Enjoy the Irish seaside and help with light gardening and household in Ahakista, West-Cork, Ireland

Infos

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  Description

  Hello, my name is Jan. I am originally from Germany but I live in Ireland full time since 2003. Monday to Friday I have a full time job as Network Engineer for a local internet business. I am hosting people since 2008, back then with other platforms in Irelandand in total I had approximately 200 visitors back then. I had a break from hosting due to the house I lived in which had no spare rooms. Since 2022 I live in a house with a spare bedroom and bathroom so now I am hosting again. This time with Workaway. I am a very sociable person and I am hosting not because I need the help but rather to give people the opportunity to experience the beautiful place that I call home from a more local perspective. I include my visitors in my life as much as they like and introduce them to local life and show the area and do road trips to explore and see West-Cork.
  
  My location is rural, the nearest town, Bantry, is 20km away and the nearest city is Cork City approx 100km away. We have a bus service 4 times every day to and from Bantry. The bus stop is approx 1.5km away from the house. The sea, beach, strand, cliffs and two pubs (one in the winter only) are in walking distance approx 15 – 20 min down the road from my place. The pubs offer live music sometimes, pub quiz, dart and of course its the place to connect with local people and visitors alike. We have a Gallery and Café in walking distance and many more things to discover when hiking or walking some of the many hiking trails we have here on the Sheepshead Peninsula. This place if renown for the well signposted and well documented hiking trails. It would be a pleasure to show you the wider area at weekends when we go on road trips to the next peninsulas and explore. I will include a google maps link to my house in my first message to you to give you the opportunity to go on a virtual exploration of my place and to be sure you really understand the location to make a decision.
  
  I am hosting either a group of 2 friends, couple or family as group and they would have the bedroom and bathroom to themselves. If I host individuals I host only female visitors to avoid potential issues in the shared rooms. You would be sharing the bedroom and bathroom with at most one other visitor at the same time. If I host individuals I can not at the same time accommodate families or couples. Generally I host for anything between 2-8 weeks, long term hosting for multiple months is possible but we definitely need good communication going before I would agree to a long stay. You are of course always free to leave at any time should you discover that my location does not suit you. Nobody will be upset and I bring you to the bus in Bantry no problem. I know its sometime not possible to know for sure in advance and it may take a few days to find out. You have no obligation to stay !!!
  
  The general idea is that you make your own travel arrangements to arrive in Bantry and I would collect you from the bus there. I can send links to bus timetables. There are good connections Dublin – Cork and Cork – Bantry. I have collected people from Cork Airport in the past and I am OK doing that if flight times are late or other arrangements are to difficult but that is the exception. You can of course also arrive by car or van/camper but I have no facilities for charging BEV or PHEV.
  
  As mentioned above, I do not NEED anybody to work or help, I like to give the opportunity to stay in a nice relaxed place and have a social exchange. If you are someone that generally has a preference for hiding away and not interact with people then my place is not for you. I have no expectations regarding your level of English as long as you at least try. I am patient and usually with the help of Google and sign language things work out. For potential German visitors, I never speak German in general, its a rare exception and I would only speak German if nothing else works for communication, it would not be fair on other visitors. I am usually proactively looking for potential visitors on the relevant platforms, I like to stay on top of my schedule for visitors and make plans long term. So I often make first contact base on my calendar and the availability and preferences of potential visitors. The calendar is changing depending on bookings, pre-approvals or cancellations all the time. I always aim to have 2 visitors in the house but I can not give a guarantee that there will always be 2 people.
  
  As a rule I would ask for no more than 12h of your time per week to help in the house and garden. Nothing requires any special skills and its no manually hard work. You can schedule your time as you see fit. In my mind your fun and having a good time is always the first priority, helping in the house and garden comes second. I don’t want anybody to work at the weekend.
  
