atualizado  

Help us create a community space out of an old ruin and overgrown park in Drahnsdorf, Germany

Disponibilidade

  2025 

 Hospedagem min. solicitada: mínimo 2 semanas

Jan
Fev
Mar
Abr
Mai
Jun
Jul
Ago
Set
Out
Nov
Dez

Detalhes

  • Descrição

    Descrição

    I’m Amanda, a Thai-American (1984) originally from California, and my husband, Daniel (1985), is German. We met in Bolivia, where I created a women’s economic development project and social enterprise. It consisted of a hostel and community center and cafe that brought locals and foreigners together, as well as an entrepreneurial training space for local women. Since I had hundreds of volunteers in Bolivia, we decided to also host them here in Germany. My background is in education/research, international development, urban planning, social entrepreneurship, and tech. Daniel is an anesthesiologist and emergency doctor with some background in plumbing/heating and electricity.

    We’re currently working on bringing an old ruin of a DDR castle back to life near Berlin to one day become another community space for things like summer camps for foster kids, live music and theater, artist residencies, etc. That’s many years away given the state of the things now. We have set up our non-profit organization this year and we work with the local village association to host the area’s seasonal cultural events! We just started being able to host in 2022, given the lack of floors and a proper roof before.

    It’s about 11,000sqm of truly magical, but mostly overgrown garden/parkland and about 300sqm x 2 floors of abandoned ruin. The structural stuff is in progress, but there’s so much "little" stuff to do that always takes more time. The castle is almost exclusively furnished, filled, and fixed up with used or free things (we even picked up the used toilets free from a Berlin nightclub!). We believe in the Japanese concept of Kintsugi and finding value in broken things, like the castle itself; so we prefer to give unwanted or broken things a second life to divert trash from landfills, avoid unnecessary consumption, and provide an example to others to show that one can have nice things without always buying new.

    We have wonderful neighbors and garden club friends in the garden/park area (international Berliners) who are so friendly and helpful. The working language here is usually English, since that is often the only common language, but we can also always practice German or Spanish, if that’s preferred (you'd need at least B1 to communicate without a lot of active teaching required though).

    We have all the basics needed for comfortable-enough living. Close by, there is a train station with a direct train (when it's not under construction) to Berlin, as well as a small town with a Rewe, a Penny, and few restaurants. There are also adorable little towns with artisan shops and homemade breads and organic cheeses, etc. for the foodies. It’s a lovely area to bike around in with all the rivers and woods everywhere and the famous UNESCO Spreewald Biosphere is only 20 minutes away by car. Spreewald kayaking and pickles are the best! Plus, everyone is very friendly and it’s culturally quite different, even ethnically, from the typical former East German areas.

    * You must be able to speak/comprehend at B2 level in one of our languages to be able to understand directions.

  • Tipos de ajuda e oportunidades de aprendizado

    Tipos de ajuda e oportunidades de aprendizado

    Trabalho beneficente
    Projetos artísticos
    Ajuda em projetos ambientais
    Jardinagem
    Construção/faça você mesmo
    Ajuda em fazenda
    Criar/cozinhar refeições caseiras
    Ajuda a cuidar da casa
    Manutenção geral
  • Interesses

    Interesses

    Tecnologia
    Cultura
    Política/justiça social
    LGBTQ
    Eventos e social
    Sustentabilidade
    Autodesenvolvimento
    Filmes e TV
    Música
    História
    Faça você mesmo
    Livros
    Arte e design
    Fotografia
    Idiomas
    Culinária e comida
    Jardinagem
    Arquitetura
    Escrever
    Artes performáticas
    Carpintaria
    Animais
    Esportes de equipe
    Naturaleza
    Yoga/bem-estar
    Montanhas
    Dança
    Camping
    Esportes aquáticos
    Caminhada
  • Objetivos de sustentabilidade da ONU que este anfitrião quer atingir

    Objetivos de sustentabilidade da ONU que este anfitrião quer atingir

    Objetivos da ONU
    Erradicar a pobreza
    Erradicar a fome
    Saúde de qualidade
    Educação de qualidade
    Igualdade de género
    Água potável e saneamento
    Energias renováveis e acessíveis
    Trabalho digno e crescimento económico
    Indústria, inovação e infraestruturas
    Reduzir as desigualdades
    Cidades e comunidades sustentáveis
    Produção e consumo sustentáveis
    Ação climática
    Proteger a vida marinha
    Proteger a vida terrestre
    Paz, justiça et instituições eficazes
    Parcerias para a implementação dos objetivos
  • Oportunidades de intercâmbio cultural e aprendizado

    Oportunidades de intercâmbio cultural e aprendizado

    Learning and practicing English, German, or Spanish. Exploring the culture of Spreewald and typical country life in Germany. Chatting with our friendly neighbors can really teach you a lot about real life in Germany. Daniel and I have both traveled extensively around the world, so we can always give ideas and tips. I cook international foods and classic dishes, so if you like to try new things and chat about all things possible, you will enjoy mealtimes. Berlin is only about an hour train ride (when it's not under construction) away for an easy day trip or weekend trip for people who want to explore the city. For those who like to stay in nature, there’s so much in the area to explore, including an artisan glass-blowing village or local factories and farms that give tours. You'll also learn about how to fix up a house, construction basics, and DIY projects. Depending on how long you stay, you'll likely learn a lot about yourself and new ways of seeing and living in the world by being around us and our diverse friends that come here to help.

