Robert

Germany
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Profile information

Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
My next destination:
United States - from Mar 2024 until Apr 2024
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Description
My name is Robert, 36 years old from Germany. I love traveling, the sea, nature. I'd love to live simpler and off the grid for a while. I am easy going, polite, very tidy, non-smoker, open minded. No matter what work there is to do I am eager to learn everything. Usually I work in IT, but I feel the need to connect more with nature, get a clear and calm mind and therefor looking to do something different to computer work.

I worked on several workaway (or similar) projects before in different countries. Including caring for Huskies, Ponys, general farm work, working with refugees, hostel business etc.

My next main project will be travelling the Panamerican Highway with my girlfriend Zita (31, teacher) and we'd love to meet interesting people along the way, learning about different ways of life and hoping to contribute to valuable projects.

Hobbies: reading, motorbike, diving, watching movies, fpv quadcopter, photography and video
Interests
Adventure sports
Animals
Architecture
Art & design
Carpentry
Beach
Water sports
Videography
Van life
Technology
Sustainability
Self development
Sailing / Boating
Plant care
Photography
Pets
Outdoor activities
Nature
Movies & TV
Mountain

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Languages
Languages spoken
German: Fluent
English: Fluent
French: Beginner
More details about my language interests
I'd like to learn Spanish and I can teach German and English.
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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Gardening
DIY and building projects
Babysitting and creative play
General Maintenance
Eco Projects
Charity Work
Art Projects
Some knowledge of:
Creating/ Cooking family meals
Life at a Farmstay
Helping around the house
Animal Care
Languages
Teaching
Able to teach about:
Hospitality/Tourism
Helping with Computers/ Internet
More details about your skills
computers: fixing, installing, administrating (I'm professional IT)
video editing (I created my own drone video business)
hostel/lodge: reception, cleaning, cooking, waiting
basic building
cleaning, feeding and caring for animals
driving car and boat
teaching english, mathematics etc
Age
36
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
  grass pollen, but I have medication.
- Special dietary requirements

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10 Dec 2019

Left by Workawayer (Robert) for host (Come and help care for a ...)

After almost 2 month volunteering in October and November I want to give an honest review and adjust the expactations of you future volunteers. For me it was a good place to volunteer after I quit my IT job, but there were also frustrating bits.

Positive:
- the island: It is very greek, beautiful landscape, rural lifestyle, pretty village, few… read more tourists, absolutey safe (you can see keys left inside scooters and doors)
- the farm: horses, dogs, cats, chicken live in harmony. I could sit in front of the volunteers room all day and watch the animals. Close to a beach and a taverna, some nice walks nearby (need to hitchhike to get to other places on the island)
- the horses: incredible gentle and beautiful ponys
- the food: mostly vegetarian, very healthy, tasty and fresh lunch. Basic muesli, toast and cheese provided for breakfast and dinner.
- the fellow volunteers: it seems to me Amanda takes great care of who she accepts, most workawayers I met during my time were very mature, had an open world view and were a great company overall

Neutral:
- the volunteers room: If you read everything carefully, and remember it is a farm, then you know it is "basic". Yes there is a toilet, shower with hot water (no curtain or shower head holder), electricity, 4G mobile network. No there is no Wi-Fi, it is not clean, there is not much space, there are many spiders, flies in summer, sometimes mice, dusty old books, door not lockable and a bit open for cold wind coming through in winter.
- They might ask for money for food, eletricity and water. I don't like that they ask different amounts from different people, but I think it is ok because they emphazise that it's voluntary.
- Depending on time of the year there might be extra tasks. This can be without prior notice and might come in the way of a long break period. At the end of my stay there was a fixed additional working time which made planning the breaks easier (like taking a walk).

Negative:
- you do a lot less with the horses than you might expect. You pick up poo and refill waterbuckets, that's pretty much it. If you have horse experience, the difference will be you pick the poo from stallions instead of from mares. Only after 1,5 month I got a half day training how to read a horse and handle it. It was impressive, very interesting and useful but imagine you work there for a month and don't get any training like that at all.
- you don't get much involved in the hosts life. Me and some other volunteers during my time don't think that you feel like family (as older reviews might suggest). In fact they might seem quiet distant. For example during 2 month I ate lunch only four times with Amanda. More often with Stathis but he is very quiet and reserved. I think they had too many volunteers and they had people with incredible skills and who stayed a year or more, so it is very difficult to stand out and be interesting to them.

And then it depends on how sensitive you are with criticism. Stathis is very quiet which leads to a really relaxed work atmosphere but Amanda corrects/criticises your work a lot and tiny details, too. Don't expect much acknowledgement otherwise you will be frustrated after working hard and trying your best. There might be contradictory instructions how to do things.-- text redacted--Improvement suggestions are not appreciated when you are less then two month on the farm.

This should not be seen as criticism by my side. If you remember you do the work for the horses, not for the hosts, it will be fine. There will be reasons for this, like having so many volunteers, probably there were some people doing stuff wrong and breaking things. But I wish the "positive reinforcement" approach would also be used for us volunteers more often and not only for the horses :)

(Good )

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