Unexpected Encounters While House Sitting

Our housesitters often share some of their encounters while house sitting, and we love how their diverse professional backgrounds impact the stories they share and how they tell the stories. In this article, Kelly Hayes-Raitt a retired journalist, and one of our regular housesitters shares an unusual encounter she had while house sitting in Lisbon, Portugal.

unexpected conversation while house sitting and walking a dog — I’ve had some remarkable encounters and experiences with people while housesitting in fascinating locations

Photo Credit – Thirdman

Happenstance and Some Unexpected Encounters While House Sitting

I’ve been house sitting since 2008 – 17 years! (How is that possible?) The savings in housing costs allowed me to forge a new career as a freelance journalist and writer. Additionally, through house sitting, I’ve had the opportunity to report extraordinary stories from “on-the-ground”. It’s fun to share some of these encounters while house sitting.

Syrian Refugee in Berlin, interviewed by Kelly Hayes Raitt — Syrian refugee Ahmed, a pharmacist, stands in a Berlin government courtyard waiting for his asylum registration number to come up

Photo Credit – Kelly Hayes-Raitt

For example, while house sitting for two bunnies in Berlin at the height of the Syrian refugee crisis, I volunteered at an intake center and interviewed refugees for a column I wrote for a Los Angeles newspaper.

Boy scout from Los Angeles that Kelly Interviewed — I met and interviewed a Boy Scout from Los Angeles who was in Japan for the Scout’s international jamboree and was visiting Hiroshima’s Peace Park with his father

Photo Credit – Kelly Hayes-Raitt

The month before, I secured a house sit in Osaka for some feral cats that allowed me to travel overnight to Hiroshima and Nagasaki to report on the 70^th commemorations of the atomic bombings of those cities. I interviewed a Boy Scout from Los Angeles who was in Japan for the Scout’s international jamboree and was visiting Hiroshima’s Peace Park.

And I attended and wrote about a powerful exhibit of photographs of articles of clothing that people were wearing when the bomb struck.

Clothes shown in an exhibition to commemorate those who died in Hiroshima after the atomic bomb explosion — I wrote about the exhibition – Michel Aguilera used calotype photography to immortalize the clothes worn by civilians who died during the bombing of Hiroshima

Photo Credit – Kelly-Hayes-Raitt

While house sitting in Mexico, I wrote about the steady stream of Honduran refugees who were dangerously traversing the country to reach asylum in the United States. I organized a fundraiser for a refugee shelter in Guadalajara.

Recent Unexpected Encounters While House Sitting

But sometimes house sitting offers more simple, unexpected, life-changing encounters.

Recently, while house sitting in Lisbon, the elderly dog and I decided to rest on a park bench
to watch other dogs cavorting. The young woman sitting next to me asked in English if it
was OK to pet my charge. As if on cue, Ellie, the 13-year-old smart, gorgeous dog, edged
toward the young woman for some loving.

Meeting Yaraslava in Lisbon

“I need this today,” she said. “It was a tough day at work.”

“But today was a holiday,” I remarked.

“I’m Ukrainian,” she replied. “We don’t have holidays.”

“Oh…” I asked about her family, her work, her life now. That opened a torrent of emotional
outpouring. All the while, Ellie sat at her knee accepting the ear scratching.

When we Glimpse Other People’s Lives

Eventually, Yaraslava apologized for the monologue and repeated that she’d really needed
the dog-love because of her difficult day.

“What happened?”

“The father of a good friend disappeared a year ago. He was on the front. Today, she got DNA confirmation that he died.”

She swiped tears. “And it was just a hard day at work.” She’s an executive assistant for a CEO of a Ukrainian start-up.

“And it was hard to see the news reels of Putin getting the red-carpet treatment from Trump when he arrived in Alaska.” Her tears overflowed.

I started to tear up.

I handed her a Kleenex. “Can I hug you?”

It’s incredible how powerful a hug is. She relaxed into my shoulder accepting the support before regaining her composure.

Yaraslava told me that back in Kyiv she could detect by their sound when specific bombs would hit. “Oh, this one. We have two hours before it hits, I should sleep now.”

Remembering my Professional Travels as a Journalist

encounters while house sitting — Interviewing an Iraqi refugee outside a medical clinic in Damascus. I wrote about her during my journalistic career

Courtesy of Kelly Hayes-Raitt

I understand. I‘ve spent time in war zones. In 2003, I visited Iraq with a women’s delegation just five weeks before the U.S.-led invasion. I returned a few months later to find the people who had touched me so deeply during that first trip, (I reported live via satellite phone from the dusky rooftop of my hotel for KNBC-TV, KFWB radio and KFPK).

Yaraslava and I marveled at how quickly and weirdly one acclimates to gunfire. My first night in occupied Iraq, gunfire erupted nearby. The sound dramatically reverberated through my body. After that, I simply didn’t hear the explosions anymore.

Damn this bomb…

“It’s at the point where we say, ‘Damn, this bomb is going to interrupt my lunch.’” Yaraslava rolled her eyes. “We don’t think about it ending our lives. Everything is interrupted…”

She paused. “You don’t realize how much stress you are under until you leave the country for a few months.”

Ellie nudged Yaraslava’s hand to prompt more focused attention. We chatted for nearly an hour, during which she and Ellie became good buddies. “I really needed this tonight,” she cooed once again to Ellie.

She’s 24. Ellie and I walked her to the edge of the park. As we parted, I said, “No 24-year-old should have to deal with all this. No one of any age should…But no 24-year-old should!”

“We have a saying,” Yaraslava told me. “Most 24-year-olds go to parties. We go to funerals.” She bent to give Ellie one last face rub and disappeared down the street.

find a free house sitter — Photo by Kelly Hayes-Raitt

Although Kelly Hayes-Raitt has now relocated to Portugal, she can’t get house sitting out of her system! She has cuddled pets throughout the world and is the author of How to Become a Housesitter: Insider Tips from the HouseSit Diva, available in soft cover and kindle on Amazon.

Fancy housesitting as a way to travel and see the world? Join as a Housesitter like Kelly and visit all kinds of new places while caring for a homeowners pets and home. You’ll be a amazed at what the collaboration will offer you and what you could see while house sitting.