Ian
& Madeline

United States
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Travel information
We are currently
At home
Description
Greetings!

We are brand new to workaway and are absolutely excited to get to exploring and meeting new people.

To give you a little background on ourselves, we currently live in the California desert with our 3 cats, and have enjoyed a quiet yet beautiful life here for the past five years. Luckily every summer, when it starts getting hot in the desert, we get a chance to get away due to time off from Ian's job. We use it as a chance to explore areas of the American West that we have not yet visited. We spend much of our time during the summer investigating and exploring the unique and wonderful human communities that dot the landscape. Although traveling is wonderful, we still are quite the homebodies, and have worked hard to set down roots and become locals here in Joshua Tree. We spend a lot of time out with friends, supporting local events and organizations, and really just learning to love a place like the desert. While we currently live in a place that many people would find quite desolate, we actually met in Chicago, and have lived and thrived in the bustling city. We met working together at a coffee shop in the city and haven't looked back since. No matter where we are we make sure to enjoy the simple things. Like a good meal, an evening walk, just hanging with our cats, and exploring the natural spaces around our home.

We could go on, but it's probably best we say a bit about ourselves.

I'm Ian. I am a curious, adventurous, and hardworking, 33 year old, who loves to play games and enjoy the company of friends. I currently work as a Park Ranger at Joshua Tree National Park, where I specialize in environmental education and communication with the 3 million visitors we get a year. My favorite thing about the job is that I get to constantly be learning and exploring new subjects. I got into my current role through the field of education. I've worked as an elementary school teacher, at a zoo, a conservatory, and more. I will always be a child at heart. Maddie and I actually both met while working at a coffee shop that had an early childhood education spin on it, and we both absolutely love working with kids.

Hello there! I'm Maddie. I'm a 27 year old who is currently a social work student aiming to be a mental health professional in the coming years. Over years in a variety of lines of work, I have learned that being a patient listener and providing a safe place for others to be themselves are some of the most important things I can give to the world around me. That is a big part of what has lead me on my current path. Overall, I think I'm kind, have great attention to detail, and am always eager to learn. I love to lean into my artistic side and enjoy all forms of art, music, and creativity. For a few years now I have even ran my own small business producing and sellling silver jewlery I make. In my free time I love to enjoy a meal and drinks with my friends, spend time with our cats, and take care of my numerous houseplants. Overall, ensuring everyone (and every living thing) around me knows that I love them, is one of the most important things to me.

That's a little bit about each of us, but overall as a team we are extremely hardworking and driven. We have worked in multiple jobs together, and actually love each other even more because we know we can count one another while doing work. We have both spent time working in a variety of settings that have asked us to hold a high standard for ourselves and our work. This includes fields like education, hospitality/tourism, food service, and a bit of manual labor here and there. We are never ones to say we can't help with something, and instead jump at the opportunity to try something new. We are excited to lend our skills to whatever projects and tasks we may encounter with WorkAway.
Interests
Winter sports
Team sports
LGBTQ
Adventure sports
Architecture
Animals
Art & design
Beach
Cooking & food
Charity work
Camping
Books
Culture
DIY & crafts
Drawing & painting
Events & social
Hiking
History
Music
Movies & TV

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Languages
Languages spoken
English: Fluent
German: Beginner
More details about my language interests
We are interested in practicing, learning, and experiencing almost any language. We are also both more than happy to help teach English to anyone interested. We both have taught the English language at multiple levels, from toddlers to grade school.
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Skills and knowledge we'd like to share or learn
We're interested in:
DIY and building projects
General Maintenance
Eco Projects
Some knowledge of:
Gardening
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Animal Care
Charity Work
Art Projects
Able to teach about:
Babysitting and creative play
Helping around the house
Hospitality/Tourism
Teaching
More details about your skills
Ian:
- Public speaking
- Outdoor recreation specialist (hiking, climbing, kayaking/canoeing, fishing, birding, etc.)
- Ecological knowledge and environmental science skills
- Teaching/education
- Technological/computer skills and problemsolving
- Non-profit managment and public affairs
- Basic carpentry and maintenance
- Bartending and cooking
- Reading and writing

Maddie:
- Childcare
- Plantcare and gardening
- Creative design and digital artisty
- Food service managment and cleanliness
- Household managment
- Reading and writing
- Conflict managment
Age
34 & 28
What else ...
We are both extremely passionate about social justice issues, building strong mutual aid networks in communities, and fighting against systematic oppression. These all play a big role in how we interact with the world and try to find our role in it.
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
  No
- Special dietary requirements
  None

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9 Aug 2023

Left by Workawayer (Ian & Madeline) for host (Beautiful enclosed vineyard ...)

