Experience Arctic life with a local couple in Tromsdalen, Norway

Infos

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  Description

  Want to experience the Arctic magic of Tromsø? This could be your perfect opportunity!
  
  We are a warm and friendly married couple living in beautiful Tromsø. Our house is uniquely situated with the forest and mountains as our immediate neighbors, yet the vibrant city center is just a short trip away. Sounds impossible? Not at all! Come and experience the best of both worlds for yourself.
  
  Location-wise, we couldn't be luckier. We live just 250 meters from one of Tromsø's absolute highlights: the Fjellheisen cable car. If you love the outdoors, spectacular hiking and trekking trails start literally right on our doorstep.
  
  Sitting almost at 70 degrees north, Tromsø is home to over 80,000 people. It is the largest city in Northern Norway and the third largest in the world north of the Arctic Circle. Living this far north brings incredible seasonal contrasts. In the winter, you will experience the mystical polar night with two months of beautiful twilight and no sun. In the summer, the city comes alive under two full months of midnight sun, where the day never ends.
  
  Despite its remote location, Tromsø is a lively city packed with great restaurants, a bustling nightlife, and plenty of activities—you can even check out the northernmost McDonald’s in the world! Getting here is also incredibly easy. While flight paths change, we currently have close to 20 international direct connections. If you prefer a road trip, the drive up here offers some of the most breathtaking, dramatic scenery you will ever see.
  
  As for our home, we live by ourselves in the main upstairs apartment. Downstairs, we have two separate apartments that we rent out. Since we both work full-time, our list of house and garden projects is growing faster than our free time! We recently discovered Workaway and thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. We would love to welcome someone into our home to help us out for a few hours a day, and in return, we offer comfortable accommodation, good food, and a chance to meet new friends.
  
  If you are reliable, handy, and eager to explore the Arctic, we would love to hear from you!

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage d'entretien

  Projets DIY créatifs

  Aide à la maison

  Petits travaux d'entretien
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Films et télé

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Sports d’hiver

  

  Plage
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  In Tromsø, you can find a lot of different activities. It all depends on what you like, and of course the season. Despite being this far north, according to official numbers from Tromsø kommune, there are people from 138 nations around the world that live here. So there is in fact a great chance of finding people from your own country, if that's your wish. Some of them have associations, but unfortunately, I'm not sure which ones do and which ones do not.
  
  Many tourists come for the outstanding randonee skiing possibilities, and depending on the weather, you might be able to ski under the midnight sun in some places. Another favorite is trekking, either in the Lyngen Alps, on the mountains of Kvaløya, or just outside our doorstep if you live with us. Kayaking is also popular. There are great possibilities near the city, but if you drive for a little more than an hour, you come to a really nice area with lots of islands and islets. Here, you can find a beach just for yourself, have a bonfire, and camp if you wish to. By the way, in Norway you can camp wherever you want, as long as you respect the minimum distance to houses and farms. There are some really nice places, both near the ocean and in the mountains.
  
  If you like fishing, you can fish almost anywhere. There are some restrictions when it comes to fishing in rivers and freshwater, and also regarding what you are allowed to bring out of the country.
  
  If you are more of a city person, Tromsø has many cafés, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs to suit every taste. The Polar Museum is also popular among both tourists and locals. People traveling here late in August might also be able to see the northern lights.
  
  At home, we hope that we can have some meals together. It is nice to socialize and meet new people. If interested, I'm happy to show you how to cook some Norwegian specialties.

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  Aide

  We welcome help with several different tasks. This year, we want to cut down some bushes and remove the stumps.
  
  There is always something to do in the garden, such as mowing the lawn, watering, and weeding. We also have an area where we want to, plant some decorative trees, and maybe add some berry bushes. In short: various gardening tasks.
  
  If the weather permits, we would like to do some painting.
  
  Indoors, we have a few light DIY-projects lined up.
  
  And as always with a house, there are plenty of other small tasks to do in and around the property.
  
  We will, of course, work on many of these things together, but there will also be times when you will help us independently while we are at our day jobs.
  
