Offer your company and helping hands in Harkstede, Netherlands

Infos

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  Description

  We Ad, Elsbeth, Sandra, would like 1 or 2 persons to help us around the house and for housesitting.(for the house, our cat and sometimes the cats of Sandra)
  
  Ad and Elsbeth is 65+ couple, Sandra is a partner of Ad also. We would like to have helping hands. We are young in mind, but physically we/I can use some assistance in and around the house. We live in the North of Holland , close to the city Groningen.
  We live in an old school which is a 10 years project, never quite ready but a lovely place. It's 8 km from the city Groningen -good public transportation by bus.
  
  We live in a farming area and close to a lake.
  We like to socialise when we are around and share dinner, breakfast and lunch we usually take apart from each other. We like to watch movies together, play board games or online games, have good conversations etc. We have a lovely veranda where we like to hang at a fireplace.
  
  We like open minded people, as Ad and Elsbeth both have another partner as well.
  
  Smoking is not permitted in the house and we would like you to have a limited/normal use of alcohol or soft drugs. No hard drugs.
  
  Although we like to do activities together, it would be better if you are a person who can work independently, as we both are quite often not around. Sometimes we are away for 1 or more weeks and request you to take care of the house and cat as well as for Sandra cats, who live 8 km away. This is some extra work, but also gives you more freedom.
  We are looking forward to meet you. One person is welcome, and a couple too, if you can share the room and if you can operate individually, not as a bubble since we experienced it is difficult to get good contact if that the case. Recently we got a few workawayers who wanted the stay as an entrance ticket to stay permanently in the Netherlands. we don't want to support this. And we had 2 workawayers who also worked fulltime besides our workaway stay- that didn't work either.
  Without wanting to sound negative... experiences are what we learn from and make us realise what is important for a succesfull stay.
  
  We are looking for workawayers with a minimum stay of 1 month.
  I'm not online every day- so it might take some time before I reply.

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  Types d'aide et opportunités d'apprendre

  Jardinage

  Bricolage et construction

  S’occuper des animaux

  Cuisine/repas pour la famille

  Aide à la maison

  Entretien général

  Garde de maison et d'animaux
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  Centres d’intérêt

  

  Bénévolat

  

  Végétarien ou végan

  

  Dev. personnel

  

  Films et télé

  

  Animaux de compagnie

  

  LGBT+

  

  Langues

  

  Cuisine et alimentation

  

  Livres

  

  Animaux

  

  Cyclisme

  

  Danse
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  Echange culturel et opportunités d'apprendre

  We would love to show you around in our province/ country, when we all have the time for it.
  Of the 250000 people in the city Groningen one in every eight is a student. That translates to Groningen being a very lively city. There are always many cultural activities, and various museums.
  There is an excellent bus connection from our home to the city. Going to Groningen on a bicycle is a nice experience as well.
  A swimming pool is about 8 km from here, as are several gyms, bouldering and most other sports available around. There are quite a few lakes close by in which you can swim in the summer. Where we live is a good area for walking, there are lovely walking trails not too far away.
  
  In the weekends we sometimes go out. If we get along, you are welcome to join us most of the time.
  
  We love playing board-games and Ad likes online gaming and we love to watch movies together.
  We can help you learning English or Dutch.

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  Aide

  The jobs include basic house cleaning, gardening, some painting and other maintenance, DYO jobs. Sometimes you 'll work together with one of us. You also need to be able to work independently. We emphasize that because we experienced this is often the reason for miscommunications.
  Keep your own, and our, area ( such as the kitchen) at least mess neutral- meaning you don't make more of a mess, than there already is.
  When we share our meals with you, you are requested to either cook or do dishes, besides the working hours.
  We request 4 hours help daily for 5 days a week, but you can fill in these hours in a flexible way.
  When we are not around you are requested to look after our cat and sometimes look after after the three cats of Sandra, who lives in the city, about 8 km from our home. ( about 20 min by bike).

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  Langues

  Langues parlées
  Allemand: Courant
  Anglais: Courant
  Hollandais: Courant
  Français: Intermédiaire
  Portugais: Débutant

  Cet hôte propose un échange linguistique
  I, Elsbeth, have been a Dutch NT2 teacher for about 5 years, so I like helping foreigners to learn to speak Dutch. We don't request you to learn our language, but are willing to assist you in learning Dutch. I would like to learn some basic Portuguese. Sandra would like to learn some basic Danish, Ad would like to learn some basic French.
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  Hébergement

  We have a spare room of about 18 sq meter, with slant attic walls. Downstairs you may use a private bathroom. Because we live in an old school which is large to heat, we don't heat all of it, just the main living room. In winters it can get cold in the other rooms. Due to this we've decided not to host in wintertime, i.e. nov-dec-jan-feb.
  We share most living spaces: living room, kitchen, veranda, garden.
  If you like, you can join us for dinner around 6 PM. The other meals are usually not shared, but you can take food for yourself. We eat vegetarian food most of the time. Vegan turned out to be a bit too strict and impractical for us.
  Sometimes it is possible for you to stay at Sandra her place to look after her three cats. It is only 2 km from the city center.

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  Autres infos...

  You need to be an independent person. We like to socialize, but we are also busy elsewhere. Elsbeth with work and Ad as a new pensionada also likes to spend more time out of the house. Besides we both have a partner and are sometimes staying with them ( which is why we like you to do housesitting activities part of the time) So you would join a non- traditional family form. Being LHGBT+ friendly would make your stay easier. As we live in a poly-amorous situation we appreciate the person to live with us to be open-minded/ accepting. We'd like to include you in our discussions / exchange of ideas.
  
  We have learned from 16 previous workaway experiences. Some stays were great, others a little less and we try to learn from those, by discribing more on forehand what is important for us. We had a bad exchange experience with theft in the past, so we want to make a copy of your passport and see your insurance and driving licence papers ( if you want to drive.) as soon as you arrive, It is important that you have a good health insurance. If you don't have any we are willing to pay for it, in exchange for 3-4 hrs/ work extra/ per week. We have some house rules, but I think they all come down to common sense and respect for each other.
  We would like to hear/ contact/ read some references about you.
  
  Our kids live on their own now, We see them when they come over, which is most weekends.
  Our daughter has some handicaps and has an autistic thinking style, which we find enriching.
  Our cat hates other dogs ( besides a few she really knows well) , so unfortunately we can't take in workawayers with a dog.
  We are looking forward to getting to know new people, like you !

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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

  Internet access via Starlink, so around 100-200 Mbit.

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  Espace pour garer des vans

  There are parking facilities in front of the house, on private property, but it is adjacent to the main road.

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  Combien de volontaires pouvez-vous accueillir ?

  Deux

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  Mes animaux

  

  Mayday (16 ans)

  very lovely cat, loves to cuddle and sleep on your bed, if you let her. Lives inside as well as outside. Must be around 15 years old, but aren't sure, she is a stray.
  She will consider to let you stay in her house:)

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