Catsitting in a rural French town surrounded by beautiful nature in Château-Chinon, France

Detalhes

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  Descrição

  Hello! Would you like to live in an apartment with ten cats, in the centre of a small town in rural France, in a beautiful natural area?
  
  April and May: Normally my partner and I live here together, but she'll be travelling for all of April and May and I am looking for someone to help keep the cat family happy and loved and cared for as it's a lot of work for one person! I can take one or two people, for a minimum of one week at a time.
  
  Our home is an ordinary apartment, with two bedrooms, one will be yours. We are right in the center of town which means there can be a lot of traffic noise especially motorbikes, but it's also very convenient and walkable. You can get here from Paris in 4 hours by train and bus, you don't need a car! The town is Chateau-Chinon and it's the local capital of the Morvan region which is hilly and forested and has some great hiking. There are some beautiful trails through forest and farmland that you can walk to in 15 minutes.
  
  I'm 42 years old, male, I work from home in tech, when I have spare time I like cooking and gaming and going for walks. We'll effectively be housemates for the duration of your stay. You'll receive 15€ per day to buy and cook your own food.

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  Tipos de ajuda e oportunidades de aprendizado

  Cuidar de animais

  Ajuda a cuidar da casa
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  Oportunidades de intercâmbio cultural e aprendizado

  We live in a small town called Chateau-Chinon which is known as the capital of the Morvan. The Morvan is a hilly, almost mountaineous region covered with thick forests and it's a protected natural area. Many people come here from Paris or Amsterdam in the summer to take the air, and a lot have vacation homes in the area. Within fifteen minutes walk from our apartment you can be hiking in the forest or through beautiful farmland, it is a great place to be if you want to get outside. There is a whole network of trails that passes right through the town and you can hike for days if you want. The town is on top of a big hill and it has amazing views, beautiful skies, and sometimes wild storms.
  
  This is a beef-producing region, the local cows are a breed called Charolais. You can get some incredible steaks at the butcher or supermarket. There's also really good honey here. The supermarket is well-stocked with local foods and there's a small market in town every Saturday.
  
  This part of France is very rural and cheap to live in. There aren't a lot of jobs or services, you have to drive 40 minutes to get to a city with a train station or a hospital. Chateau-Chinon is the local hub and it's got most basic services, but it is very much a small town. You'll get a sense of a more local, traditional way of life here in which people rely on one another instead of on big corporations. It's not what it used to be, there used to be four bakeries in town and now there's only one for example.. but there's still a local butcher, and he sells pork from pigs that his brother raises in the next town over. There are a lot of farmers in the region and I get the sense their families have been here for ages. Lots of old farmhouses and old barns built hundreds of years ago, some crumbling into ruin and some still in active use. The town itself is very old as well, the Gauls used to have a lookout here two thousand years ago, and there used to be a castle here in the middle ages, and the town center is full of old buildings. When I first arrived I thought it was incredibly romantic, but after a while i noticed a lot of the buildings were vacant, and I learned how much it costs to repair a roof, and some of the shine wore off a bit. Our apartment is in a pretty old building and in the summer heat I sometimes long for modern insulation. But anyway. It's an experience.
  
  If you like history, you should visit Bibracte, it's the archeological site of a former Gaulish city, about 30 minutes drive away, it has a full museum, and the site is really breathtaking and full of energy even now. They picked a good spot back then. Autun (40 min drive) was a Roman city and has some old Roman ruins, as well as medieval and more recent layers. There are tons of old chateaus around too.

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  Ajuda

  Your tasks will be to be at home in the mornings and evenings and co-parent the cats with me, feed them, play with them, love them, let them in and out of rooms, etc. In afternoons and on weekends you're free to go out and enjoy the town and the countryside as you like.
  
