hardware or software
- Cooking - I love it but I've never cooked for many people. Hope to learn more tips and tricks from various cultures.
- House maintenance - I think there is no male and female part of maintaining the house. Man should know and do all the things that was traditionally "women's job"
My previous workaway experience:
1) 05.08.2019. - 19.08.2019. ---> Volunteering in the hostel in National park Tara in Western Serbia.
2) 27.09.2019. - 05.10.2019. --> Cleaning and vacuuming the house in north Tuscany, near Florence.
3) 05.10.2019. - 25.11.2019. --> Harvesting the olives in south Tuscany
4) 27.11.2019. - 4.3.2020. --> Working in agritourism in beautiful Sicily (collecting the firewood, pruning carob trees, cutting the grass, making bread and cleaning and helping around B&B rooms)
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
Croatian: Fluent
Age
35
What else ...
I don't have so much practical knowledge and skills concerning manual work (building, working with various tools, gardening) but I am very excited to learn something new and hope to become more skilled after every Workaway experience.
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
- Special dietary requirements

Photos

Olive harvesting in Tuscany

My dear workaway friends & hosts

Show all photos

in France

Feedback

25/05/2020

Left by host (Experience country living in ...) for Workawayer (Dejan)

We have been hosting volunteers for over than 14 years and also being a B&B from 2001 many people have come by, stayed and left. We had many good experiences and memory to talk about it in our story, and Dean surely is one of these good experiences!
Is a very interesting person to get to know, never boring! He is independent, organize, flexible,… read more

(Excellent )

04/04/2020

Left by Workawayer (Dejan) for host for (Experience country living in ...)

Living, working and enjoying life at this beautiful place is the best Sicilian experience you can get. I've spent more then three months(December, January and February) with Andrea and Daria, isn't that enough proof of how amazing this place is? If you still have some doubts about coming there or not, I provide you some more proofs: The daily job… read more was mainly in carob field(pruning the trees, cutting the grass, collecting the firewood, ....) and sometimes in B&B. We never did the same job more then 3 days in a row so it's never boring. Andrea is very experienced in Workaway concept so he shows you and explains you everything with a lot of patience. He has excellent teaching skills so you will catch everything without any problem or stress. He was chef in a London for 5 years so you can imagine the variety and taste of the meals. Not to mention that I've learned dozens of new cooking tricks and recipes. Some of the most amusing experiences I had there include Christmas dinner with family and friends, organizing, preparing and enjoying New Year's Eve party with Andrea's friends, making barbecues on Fridays, making bread and pizza in the wood oven, making lemon and orange jams... Modica is famous for chocolate and one of his friends is working in pastry shop there. And sometimes he comes here to make chocolate so I helped him few times and saw the whole process from cocoa to chocolate. Before I thought it's a rocket science, but actually it's pretty simple. So that was wonderful and 'unique' experience. I met many of Andrea's friends and we had great time together on 'aperitivo' :) Although it was winter, there were other volunteers from time to time so overall I've met 9 amazing people who I was working with and had fun exploring Sicily. About the beauty of the island, just one sentence: I was traveling a lot in Europe but such a nature and wilderness I've never seen before.
Before my Sicilian adventure I didn't know anybody there. Now, I have few friends. Andrea is the best one. Daria is also special and warmhearted, I'll never forget her 'Good morning' no matter which part of the day it was :))
Sicily is magical island but without such a wonderful people, it wouldn't matter so much. To all the people I've met there and who made my stay exceptional: Thank you very very very very very much!
And to Andrea & Daria: Thank you to the sky, stay cool and positive and we'll see each other in the future! Ciao my friends :)

(Excellent )

19/12/2019

Left by host (Volunteer to help in the farm ...) for Workawayer (Dejan)

We had the great pleasure to welcome Dejan and his dog Vucka for 2 two months in our farm to work on our olive harvest. During his whole stay it was a perfect and cordial understanding. Dejan is a very friendly and sociable character and immediately integrated himself very well into the working group, respecting conscientiously the directives that… read more

(Excellent )

02/12/2019

Left by Workawayer (Dejan) for host for (Volunteer to help in the farm ...)

If we assume that we are grading from 1 to 100, I give them 100. I spent almost 2 months with this lovely family and I enjoyed every minute here. So, I've been here on October and November and I participated in the whole olive harvest. First we cleaned the fields and prepared it to put the nets and then 1 month of harvest. We've been to the olive… read more

(Excellent )

17/10/2019

Left by host (I am looking for help in ...) for Workawayer (Dejan)

Dejan carried out the required tasks with good will and care, and Vucka, his dog, was a quiet company for my old Gos. Short stay and sociable guest, even too much. I wish him more stimulating and challenging stays, suited to his energy.

(Very good )

09/10/2019

Left by Workawayer (Dejan) for host for (I am looking for help in ...)

Me and my dog have stayed with Carlo and Gos for one week. It was great experience in beautiful Tuscany. Carlo is very knowledgeable, intelligent and sincere person always open for interesting discussions. His dog Gos is so sweet and friendly and he likes people and other dogs. Carlo has some daily routines which I respect so I was exploring the… read more

(Excellent )

05/09/2019

Left by Workawayer (Dejan) for host for (Help at our Hostel & Hiking ...)

Volunteering in this hostel was my first Workaway experience and it was great. I spent there 2 weeks in August working with another volunteer Alex from England and a local girl Ena who was hostel's employee. All three of us were new there and we arrived in the same time so in the first few days we were catching things up and improvising but after… read more

(Excellent )

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