Marta & Michal

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Hello, ciao, bok, γεια σου!

We are an Italian-Czech married couple, Marta (36) and Michal (41) with our two kids - Mia (born September 2017) and Elio (born April 2020), plus one more baby on the way :-)
We have been together for about ten years and after some years and still love each other a lot :-)
After spending a couple of years in Prague (but often travelling and volunteering, mostly in Greece and Croatia), we have been living the last seven years in the Czech countryside at the egde of the small village where Michal grew up (Havlíčkova Borová).
At the moment we are planning a big change - moving to the South during next winter (or starting to travel until we find something).
In the last couple of years we have been searching for our place in the world down there to settle down.
We don´t know in which Country we will end up, however Greece and Croatia are good "candidates", so those are the Countries we want to explore more.
We are here on Workaway also as hosts, so we experienced volunteering also from the other side (probably more demanding... :-)).

MARTA:
I grew up in a small city in northern Italy (Padova, famour s for its university) and spent there the first 25 years of my life, often travelling. I did classical studies, studied mathematics, worked a couple of years as an Italian teacher in Czech Republic, later being a full-time mom...
My big dream is to be a children´s books author and illustrator and I like to define myself an artist - at least in my heart, since at the moment I have really little time to spend that way and have never done that professionally before.
I love children and I love creating in every way, using my hands and fantasy to make small things out of everything - paper, small pieces of wood, stamps... - drawing, painting, sewing, making stamps...
I am not a professional singer, but I enjoy singing very much, especially with Michal playing. Sometimes we have a small concert and dream to sing in the streets with our kids playing some instrument or singing, too, one day!
I also enjoy quite much healthy cooking and baking and had a period in which I experimented a lot with raw food, even though this is not the way we are eating now and I just follow day by day what my body tells me.
I love movement since I am daughter of a contemporary dance teacher and dancer. In the last years I have become a passionate free-time yoga practicer and started teaching in our village.
I am also attending a one-year course to become "Loona dance" teacher (very shortly: meditative dance for women).
I love swimming in the sea, walks in nature, collecting mushrooms and herbs, trying to make at home most of what we eat or use for cooking.
I am the main reason why we are heading to the South for living.
I like the nature and the countryside here, but Czech winters are too long and exhausting for me: I miss the sun and the sea. Since I was born, I spent almost every summer on the Croatian island of Cres where my parents used to own a small house by the sea (which they unfortunately recently sold).

MICHAL:
As I see, Marta has already written everything important - she definitely talks 78% more than me! :-)
Something about me: I spent my whole childhood in the Czech countryside, then I´ve been swimming very passionately in the waters of music, studying in Prague and abroad (piano, conducting orchestras and choirs, giving workshops...). My job and a big passion in last years is teaching kids (age 5-20) to play the piano. I use a lot of improvisation and creative stuff in it. At the moment I am also working at an online project, creating materials and courses for piano teachers.
The best relax for me is physical work. Making wood in the forest (we have a small piece of our own), gardening, or just spending time outside, running, being in movement. I think I am a calm person, not quite much a party-guy, absolute not a good company for talking about politics. I like simple things and sincere way of behaving. I believe in working hard on things you want to achieve. And in taking time for stopping and relaxing, too. I prefer early mornings to late evenings (but since beeing a parent this changed a bit...)
With Marta we had in the last years a few waves and periods (eco/bio/self-sufficient/healthy/permaculture/rural /natural way of living...) and many of those principles are still following us in our everyday life. My daily mission is - to be a good person and to contribute to the world with my gifts.

OUR KIDS:
We love them!! They are fantastic, of course... And sometimes make us crazy :-) However, for sure they are very lively, love nature, singing, climbing, having adventures, eating pancakes. That´s why we hope to have more or these crazy creatures :-)

SOMETHING MORE ABOUT US ALL:
We travelled as volunteers for a very long time in Greece, using platforms like HelpX, Workaway or WWOOFing - laster also with the kids.
In the last years we still spend every summer (the time when Michal is not working) by travelling and partly volunteering - collecting ideas, inspiration and experiences, meeting locals and searching for "our" place on the Earth to settle down (at least for the next period of our lives).

What we understood is that we need:

...a place next to or in the wild nature, not too far from the sea...
...next to or in a community of like-minded people...
..."community" meaning more like a village rather than an organized one (but we are open to anything as long as we feel that´s "THE" place) - where everyone knows each other and gives mutual support, exchanges vegetabels, food, help...
...eco-living (self-sustainability, being local, growing our own food and making by ourselves whatever is possible and compatible with our energies)...
...possibly homeschooling/unschooling parents to connect with (even if we do not exclude the possibility that our children may attend a "normal" school as long as it is compatible with our values - again, we are open to what life will bring - and what our children will really need).