  • Ajuda

    Ajuda

    This year indoors we'll mostly need to lay cables, prep walls to be redone/plastered, install flooring, sew things, refurbish old doors, paint, sand wood for stair steps and furniture, install baseboards, etc.

    Outside, tasks would include raking, weeding, evening mole hills, maybe reviving an old pond, trimming trees, splitting wood to dry/store, mowing, weed whacking, sorting through trash the former owners left to recycle as much as possible, etc.

    There's also just a constant accumulation of dust and piles of things left from workers and construction. It would be great to also have help keeping the upstairs clean and managing the mess downstairs so we can still keep doing tasks without it getting in the way.

    Although welcome, you needn’t have professional experience or expertise of any kind. All tasks are broken down into the simplest sub-tasks and we would show you how to do things the way we prefer it anyway (or the best way to do it given the limited tools we have at hand). There is never a right or wrong way to do things and as long as you’re open to learning and respect that there is sometimes a preferred way we have to do certain things, we’re good.

  • Idiomas

    Idiomas
    Alemão: Fluente
    Inglês: Fluente
    Espanhol: Fluente
    Thai: Intermediário
    Francês: Iniciante

    Este anfitrião oferece intercâmbio de idiomas
    If you have your own self-study materials, we can discuss and I can explain, teach what I can, or practice your English, German, Spanish, or Thai!

  • Acomodação

    Acomodação

    Individual rooms upstairs with shared living room, office loft, wintergarden, bathroom, and provisional kitchen. Big things are missing downstairs and little things upstairs. It’s still a ruin after all.

    There’s WiFi and a cuddly dog that always loves to play with new people.

    In terms of food, we can hopefully switch off preparing dinner, if you like to cook. We mostly eat vegetarian and try to generally eat lower on the food chain. We wouldn’t be able to accommodate a vegan or very picky eaters, unfortunately. There would be at least one big hot meal a day and whoever doesn't help cook must help clean. You’re expected to keep your own bathroom and bedroom clean as well, so as not to make more work for us, since we have quite a lot to do this year!

    I am asthmatic and allergic to cigarette smoke, so non-smokers please!

  • Algo mais...

    Algo mais...

    We really can’t manage people who have many particular needs or are very new to the practicalities of the real world or conscientious group living. It would be ideal to have people who are competent, motivated, communicative, and curious self-starters who can see that something needs to be done and can commit to starting and finishing the tasks well. It can be overwhelming to think of such a project and all it requires, but it just takes a determined and diligent chipping away at the tasks to keep it all from getting daunting. There’s so much to do and it feels so great to witness the little and big transformations you can make with your hands. We would love to have someone who can feel that and wants to be part of this story of finding something that was neglected and abandoned and contributing our knowledge and experience to leaving it better than we found it.

  • Mais alguns detalhes

    Mais alguns detalhes

    • Acesso à internet

    • Acesso à internet limitado

      Acesso à internet limitado

    • Temos mascotes

    • Somos fumantes

    • Pode hospedar famílias

  • Pode hospedar nômades digitais

    Pode hospedar nômades digitais

    We have wifi and can also set it up in the garden in summer.

  • Espaço para estacionar campervans

    Espaço para estacionar campervans

    We share our garden with friends in yurts, mini trailers, and vans on the weekend. There’s a compost toilet in the garden and a camper shower and provisional sink for those looking to sleep in a camper van in the middle of nature!

  • Pode aceitar animais

    Pode aceitar animais

    We love dogs, but are allergic to cats. Depending on if it’s indoors or outdoors, we can discuss!

  • Quantos Workawayers pode acomodar?

    Quantos Workawayers pode acomodar?

    Mais de 2

  • Meus animais / animais de estimação

    Meus animais / animais de estimação

    Rocky

Nº de ref. de anfitrião: 599573749334

Segurança do site

Comentário (19)



Comentário

Essas classificações são opcionais e foram dadas junto com os comentários dos membros.A classificação média deixada por cada opção é exibida.

Precisão do perfil:
(4.9)

Intercâmbio cultural:
(5.0)

Comunicação:
(5.0)

























Get a taste of farm life and help our family out in the countryside near Korbach, Germany
Learn about gardening and enjoy the natural beauty of Kleines Wiesental, Germany