First I need to say: if you know me than you know I am an American artist living in Bremen, Germany since 1999. If you don’t, than I’ll tell you I came here as a hopeless romantic for love. A love that lasted 14 years… and than some. Anyway, I’m here, and now divorced living a life I had always hoped for, but never expected.
For years, after my marriage ended (having spent a stint in berlin and a longer one in Edinburgh) I’ve been searching for a job that made sense. I tried bars (16 years), in music – production management, tour management and I even managed a Café. I gave it all up to make art… and it worked out for my soul, but not always my pocket.
In June of 2019 I was broke. Being the starving artist and devoting my life to it, wasn’t paying out (that’s why „starving“). I wasn’t sure how I was going to pay my rent let alone food. Fortunately, one of my 7 housemates said “Maggie, don’t worry! It’s ok if you can’t pay for food for a while. It will be fine” I was worried, though. I had moved into an amazing home with adults who were doctors, professors – professionals. They wanted a life of sharing and being together and took me „the Artist“ in their world. I wanted to equally share in my new home – with my new family. I didn’t want to take advantage of the Solidarity… I was frustrated and scared. But in me I believed strongly a good job will come along… everyone thought that was crazy until my friend Tobi visited with his amazingly intellectual und witty girlfriend and changed everything.
“The toilets are disgusting, the food is shit and the work can be stressful, but the boss is cool and the coworkers are great” (not an exact quote, but you get the idea). What did I have to lose?
1 month later I started making little bushes and ducks for what is to be the largest model train in its size in the world. It was stressful, but paid well… and the boss was cool! I took my time getting to know the colleagues, but now I have another family!
Finally out of debt and enough savings I can travel properly! Car rentals and staying in a b&b. Honestly, I Have no problems with traveling with 0 money on my account. Life is short and I want to experience it. If I want to go somewhere, I’ll find people to stay with… I’m rarely a „tourist“. I follow the locals. I like to see where they go, what they do. Old man bars are usually the best to understand the social history and culture… plus, old men can be loads of fun!
This blog is about sharing my trips and my experiences on my travels. I’m not a journalist and as you see, I’m grammatically a disaster (comes from living in another country for 20 years) … but I like sharing and it makes it easier when I return to avoid telling the same stories over and over – which can become quite boring.
I’ve been all over Europe and North America, next year will be Vietnam and Japan. Right now I’m heading back home to the states. I’m going to travel through Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Texas and California… We’ll see what happens – what strange creatures and situations I will encounter… I’ll add photos and write when I find it noteworthy and find the time. See you later in the netherworld!
The Cat’s Travels 