Intereses

Idiomas

Idiomas hablados
Czech: Fluido
Inglés: Fluido
Italiano: Fluido
Alemán: Principiante
Greek: Principiante

Más información sobre tus intereses idiomáticos
I (Marta) tought Italian for several years, so I´ll be happy to help you with my language!

Buscar un colega de idioma

Habilidades y conocimientos que queremos compartir o aprender

Nos interesa:  

Cuidado de niños y juegos creativos

Mantenimiento general

Cocinar para toda la familia

Vida en una granja

Proyectos ecológicos

Ayuda doméstica

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Ciertos conocimientos de:  

Jardinería

Proyectos de construcción y bricolaje

Cuidado de animales

Hostelería/turismo

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Podemos enseñar:  

Idiomas

Proyectos artísticos

Enseñanza

Que habilidades tienes?

We are open to any task you are going to offer us, we try to learn quickly things we don´t know yet and we try to be active and "see what needs to be done" around.
We are also open to share and "make available" in any way our art inclination (music, drawing...) and ideas in general.
I (Marta) can practice yoga together with you, teach you Italian, sewing, making stamps, cook for you...
Michal is a passionate piano player and teacher, so feel free to use that :-)
We love spending time with kids!

Edad

37 & 42

Algo más...

ABOUT TRAVELLING WITH THE KIDS

Spending time with two small kids at our own place is already sometimes demanding. When we are in a new place with new people around, they always need some time to get used - and more care from us therefore.

We know that because when Mia was almost two years we spent with her two months in Greece, moving from place to place and volunteering or just helping friends with their own projects. Later on, we repeated this experience with both the kids. This was quite demanding and we almost never could both work/help at the same time, since one of us had to keep an eye on them.

This means we cannot both guarantee we can fulfill the 5-hours-for-each schedule nor have a fixed working time and that´s why we want to ensure you we will be as self-sufficient as possible, buying our own food or maybe contributing with some money to possibile expenses connected with our stay.

On the other hand, we are willing to give you as much help as possible and join your family life in order for you and us to get the maximum from the time spent together. What is sure is that our goal is not to have a "vacation with accomodation for free", what we search for is to be part for some time of the local life in order to get in contact with people, talk, share ideas, have a nice time together, understand what life is like there, discover the place and the possibilities it may offer to us and of course join the family life - which for us means also take part of the daily "routine" as we were at our own home and help you with what you need...as far as the kids allow.
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Practical info: we will be travelling with our own tent, so the only thing we need is a spot in your garden for it.
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As we wrote, we have already volunteered for a long time (more than one year in Greece, plus one experience here in Czech Republic), so we think we know a bit what volunteering is (and is not ;-) ) about.
We are also hosts here in Workaway and have already had a couple of experiences as hosts, so we got to experience also the "other side of the coin".

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Something about or previous experience ar volunteers in Greece:
We worked in Santorini in a taverna (O Panos) with an organic garden, in Evia island at a painter's place (Susanne Riedl, Paliaskala near Vasilika), where we worked in a small permaculture garden and helped to build a fence, plus some smaller physical tasks like cutting wild bushes around the house or tiding up a small hut.
Marta continued the summer trip to another place in Evia (Ioannis Mastoris, Farakla) - another partly-permaculture bigger garden, and then in the island of Chios (Galatea Paradissi's farm The Lime Tree, Volissos), at an organic farm - working in the garden, weeding, healing sick trees, painting and decorating old furniture and taking care of the "million" adopted cats and dogs...
Next year we visited again some of these places where we actually made friends with the hosts and volunteered also in Peloponnisos (Liveloula and ReGreen ecocenter), in Crete (collecting olives, oil making), Pelion (mostly gardening), Marta then helped for a period some puppetier-friends in Athens and later in a small village (Zitsa) in the mountains near Ioannina (in their bakery, bookshop and in and around the house).
In 2019 we travelled again to Greece, this time with almost two-years-old Mia, visiting again some of the previous hosts who became friends and helping them with their projects and then volunteering in Lefkada (gardening, cooking recovering materials from ruins in an abandoned village, caravan-sitting and taking care of the hosts of a Robinson accomodation) and in Corfu (again gardening, cooking and some smaller jobs around the house).
In 2021 and 2022 we travelled and volunteered with both kids in Croatia, visiting mostly families in Istria and inner ccentral-northern Croatia and the ecovillage of Blatuša.

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If you have any questions, feel free to ask whatever you´d like to know.
Thank you for reading us!
M+M+M+E

Más información

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  Fumador

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  Permiso de conducir

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  Alergia

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  Dieta especial
  We just try to eat healthy (not too late, not too often, not too much sugar :-))