Before I forget my question, let me begin with it:

Do you think that it would be a good idea to create 2 different sized calendars with my photography from around the world (or only from my time in California?)? Would you think about owning such a calendar to hang in your kitchen or office or to gift to somebody  at the next celebration worthy occasion? Your feedback here would be incredibly valuable. If you are a real life friend you could maybe throw a glance at my personal Facebook page to check my recent photographs for the once that I only post there and not here.

Please take a moment to help me plan this project. I’ll give you real life hugs and cups of delicious green tea or coffee in exchange when we next meet. Much love. x

But now to my letter for you guys:

Hello, 

I am sorry I am not doing great at keeping in touch with everybody, this nomadic life can be quite consuming and sometimes not all that much newsworthy happens. But in terms of updates I can report the following:

So far we have lived in San Francisco for 2 months, rented a garden cottage (aka a hobbit home) for another 9 weeks so far with just a little over a week to go before we will move yet again. On October 15th we will move back to San Francisco into another housesitting opportunity on top of Bernal Heights.

For the many who don’t know what Bernal Heights is: It is a neighbourhood at the edge of San Francisco, but central enough to make it possible to visit downtown San Francisco by bus and bicycle.

For a woman who travels often and has now lived on 3 continents (because Morocco technically still sits on the continent of Europe and not Africa, despite it being joined to the landmass of Africa much more immediately than it appear to be a part of Europe), for a woman who has now visited so many countries that it would take a few minutes to make sure I am not missing one in the counting.. For such a woman you would think that I was incredibly adaptable to new places. And yes, I am.. well.. apparently America and I don’t bond so well.

I can’t explain why each time that I am here I seem to be like oil on water, every usually simple activity or life solution becomes so insurmountable that a problem or life-hurdle will take me many times longer than anywhere else in the world to solve. I feel like I am truly a stranger here more so than anywhere.

Naturally wherever else I went I tended to arrive with a financial buffer, while my time in America is increasingly experienced through the interface of a relatively poor existence, with the accompanying concerns for dental health, for health in general, for basic surviving things.. Not trendy to speak about but very real concerns.

All of this in itself would not be so bad if it wasn’t for also leaning towards introversion.

Also we truly have had a lifetime’s worth of curious experiences here that feel like America would like to push us out if only it could. Despite all that: we are staying for many very good reasons; well, we are staying for a while longer.

I am in the process of signing up to become a language teacher through a website that matches teachers and students and it may be time to brush up again on my native German to impress some future students with. (My method is simple: indulge in many kilograms of German literature and many hours of German multimedia material: movies, documentaries, news shows and such)

I am hoping that taking on more digital based work will help create some more stability in my life where personal life and global events have created a lot of instability. As things stand it would be an incredible change of fortunes to just have an additional regular $500 a month pour into my life.

So the plan is to return to more teaching work, in person and online, languages as well as Art and yoga; to also develop my travel related photography and begin to dip my toe into selling some, which is why I thought calendars might be a great way to get started. I am not expecting a lot of financial gain from the first year’s calendars. Production costs are always high and I imagine I may make around $5 per calendar after print costs. But wouldn’t it be great to have my work hanging on a wall in your life for not-art-price-costs?

From now I also net to set clearer boundaries about the kind of space that I need to flourish and not allow us getting stuck in tiny spaces anymore. Our current place is adorable, but not really suitable for me typing this long letter to you at 1am, which it is now. Jason is tossing and turning and deserves his rest as he is currently the main breadwinner. But my letter writing mind doesn’t truly come alive until the ghosting hour.

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You know that we are currently living in the smallest space, right? It is barely the dimensions of one of those (now on trend) Tiny Homes. And I can report those dimensions are not workable for 2 grown adults with very different sleeping habits. For a while, I too was fascinated by this Tiny Home phenomenon, but it truly is madness. If one has a choice, then one needs a room of one’s own.

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Where does all this leave us now?

Well here you have it, an unfinished, work-in-progress letter to you.

I would love it to hear, read, watch a video from you, too. If you are less camera shy than I then maybe you can make me a youtube video! I would love that.

With love, and wish you were here (but not exactly here because we simply haven’t got the space..),

Birgit. x