From: Spain
Individual account
Australia, New Zealand
01/10/2017 - 01/09/2018
713
Travelling
Hello everyone!
This is Ivan, a Spanish traveler, thinker, writer... born in Barcelona already 35 years ago! Yes, Barcelona is a lovely city, but I haven’t been there for a while now. I’ve been studying and living in London for the last 5 years (also a fantastic city), as well as traveling and meeting up with people all around the world through different travels.
Why am I here?
I have decided to make a change in the way I travel. I’m grown tired of visiting countries, taking pictures and leaping from one place to another without really dipping into the real society for enough time to really understand the place where I am in.
I’ve never really been a great fan of visiting touristy places and capturing anxiously everything through my camera. The best experiences I’ve lived were always away from the ‘hot spots’. They took place finding casual people, anywhere really, and establishing a real human contact with them. Only then I really had the chance to meet the real population, the culture and the country I was visiting. And with that, understanding, learning and growing came together.
This is what I intend to do from now on. I intend to take a deep breath and let myself be led to new adventures by taking an active part of other people’s lives, by helping in other people’s projects and learning from them, with them. That is my purpose. And I’m really looking forward to it.
(I don’t have any Workaway experience yet, but I do have lots of Couchsurfing experience. You can read what people say about me here (if you have a CS profile): https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/iandrade.)
What do I do?
I am quite an eclectic person, I guess:
First of all, I am a Somatic Trainer, which is, like, a teacher for the body. I teach people (individually, and also in group sessions) to develop their body awareness in order to live a healthier and happier life (more info in the TEACHING section).
I also do some artistic work as a theatre practitioner and writer. In the last few years, I’ve basically spent my time traveling, participating of different artistic residencies around the world as a writer, and producing a few theatre shows in Barcelona, London, and Paris. For my artistic work, you can have a look at my company’s website: www.theamateurscompany.com.
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
Creating/ Cooking family meals
General Maintenance
Life at a Farmstay
Eco Projects
Helping around the house
Animal Care
Hospitality/Tourism
Language practice
Art Projects
Helping with Computers/ Internet
Teaching
How can I help you? (I’ve organized this in a way that you can go directly to whatever interests you most):
TEACHING (Body Awareness)
I am a Somatic Trainer & Qualified Grinberg Method Practitioner by the International School of the Grinberg Method (Switzerland). I can do several things with that:
Group Sessions: I can teach group lessons to learn people to relax their body, become more silent in the mind, breathe properly, deal with stress, and basically establish a closer and more intimate relationship with their own body with the intention of having a deeper understanding of oneself (and all the processes we go through every day in our lives).
Individual Sessions: I can offer individual sessions with the same intention described above, but now more focused on specific problems, like tension, chronic pain or anxiety. How do I do that? By teaching you to focus your attention in your body you can actually start being in control of many conditions that now ‘just happen’. You are your body. Your body is you. That means that everything that happens there, somehow is happening under your control. The problem usually is that you don’t know how to control your tension, your pain, your stress (which doesn’t mean you can’t control it — you just don’t know how). You need to develop your body attention and control, a proper breathing, how to let go off your body, relax… and many of these problems will start becoming under your control.
Meditation in Movement: This is a great class that I’ve been developing in the last years (mostly training and directing actors, dancers and singers), which I’ve found most useful and fun for all kinds of people. It draws on classical meditation (where attention to the body is key) but adds music to create a meditation in movement, where the body awareness arises not from stillness (like in classical meditation) but from attention through movement. Really worth trying!
TEACHING (LANGUAGES)
I can teach Spanish or Catalan (my two mother tongues).
I can also teach English (despite not being a native English speaker, I hold a Master Degree in Creative Writing by the Royal Holloway University of London — thus, my level of English is good enough unless you want to learn academic English or you are a native speaker yourself).
I have more than 8 years of experience teaching general English and Business English in Spain. I have also worked as a translator and interpreter for many British and American writers in Spain.
HELP WITH COMPUTERS/INTERNET:
I’m pretty good with computers and Internet, although I’m not a professional. I can mostly devise content and do basic chores. I cannot design a website from scratch (I know how to use Wordpress templates). And I know how to use basic social network tools for communication and marketing (Adwords, etc).
ART PROJECT:
I’ve produced and directed four plays in Barcelona and London (one of them for a very big venue, another of them got a nomination for Best Musical Show in a large festival in the UK).
I’ve got good experience thinking and developing projects in different contexts. I have also applied for lots of things (from funding for these theatrical productions to applications for artist residencies, etc).
HELPING WITH TOURISTS:
I speak Spanish, Catalan, English, and French fluently. I also know basic Portuguese and Italian (which are all very close to Spanish).
I can definitely help with tourists. I’ve worked temporarily in hospitality in London several times in three different restaurants, both on the floor and in the kitchen. I know the standards (British standards are quite high) of dealing with clients and problem-solving.
ANIMAL CARE/FARMING:
I do love animals. But I do not have any farming experience. However, I would totally love to gain some.
HELP IN THE HOUSE/BABYSITTING:
During my Master Degree in London, I lived and worked as a babysitter for a family with two adorable young boys. The basic deal was they provided me with accommodation and food and in return, I looked after their kids for a few hours a day and did some house chores, as well as cooking. The experience was amazing and we were all very sad when my Master Degree finished and I had to live to continue with other artistic projects. To me, they are today like my English family and we really settled like that.
I do love kids and we usually get along amazingly well (as long as they are not crazily misbehaved).
COOKING/SHOPPING:
Oh, this is a strong point. I’m a pretty decent cook. My father was a professional cook. He never ever taught me anything and he would kick me out of the kitchen as soon as I peeked in and asked ‘what are you doing, dad?’. But somehow… magic worked. I got it in my genes, maybe. I am quite an outstanding cook. I love food and I love cooking (I do have some professional experience in three London restaurants).
I can cook lots of Spanish dishes, Italian dishes, and even some Indian and Japanese food. (Eager to learn to cook some Thai food in my next trip to Thailand.)
HELP WITH ECO PROJECT:
Part of my trip deals with getting more in touch with Nature, learning more from and about it, as well as learning about other ways of living beyond the thriving-capitalist-endlessly-growing-model.
I do not like the way societies are developing in the ‘modern developed world’ and part of my artistic and personal interest is to explore areas of the world where people can subsist away from this model. Thus, I am interested in permaculture and other types of communities.
At the present moment, I have no experience working with eco-projects. But I’m very willing to participate and learn about this.
GENERAL MAINTENANCE/BUILDING/GARDENING:
As I just mentioned… I’m not a very experienced handyman. Only occasionally I’ve participated in some building work in art projects and I’ve enjoyed it very much. This is a field where I would like to gain some experience.
The same goes for gardening. I only have basic experience but I am willing to learn and gain more!
Catalan: Fluent
English: Fluent
Spanish: Fluent
French: Fluent
Italian: Fluent
38
Spanish
What else can I say?
This is a beautiful moment for me. I've decided to leave everything behind and explore the world, explore new places and spend time with new people... I don't have a very structured plan. I only have some artistic commitments scattered here and there in the next two years... but my priority is just to make the best use of the time I am given and make friends all around the world. And I think Workaway is going to be a great ally to help me with this purpose.
Smoker
Driver's licence
Allergies
Special dietary requirements
Dairy intollerant