  We should point out that we aren't trained carpenters, painters, or gardeners ourselves, so we have a lot to learn too.
  
  Even if our intention is to let you stay in a rented apartment, you will not have any tasks dealing with that, or potential guests. The only thing we would like, is that you help with cleaning the apartment when you leave.
  
  What we do know, however, is how to cook—and we absolutely love having guests!

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  Langues parlées

  Arabe: Courant
  Anglais: Courant
  Norwegian: Courant

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  Hébergement

  Our plan, provided the apartment is available and not taken by other guests, is to host our Workaway guests in our downstairs apartment. The apartment is about 70 square meters and has two separate bedrooms with comfortable beds—one queen-size and one king-size. It also features a living room, a bathroom, and a fully equipped kitchen. Given that the apartment has two separate bedrooms, a situation may arise where there is a couple in one bedroom and another guest in the other. In other words: you will have your own private bedroom, but you might have to share the kitchen, bathroom, and living room. After your stay, we would like your help with cleaning the apartment, such as changing the linen, loading and emptying the dishwasher, changing the towels, cleaning the bathroom, etc.
  
  On rare occasions, a double booking might occur. If we have one, or a maximum of two guests who are a couple, we might have to accommodate you for a night in another guest room upstairs.
  
  People that stay with us will have a cooked dinner. Apart from that, we will make sure that you have different kinds of food available in your fridge, so that you can eat whenever you want. This way, you will be able to make some of your own meals whenever you feel hungry. When we are not at work, we will try to at least have dinner together. We both work shifts, so there might be days when we simply cannot have dinner at a normal time. In those cases, we will make sure you have what you need to make your own dinner.
  
  The food we plan to make is a standard diet based on meat, fish, poultry, vegetables, potatoes, pasta, rice, etc. Our plan is to serve a mix of Norwegian food and more well-known dishes, like pasta, chili con carne, curry, and so on.
  
  Normally in Norway, there is only one hot meal during the day, and that is dinner. Dinner is usually served after work, typically between 16:00 and 18:00, depending on when the shift ends that day. Occasionally people have a hot lunch, mostly something "quick and easy" like a hot dog.
  
  If you drink wine and would like to enjoy a glass with your dinner, you are more than welcome to bring your own. We do not mind at all.
  
  Regarding the food, we want to be honest and say that we are unable to provide for special diets, such as vegetarian, vegan, raw food, shakes, etc. We are also unable to accommodate special diets for allergies and intolerances.

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  Autres infos...

  We will follow the guidelines set by Workaway, which is 5 hours of work per day, 5 days a week. We also think it is smart to have some flexibility, where you can put hours into a "time bank." For example: should you decide that you want to help us 6 hours one day, you will only have to help for 4 hours another day. However, just like a normal bank, you need to have money (or in this case, work hours) deposited before you can make a withdrawal.
  
  What you decide to do in your own time is, of course, completely up to you. If you want to go to the city center, the nearest bus stop is only about 160–170 meters away. If you prefer to walk, it is about 3 kilometers and takes around 30 minutes. If you decide to rent a car, we have parking available. Having a car makes it easy to travel around, allowing you to visit some beautiful places, have a picnic, go for a hike, or anything else you like. There are plenty of options, and we will be happy to point out some gems on the map.
  
  As mentioned, we both work regular jobs. I work shifts at the airport, and my wife mostly works during the day, but also some evenings. This means that we will not always be present at all times during the day or evening. Please do not let this concern you, as we will maintain a continuous dialogue to minimize the risk of misunderstandings. Because of our work schedules, you will likely help with tasks independently some of the time.
  
  To avoid any misunderstandings, we should also mention that we are unable to have animals / pets on the premises. Our guests are, of course, welcome to stay up late if they prefer. However, we try to quiet things down a bit after 23:00 on evenings when we have work the next day. But please don't let this scare you off. Nobody will be offended or take notice, if you come home late, or stay up, watching TV, etc.

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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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  Espace pour garer des vans

  Our parking space is limited up to about 6 meters.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Plus de 2

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  Mes animaux

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