  I will be responsible for food and drink shopping and ideally I take visitors with me shopping to make sure we get things for everybody's taste and liking. I am omnivore and would need your help if your diet is vegetarian or pescatarian, I have very limited experience cooking that way. I can not accommodate for individuals that are lactose intolerant, vegan or require a gluten free diet, sorry. I have tried and failed miserably. If you have any allergies for food please communicate that to me. I have a cat which is fed inside the house but generally outdoors, please take that into consideration. The cat is the only animal I have.
  
  I have made a “Visitors Guide” that explains everything in detail and I have also a lot of pictures of my place and also pictures with past visitors. I can only put up a limited number of them here but I include my mobile phone number in my first message to you, please contact me on Signal or WhatsApp so I can share the “Visitors Guide”, pictures and possibly relevant bus time tables with you. I like to emphasise that I like to clear up any and all uncertainties up front before you make a decision to visit. Ask me any question that comes to your mind, no matter how silly it might look to you.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  You will get to know life in the rural and coastal south-west of Ireland, Maybe improve your English if desired. I have two pubs close by, both have live music during the summer or scheduled music events in the winter months. During the summer months we have a nice but not overwhelming influx of visitors and tourists in the area. It is pretty cosmopolitan for a rural place and often times you can meet very interesting people around here. Many kilometres of signposted hiking trails are all around the peninsula where I live. Strands, beach and pubs are in walking distance (1.5km) My hobbies include electronics, microcontrollers, RC vehicles, planes and quadcopters, CAD design of functional parts that can be 3d printed (FDM and SLA).

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  Aide

  I am looking for help keeping the outdoors presentable, light gardening, weeding, brush trimming. Indoors a few hours per week to vacuum the house and wash the floors, spider web removal and dusting. All in all no more than 12h per week, no help on weekends. More help can be arranged if that is desired. You schedule your own time, we make a list of things per week and find what suits your skills. You can put it all in a couple of days and have the remaining days to do what ever you like or do it day by day. I am flexible. It is MOST important that you enjoy your stay, Your fun factor is always what comes 1st, work is always 2nd

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  Langues parlées

  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant

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  Hébergement

  I live in a rural place, please be sure you look up my location and maybe take a virtual walk in street view. No city near by, next small town 20km away. Also the weather in Ireland is unpredictable, between October and April expect a lot of rain, wind and generally a grey ambience. As for the house, you share a bedroom and bathroom with 1-2 visitors of the same gender if times overlap, there is a double bed and a single bed in case someone comes with friend, partner child etc. I am responsible for food shopping, you prepare you own breakfast and lunch, the main meal is in the evening and I would be preparing that or we cook together. I am open to trying new recipes and new dishes. I am omnivore but with your help I can adapt to a vegetarian diet as long as you don't mind me eating meat sometimes. I don't think I could at all cater for someone vegan, sorry.

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  Autres infos...

  WiFi is available 24x7, I have no TV but Netflix, Disney+, Youtube Premium and other streaming services are available on a big screen as well as Spotify and Youtube Music. The nearest bus stop is 1.5km away and has 4 buses per day to the next peninsula and towns. People staying with me usually arrive in Bantry, I will collect visitors from Bantry and bring them back there when desired. I like people to stay a minimum of one week, I am open to long term stays but please be sure you do your research about my location to be sure it is suited to you. I am hosting people from other platforms than Workaway. from 2024 I will try long term arrangements. I am open to short term stays as a "Couch Surfing like" experience if you cater for yourself and it suits my schedule.
  
  Ask for a link to my Couchsurfing profile.

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  Informations complémentaires

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    Accès Internet

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    Accès Internet limité

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    Nous avons des animaux

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    Nous sommes fumeurs

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    Familles bienvenues

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  Possibilité d’accueillir les digital nomads

  WiFi is available 24x7, I have no dedicated office space for visitors but there is plenty of room in the common areas to work on-line.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  I have room for one camper or caravan. I have no BEV or PHEV charging facilities.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Nombre d'heures attendues

  Max 12h per week, days are up to you, no work at weekends.

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