We stayed for from 7/10/23 - 7/21/23 on the winery with Paul and Willeke, and had an absolutely wonderful stay. We absolutely cherished the flexibility and confidence they gave us to do what we needed for our hours and work and just trusted us to do what was asked of us on our own timeframe. The communication of what we'd be doing and how the… read more whole stay would work was very clear and Paul was super easy to communicate with. We even ran into issues with our start date once we arrived in the country and Paul was very flexible about letting us show up a day later. Paul was the perfect amount of welcoming, yet also gave us the privacy to relax and explore on our own. His wife Willeke was often working and busy most days but was still very polite and friendly. We really appreciated how good they both were at keeping the balance of helpful yet not overbearing. We had a few meals together over the course of the two weeks, but it was always planned in advanced and were always delicous. We really didn't need or want to do this too often as we spent alot of our time trying exploring other foods and meals in the area. When we did get to relax and talk with them, they were very friendly, thoughtful, and helped us get a grasp of the history and culture of the area. Paul is well traveled and is very knowledgable about lots of interesting things.

The work itself was very straightforward work in the forest garden, since there wasn't much to do with the winery itself. Paul gave us all the tools we needed, a good idea of what he wanted us to try and get done, and let us at it. What was great was the flexibility of when we could work the hours. We would sometimes start nice and early or sleep in and do them in the afternoon. As long as we worked our hours, it was okay with Paul. This allowed us a lot of freedom in our time off. The work we did was hardwork for some, but as people who don't get to do it often, we really appreciated the chance to get dirty and use our hands and bodies. Let it be said that Paul was very clear about all of this ahead of time and once we got there. There were no surprises, and that is very important.

The accomodation itself was splendid and we were not expecting such a nice set up for ourselves. The room we slept in had a shower, sink, and comfy bed with a good window for airflow. We really appreciated being able to take a good nap and listen to the rainfall a few times after working hard. The bathrooms were shared during the day with people coming to Willeke's home office, but we never once ran into any issues with that. We really enjoyed the set up for the kitchen the most. It was a renovated trailer overlooking the vinyard, and had a little fridge that they so kindly stocked with extra food for us, plus a nice little coffee marker, and all the necessary kitchen things. During the day we sometimes shared this space with other people helping at the winery, which was very easy. But really cherished having coffee in the morning and a drink at the end of the day overlooking the grapes. There was also some very comfy covered seating they use for events that they let us use. It was a perfect spot for relaxing and reading. They had a little bit of wine and beer stocked that they let us have some of and we greatly appreciated that after a day of work.

On top of that, we found that the location was very easy to get too and from using public transportation, while also being in a nice quite town with beautiful surroundings. This area of Brabant was really quite beautiful and had lots of great underrated opportunities for hiking, walking, and enjoying nature. We wish we would have taken more time to explore Border Park Kalmthoutse Heide, which had trails starting a 15 minute walk away. We were also easily able to walk into town about 10-15 minutes to get groceries or go have a beer at a town pub. One of the meals we cooked we needed to grab something at a bigger grocery store and it was only a 20 minute bus ride to the town over. One afternoon we took the bus to the train and about an hour and a half to the coast to hang out for the afternoon after working our hours, and on the weekend we easily took two buses into Antwerp for two nights away. We really think this location was great if you are willing to use a little bit of public transport for exploring.

Overall, it was better than we could have hoped and it was hard to leave. We are back home in the heat of the desert and miss it a lot. Thank you Paul and Willeke for everything, and cheers to a great stay. We wish you further success with the winery!

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