Share a home and daily life on the island in Fukuoka, Japan

Detalles

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  Descripción

  I'm a single mother with a 11 year old on a small island in Fukuoka, Japan only 10min from the mainland by ferry. I am not a business and am looking for a housemate to share our everyday life and many hobbies. Join me in Japanese festival drum music (taiko and shinobue) or tea class, relax on the beach and enjoy the slow life of the countryside with us.

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  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Proyectos artísticos

  Práctica de idiomas

  Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos

  Enseñanza

  Jardinería

  Construcción y bricolaje

  Cocinar para toda la familia

  Ayuda doméstica

  Mantenimiento general

  Ayuda informática
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  Intereses

  

  Cultura

  

  Bricolaje y manualidades

  

  Arte y diseño

  

  Música
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  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Wed 7pm~ Taiko at public hall (I play shinobue, Kyli plays drums. You can watch and probably try the drums if it’s not before an event.)
  
  Fri 9~11am Tea at public hall Nanbouryuu Sado class held in tea room. It’s usually just me and the teacher, with occasional visiting students from off the island. I will wear a kimono. Advance notice needed, sweets charge ¥1500
  
  On weekends we often have events and festivals to go to, and would love it if you join us. If you are studying Japanese, I can help you with that, too.

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  Ayuda

  **Urgent**
  My current workawayer got a cool internship and is leaving early. Unfortunately, this leaves me with no help in the busiest time of the year for bamboo removal. I usually book people 6months to a year ahead of time, so it makes me nervous looking for people last minute, so if you're interested in helping in this time of need, we will set up a video call asap. All 15 hours will be outdoor bamboo work for this time. Please come with appropriate outdoor work clothes. This season is definitely a work-hard-play-hard time of the year. Looking for physically active, positive people to spend spring with!
  
  Dates offered:
  
  Feb 23-Mar 15 (Cherry blossom season on the island)
  Apr 4-30 (I've got various events and festivals on the weekends;))
  
  Even though I usually book one month stays, I am lowering the minimum stay to 1 week. My preference would be for you to come on Monday and leave on the weekend, but I can be flexible.
  
  I am hoping for a cousin in town staying over kind of vibe, so I would like to be more like a housemate than a host. I'm a single mother and always busy cramming way too much in my schedule, so I hope to share my hobbies in between my hectic life. I would like to share my house with someone who wants to experience country life in Japan. You can be part of a normal Japanese house (except we speak English) and there will be lot of free time and flexibility. We'll share chores, which would be about 3 chores that take 3-5 min each such as sweeping, watering plants, etc. Also, please pick up after yourself and wash your own dishes after eating, etc, to keep the common areas tidy. My daughter is part of the household so you will need to be ok with living with a child. Kyli is 10, speaks English fluently and is very independent, so there is no teaching or babysitting required, but she will love playing with you, doing crafts or teaching you about our island and Japan. Please keep in mind she is rather hyperactive and starting puberty so there is occasional violin practice/yelling/crying, or homework and cleaning fights. She tends to be more comfortable with chatty energetic people but gets a little too bossy sometimes so you will need to have the skill to tell her “no” on occasion. I would appreciate it if you could include your experience or comfortability with children in your first message to me.
  
  Community help (6h/week)
  As is the case in many islands in Japan, the population is decreasing and aging, and the public areas near the beach have been more and more neglected on Noko island. My father, who lives near by, has been voluntarily taking care of the area, cutting bamboo and removing vines, etc. and I've decided to go out three times a week for 2 hours to help. This is not a project, I consider it part of island life and doing what I can as one of the younger residents. It is dirty, sweaty work but helps a lot with holding back the dangers of hornets and wild boars. Neither my father nor I receive any money from anyone, it is just doing the work that someone needs to do. I would like the workawayer to have the same attitude about volunteer work and join me. Because this is affected by weather, I can not promise which days ahead of time (we will check the weather the night before). I will ask you to chose a time slot starting between 7am-9am (so the latest will be 9am-11am) and we will go on sunny mornings, maximum 3 times a week. If it rains, we sleep. The hotter it gets outside, the earlier the better, so during summer I go very early. You do not have to be super strong or have experience but I need a positive and enthusiastic companion. I have been doing this with workawayers for a year now, and there has been a huge change in the area. It has also been much more enjoyable for me going out with world travelers wanting to do something for the island they stay on, but on the few occasions when people were negative and complained about how the city should be doing this work, it affected me to the point where I would rather do it alone. Please bring appropriate clothing (Long jeans, long sleeve top/jacket, and workboots or rainboots) and let's make the west beach a beautiful area to walk dogs or hang out with a book or picnics!
  
  Skill sharing/house and garden work (9h/week)
  As I am not a business, my intention with workaway is to share my home, time, skills/hobbies and would like you to do the same. This is your main contribution as a workawayer. Your task can be anything from painting, DIY, gardening, fixing things(?) whatever you are good at and can benefit our home or life. I've painted cabinets with workawayers, made shelves, had an artist do a piece on the wall, a pianist helped me by making recordings for each part of a duet I plan to play with Kyli, etc. I want this task to be something you are good at and enjoy, so we can discuss it on a video call or when you get here. In Japan there is a saying "Kita toki yorimo utsukushiku" meaning leave the place more beautiful than when you came. This is a common phrase used for kids on school trips to encourage them to pick up extra garbage before leaving the park or area, but I hope to apply this to workaway. We share a house, you make it a little nicer before you leave. Your project can be done at your own pace on your schedule, so after we decide on what you are going to do (and make sure you have what you need), I will not micromanage. I don't consider playing music with me to be a "job" but anything tangible left I can use like accompaniment recordings, or properly edited videos (editing is definitely work) would be very much appreciated. Even though there is no babysitting, during school vacations I prefer having workawayers who have experience with kids, and do a project together like making a drum set with beach findings, or science experiments.
  