  The cats usually sleep in the afternoon, so ideally I would like you to be around in late morning and early evening and dedicate that time to doing whatever the cats want, especially:
  
  - Say hello to the cats when they come into the room and be really happy to see them.
  - Learn their names and get to know them. Chinatsu, Chip, Corvol, Coco, Momo, Shelly, Maru, Superstore, Tecktonic, Booboo. They are all rescues and they all have a story. Superstore and Tecknonic were born in our apartment and Maru is their mom.
  - Seek out each of the cats individually and give them love and affection and attention. Some of them are more shy and won't come up to you, you have to go to them.
  - When you hear meowing, get up and see what's the matter. Usually a cat wants food or wants someone to open a door, or maybe wants a scritch or a cuddle. During active periods I feel like I'm constantly on my feet answering cats who need something. It comes in waves, there are active periods and quiet periods.
  - Learn which cats are friends and which ones bully other cats, and keep cats appropriately separated to prevent attacks
  - Make sure Booboo keeps to his diet, he needs to lose weight and if you leave food out he will find it and eat it. This is a big challenge since there are 9 other cats who need to eat.
  - If a cat sits on your lap, stay still as long as possible
  - Hold a purrito'd cat while I clean her ears with a Q-tip
  - Clean up messes, occasional vomit and urine spots, scoop cat litters
  - Guard your own food to make sure cats don't eat it. Be careful with salty things, it's bad for them. Be extremely careful with medications, especially paracetemol.
  - Be careful where you leave dishes, especially knives. Expect things to be knocked over.
  etc.
  
  Also, please be a good housemate and help keep the common areas clean and organized, do the dishes, sweep the floors etc. I'll be doing all these tasks too, it's just better if we all share the load.
  
  On weekends I will not be working and I can look after the cats myself, so you'll be at liberty if you want to go out. Same thing in afternoons while they're usually napping. Even so, whenever you're at home, you need to always be aware of the cats, make sure you walk carefully and don't scare them, and respond if they come to you seeking attention or needing something. They can be kind of a handful but they are a truly wonderful bunch and they are full of love and it's a very rewarding time making them happy.

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  Idiomas

  Inglês: Fluente
  Francês: Intermediário

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  Acomodação

  You'll be staying in our apartment, it's a two-bedroom and you'll have your own private bedroom. We have a shower but not a bathtub. Full kitchen for cooking meals. No laundry in the apartment but there is a laundromat 5 min walk away. Fast reliable Wifi.
  
  For food, I'm open to doing communal meals but I don't always manage to cook every day, it kind of depends on how busy I am. Probably the easiest thing is if you buy your own food and groceries and take care of yourself. If that works for you we'll give you €15 per day. There's a great supermarket, also a brasserie, two cafés, a bakery, a burger place, a kebab place, and a pizzaria in town all within 5 min walk.
  
  I will be staying in the apartment with you. I'm a 42 year old male, originally from Canada. I've lived in France for about 4 years and I speak intermediate level French. I work online in tech in the energy industry. I'll spend most of my time doing ordinary life things, working, cooking, cleaning, etc as well as looking after the cats of course. When I have time I like to game, we have a Switch you can play if you like.
  
  You don't need a car to stay here, you can get here by bus and train, and the town is small and walkable, and you can get to some great hikes on foot. We do have a car and I might be able to drive you around a little bit if there is something you'd like to see (Bibracte for example). I will probably have to drive around to run errands and you're welcome to come with me and see some of the countryside if you like.

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  Algo mais...

  Accessible by public transport. Train from Paris to Nevers in 2 hours, bus 4x/day from Nevers to Château-Chinon in 90 minutes.
  Bus stop right across the street from our apartment.

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  Mais alguns detalhes

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    Acesso à internet

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    Acesso à internet limitado

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    Temos mascotes

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    Somos fumantes

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    Pode hospedar famílias

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  Pode hospedar nômades digitais

  We have fibre internet and wifi, it's reliable and fast. I work from home myself.

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  Quantos Workawayers pode acomodar?

  2

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