Help with garden, animals & DIY projects at our family home in Istanbul, Turkey

Detalles

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  Descripción

  Hi! I am Bilgehan, an archaeologist, and after living in İzmir since 2014, I recently moved back to my family’s house in Istanbul. I have traveled across India and Europe, and since my excavation work is with an international crew, I’ve always felt at home in multicultural spaces. I also hosted Workawayers back in İzmir and really loved the experience.
  
  My family moved here around 2000 and built pretty much everything on the land with their own hands. It’s a 3-story house with a large garden in Arnavutköy. My retired parents live downstairs, while my sister (who teaches ceramics) and I share the top floor, which is where you will be staying with us. My brother is a yacht captain living in central Istanbul, though he pops in from time to time.
  
  The house is busy and full of animals: I have a donkey named Sam’al, whom I rescued in Gaziantep during an excavation in 2024 and brought along with me. We also have a few goats that go out to graze every day, two indoor cats named Amar and Bünyamin, and my mom’s little dog, Dudu. We have a lot of ongoing dreams for this place—turning an old goat shelter into a ceramic studio for my sister, transforming an old barn into a little studio flat, converting the hayloft into a garden kitchen/workshop, and clearing out the coal shed as we burn the wood in our stove upstairs. It’s a slow, organic process shaped by time and budget, but there is always life moving around here.

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  Tipos de ayuda y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  Práctica de idiomas

  Ayuda en proyectos ecológicos

  Jardinería básica

  Proyectos creativos DIY «hazlo tú mismo»

  Cuidado de animales

  Ayuda en una granja

  Ayuda doméstica

  Mantenimiento básico

  Cuidado de casas y mascotas
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  Intereses

  

  Idiomas

  

  Cocina y alimentación

  

  Carpintería

  

  Montaña

  

  Senderismo

  

  Playa

  

  Yoga / bienestar

  

  Vegetariano o vegano

  

  Mascotas

  

  LGBT+

  

  Cultura

  

  Trabajo de caridad

  

  Historia

  

  Animales

  

  Naturaleza

  

  Fitness
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  Intercambio cultural y oportunidades de aprendizaje

  We offer a down-to-earth look at life on the edge of Istanbul, tucked between traditional village rhythm and city life. Because of my background, we can talk endlessly about Anatolian archaeology, history, and ancient life. With my sister around, there is always ceramics and clay in the air.
  
  Depending on the time of year, you can pick up traditional Anatolian homesteading skills—like making seasonal preserves, fruit vinegars, and wine—or simply learn how to care for rescue animals like our donkey and goats. Mostly, we enjoy sitting down to good home-cooked food, drinking tea or coffee, and having honest, easygoing conversations with people from different parts of the world.

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  Ayuda

  Life here is a mix of everyday routines and creative projects, so what we do really depends on the season and your own interests.
  
  There are always garden chores like clearing, weeding, and picking fruit or wild herbs. In harvest times, we spend days in the kitchen making vinegar, wine, or homemade preserves. Our outbuildings (the old barn, hayloft, and coal shed) are currently packed to the ceiling with disorganized tools, wood, and building materials. If you have workshop or DIY experience and enjoy sorting tools, setting up sensible shelving, or bringing order to messy storage spaces, you will be our absolute hero! There is also daily animal care—taking the goats out, keeping an eye on them while they graze, and brushing or checking in on Sam’al the donkey. Occasionally we do some small painting and repair jobs around the place.
  
  One thing that is very important to us: we are quite strict about keeping the outside dirt outside. We don’t walk inside with shoes, nor do we run out to the garden in house slippers or track muddy, bare feet through the house. As long as you respect keeping the living space clean, we will get along wonderfully.

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  Idiomas

  Idiomas hablados
  Inglés: Fluido
  Turco: Fluido

  Este anfitrión ofrece intercambio de idiomas
  Este anfitrión ha indicado que está interesado en compartir su idioma o aprender otro.
  Ponte en contacto con él para obtener más información.
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  Alojamiento

  You will have a private room in the top-floor apartment that you’ll share with my sister and me, with access to a shared bathroom, stable Wi-Fi, and hot water. In colder weather, we heat the flat with a wood and coal stove. If you are traveling in a campervan, you can park right outside our gate, and we can easily run electricity out to you from the house.
  
  We are in Arnavutköy, about 20 minutes from Istanbul Airport (IST). The local town center is 6 km away; you can catch a bus right from our neighborhood to get there, and from the center, there are metro and bus connections to the rest of the city (it takes around 1 to 1.5 hours to reach central Istanbul). Whenever one of us is driving into the city, you are of course welcome to hitch a ride. While we don't have a forest within walking distance ( which I definitely miss from my previous home) you can take long, quiet walks through the fields down to the Sazlıbozna dam. For real forests and Black Sea beaches, you can hop on a local bus to the coast.

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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

  Este anfitrión ha indicado que le encanta acoger a nómadas digitales.

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  Espacio para aparcar autocaravanas

  Este anfitrión puede proporcionar un sitio para autocaravanas.

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  Podría aceptar mascotas

  We have cats, a dog, and a donkey. You are welcome to bring yours.

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  ¿Cuántos voluntarios puedes hospedar?

  Dos

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  Mis animales / mascotas

  

  Dudu

  Dudu is my mother’s favorite child. She is considering transferring all her assets to her.

  

  Amar

  

  Bünyamin

  

  Samal

  Sam'al is a donkey 🐴 he is name is coming from an antique city

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