  **Updated- food shopping and sharing
  About Getting the Food
  Food is not included, and not readily available on the island. You will be responsible for buying your own food for breakfast and lunch, and 3 dinners per week. I can help you shop at the supermarket on Tuesday afternoons. We will go to the supermarket by bicycle and ferry, it will take 3h or so total. Please make sure you get everything you need as the food I have at home is separate. I buy brown rice from a farmer on the island for ¥3000/5kg, so we can pay half and half for that so you won't have to buy and carry rice home. You are welcome to use the kitchen when you want, and we'll decide which days each of us cook per week.
  
  About Cooking The Food
  This is my favorite aspect of workaway. We’ll each share cooking and cleaning duties at dinner time. One of us will cook and the other washes the dishes, we hang out (go for a walk, play games, drink tea). If you’re going out and won’t be home for dinner, that’s fine, just let me know ahead of time. I am flexible on who cooks which day, except that I ask that you cook on Thursdays. Dinner time should start around 18:00-18:30, we eat, tidy up, and by 20:00 Kyli and I are usually in our rooms.
  
  Separate food option- For those who do not want to coordinate food with us, I can offer one drawer in the fridge and you can use my pots and pans. We can discuss this on the video call before making arrangements. You will need to stock up on extra foods in case of an emergency, be reliable, and capable of shopping by yourself in Japan.
  
  This is a work/house share offer. The 15hours of work covers the room, and the food costs and cooking is shared. Life on the island can be quiet and calm, but also very harsh and difficult. Bamboo cutting and weeding is hard work, there are bugs and the weather is unpredictable. This house is only suitable for people who want to experience all of that, and do not complain about things all the time. I like my lifestyle now, where I've cut down leaving the island to twice a week and work mainly from home, make time to help out my father and balance mothering and music and other hobbies. This is not a hotel and I can't take care of you like I do my daughter, so please come with the mindset of living real country life in Japan and trying to be positive and helpful.
  
  Please let me know in your message if you play any instruments. I would love to jam with you on my shinobue (Japanese bamboo flute). I am working towards my goal of becoming a traveling flutist and am looking for any opportunity to practice with other musicians. Right now, I am trying to make short videos of playing music with different people, preferably at the beach during sunset time.
  
  As an aspiring Japanese bamboo flutist, I love talking about Japanese culture and am taking classes in kimono and tea. As a mixed person who grew up bilingual/bicultural mostly in Japan, I am also happy to share my skills and experiences with you.
  I taught English for over 15 years, taught Japanese in Mexico for a year, and lived in Canada and Mexico. I speak some Spanish, so I love talking about language comparatively, too, and can help you with your Japanese or English. Kyli and I speak English at home but can try switching to Japanese for you if you want.

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  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido
  Japonés: Fluido
  Español: Intermedio

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  I grew up speaking English with my American father and Japanese with my Japanese mother. I worked as a teacher (mostly ESL but taught Japanese in Mexico as well) and love talking about language and culture. If you're studying, I'd be happy to help you with Japanese or English.
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  Alojamiento

  The area is beautiful, but the accommodations are very basic and some things may be inconvenient. Please be sure you are going to be comfortable before you come. I am currently looking for stays of 2-4 weeks but can be flexible.
  
  The Island
  Noko Island is a 10min ferry ride away from Meinohama port in Fukuoka. With a population of about 500 and 12km around, there are no supermarkets, convenience stores, or even traffic lights. There are ferries hourly (sometimes more) from 5am-11pm, so many people on the island work off the island, and many kids from off the island come to the elementary/junior high school on Noko. The flower park and beach are tourist spots people visit for day trips. It is a beautiful quiet place to live with easy access to the city, but planning is required for shopping. I only leave the island 2 times a week and can only buy what I can carry on my bicycle, so essentials should be purchased ahead of time, also in case the ferry stops because of bad weather.
  
  The House/ Room
  My house is very small and old but not in the cool traditional way, more in the shabby 70's way. You can have access to the entire first floor, which is the kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and the 12 tatami mat room. This is essentially the living room but I have the left side for guests and can hang a curtain down the middle, and the right side is only used during the daytime sometimes. You can close the sliding doors to the entire area during the evening. There is a futon, desk, and an old TV with HDMI cable you can connect your devices to. I have a bicycle available for you. The house is 1.2 km from the port, about a 15min walk or 5min bike ride. It is also a 2 min walk from the western beach of the island, where the sunset is beautiful but almost no one goes to. Weather permitting, I try to go as often as possible to play my flute and watch the sunset.

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  Algo más...

  -We have a cat
  -We don't have AC.
  -I smoke but not downstairs where you stay.
  -sometimes small critters like frogs, crickets, crabs, and a neighbor bully cat come into our house. re: insects, there are occasional (5-10 a year usually in summer) centipedes or cockroaches and you can kill them, but the big spiders (they don't bite) are believed to protect the house so please don't kill them. Bees and mosquitos can also be a nuisance, so we use Japanese mosquito-repellent incense coils in summertime. My house isn't gross, but the outdoors does come indoors.

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  Un poco más de información

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    Acceso a Internet

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    Acceso a Internet limitado

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    Tenemos animales

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    Somos fumadores

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    Puede alojar familias

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  Puede acoger a nómadas digitales

  I work online and have flexible hours. I use my pocket wifi for everything so I take it when I go out to work, but you can use it when I'm home. It is very quiet and a great place for digital nomads.

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  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  Este anfitrión puede proporcionar un sitio para autocaravanas.

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  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Dos

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  Mis animales / mascotas

  Bloo

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