A lot of people ask me or write to me what we are doing on the island and how we got to work. I’ll tell you this way ….
There are websites where you can register, fill in a profile, add a photo, and then locate to find out if someone needs help. It was our first email and answer was excellent. We didn´t wait for the day and we read the first lines of the answer: Hi, how are you? Good. (In the Czech language)
The first volunteering in Asia and we met someone, who was in the Czech Republic about 5 times (the last time in September 2017), knows a few cities around the country and likes Becherovka. And we got the information that one girl from our country is also volunteer. What more can we wish for…
https://www.workaway.info/
In fairy tales, it usually goes so that one day either Jack decides to go to the world for experiences, or the parents give him the suggestion that he will be independent or to find a bride. After some time, he finds a farm, where he promises to help to the farmer and his wife for accommodation and some food. It’s the same with us. Someone can say why I studied university, but the biggest and most useful school is LIFE ONLY! We work here with our hands but we don´t complain at all. We receive a great praise for each work done, we see a great gratitude in their eyes, and because we stayed here a long time, we have the bigger respect from the owner and his girlfriend. It was nice to hear that we aren´t only volunteers but a part of the family for them. It is much more for us than when you have a well-paid job and you work with anger, irritation, and everything makes that you are more and more tired.
We have a daily programme such that we get up when we want. After breakfast, we sit and talk with other volunteers, and then everyone goes to work. It also depends on how you have access to work. In our case, nobody needs to tell us what we have to do. When we see something needed to be done, we will do it automatically. We don´t expect that somebody to tell us. Owners appreciate it!
What we did from 3.12. until 30.12. 2017?
Nikča
- To plant 12 palms
- To wash windows in 8 rooms
- To paint and to wash 6 bathrooms in bungalows
- To clean up 6 rooms
- To paint room for owners and volunteers
- To paint the door to public showers
- To wash public showers
- To repair and to fill holes in walls, around drawers, and around the sink in several rooms after local workers
- To paint the public bathroom
- To clean the brick wall
- To clean and reorganize an outdoor kitchen
- To scratch floors in 2 rooms after dry glue and color
- To take care of a sick cat and five kittens
- + Daily maintenance of the complex
Martin
- To produce 4 wooden grates of beds
- To produce wooden keyrings
- To produce 2 wooden goats for work with wood
- To produce 4 picnic tables made of wood
- To check 30 pallets and to sort old wood by quality
- To remove the nails (2 buckets) of all pieces of wood before further processing
- To renovate all pieces of wood
- To install the heaters into 4 showers
- To repair all drawers in showers after local workers
- To repair and to plug the electricity after local workers
- To repair and to plug the water after local workers
- To repair locks at all doors
- To seal installed WCs after local workers
- To create a digital design of the planned outdoor kitchen and bar
- To build 2 shelves into the rooms
- To paint two doors
- Every day, the water pump must be pumped minimum three times and he has to open the water (about 1 km from the complex)
- + Daily maintenance of the complex
The result: I can say that we could establish a company like HANDY HUSBAND and HANDY WIFE or to open our own RESORT! It is a really good job when we are here less than a month, but it is true that we often hear that we work hard and we should take more time off. I work a little less because I have to cook or edit photos and write new articles. Martin usually answers that the job is very relaxing because he’s enjoying it, he can do it on his own with no time limitation. Martin is a big boss for other people here. The owner hired 2 boys (21 years old) as Martin’s helpers who received the information that they have to do exactly what Martin needs and when Martin says that their work is bad, they will do it so that he likes it. Martin cares about all the complex and when there is a problem, everybody goes for Martin, not for the owner. Martin has a big respect from all neighbors.
How do local people (workers from Bangladesh, India, etc.) work?
So that’s a really funny topic. In our case, we work in the morning when weather isn´t so hot. There is a pause over noon and then we work later in the afternoon. We could see a group of 5 workers here. They did 2 rooms (public showers and bathroom) – concrete tiling and they did that about 14 days. In the morning around 10 o´clock, one worker of the group arrived, he saw that he is alone so he left. Sometimes it happened that he sit in the gazebo and played the game. All of the group came around 11 o´clock. They talked together for half an hour, then went to lunch, and they started to do something around 1 o´clock. During the day, they usually managed to make a huge mess and they were able to overlay around 5 tiles per day. And before we arrived, they built a wall in the bathroom that was totally curved. Later, we found out that they didn´t even know what the word SPIRIT LEVEL is and what it is used for. I only said that PAT and MAT are much better than all of the group.
One sick mother and five kittens
We also had to care about less than 2 months old kittens and sick mother Peggy. She is PREGGY at the moment because she is pregnant again. Every day I have to applicate her hair with a special powder and lubricate the dry + the most affected areas with a cream. She isn´t happy about at all, just like me, but I learned how to grab and hold the cat so she can´t run away – unfortunately, she was sometimes a bit smarter and I got a scratch from her claw.
As for kittens, you may want to know if they have any names. Yes, they have names. But the previous volunteers knew only names of the food in Malay and the names are as follows:
IKAN = fish
TELUR = egg
ROTI = fried pancake
AYAM = chicken
PS: You can see only 4 names here (this is because I can not remember the fifth name and no other names know it), but maybe you will know it once 🙂
