15year old Brownie getting carried into our Destination after 30+ Hours on the Road mostly crammed in the car
An update for those following our Quest to make our Vision of a Real Life Bee-Sanctuary come true. For those wanting to know more about our situation you can check out our Fundraiser to find out how we ended up on this adventure.
Before we had set out on our long drive to Croatia,
We acquired an old 1987 Renault Express to help us transport all of our creative material/tools, personal belongings, 15 year old Labrador Brownie & 2 Royal Pythons to Croatia. We paid 1800Euro for the Car from our own small budget, additionally paid another 80Eur for a replacement battery to have her ready for the long journey. We intended on selling the small 2009 Mercedes CDI initially, but decided to hold on that, since that allowed us to use both cars to bring everything we really needed to start anew with us to Croatia, also we get to see how reliable the 1987 one is in the end, before selling the other one which is definitely in good shape.
If I can trust the 1987 Renault to be reliable, I would definitely keep that one, since being all mechanical with 0 electronics is in my eyes a tremendous bonus considering that it probably is really easy to work on for maintenance and repairs. The mercedes should provide us at least 5000Eur should we be able to sell it, which is a very welcome sum considering our current situation.
After a long & challenging journey, a drive of 1300km, we find ourselves safe & sound staying at the property we have chosen to buy. It is located in a remote village, in the north-east of Croatia. Surrounding the House is a Plot of Land of 1300m2 + on the other side of the street another plot of a little forest also +-1300m2. The House itself needs a lot of renovation, but the interior heart of the house, which is composed of a small kitchen, bathroom, storage room, and 2 additional rooms are livable. There is Electricity & Running Water, although we will have to add some more heating possibilities before the winter.
If all goes well on Tuesday, we are heading to the Notary to finalize the Sale. Which will cost us 22 000Euro + 300 in Notary Fees.
After almost 30+ Hours on the Road & Mostly Crammed in a Car, Brownie gets carried into our Destination.
Once that is done we will have to portion our remaining money wisely, since we will be left with about 1000 Euro to start fresh. We have already registered with some remote job searching sites & once we can settle into the house we will also be able to resume our creative works slowly, hoping that we'll find a way to make ends meet. We will also immediately start prioritizing our Garden so that we can reduce living costs by ensuring a good provision of vegetables & fruits from our own land, there is an old chicken coop which also looks usable if cleaned up, which definitely will give us the option to consider getting chickens as well.
The house is really a blank canvas in the state that it is in, which is absolutely exciting, since my favorite past time as a kid was building shelters in the woods, tree-house like platforms in trees, playing the art of creating my own living spaces. To me a Home was meant to be the Space where things Grow, a place of creation, the actual homes I lived in up to this moment in time, had never been my own, nor did they reflect what home was to me, namely a reflection of the inner home that is my own intimate Self & all my Precious Relations living in my Heart.
The homes of my childhood, the home I grew up in & the home I just got kicked out of. These did offer some sense of comfort & nurture on certain levels, but predominantly they were never truly safe places, nor really a home to which I belonged. It was a home of restrictions, a home in which creativity was frowned upon especially if it pertained to the house & property. I was told this is your home, our home, your garden, our garden, but whenever I would act as if it were, maybe feeling the urge to also plant a flower, just to run into conflict with infinite varieties of criticism in the flavor of: "that is the job of the gardener he knows how to do it professionally", "that is really not the spot you should have planted it", "why did you not plant a pink rose so that it fits with all the other pink flowers?" Eventually I got tired of all these conflicts & began restricting myself to my tiny bedroom, I did not care to do anything more, the entire house felt off-limits, but no matter how much I withdrew, the limits became tighter, now I was reprimanded for actually taking care of my own room, I was selfish for not letting my mother go in there whenever she pleases in my absence, to clean it according to her standards, I appreciate cleanliness since I did grow up in a house where you could eat off the floor, but her standard was merely: "if she didn't clean it, it definitely is not a good job."
So I must say I am quite in disbelief that now I will be the Owner of my own Home, a Home that is actually a Blank Canvas in which I can give myself permission to live freely within it, to help it come alive, to cultivate & grow the relations dear to my heart & a space of love, a space in which KPHI & I now also get to creatively explore our own relationship intimately together as we co-create this blank canvas into a reflection of all the things that we individually hold dear in our hearts, a space in which we can also grow together outside of the constant friction, distractions & interference's of others, grow together as in deepen the bridges that unite both our hearts, and grow together individually helping each other step into ever deeper levels of our unique authenticity.
At the moment I feel myself in a deep liminal space of twilight, a part of me can't wait to get started here, but also slightly tired & exhausted from the entire past month since the day we got told we have to leave our home. Tired of the entire paperwork that needed to be dealt with, since the whole endeavor started, really looking forward to finalizing the most important part this Tuesday. But the waiting has also forced me to patiently sit with my own impatience, patience to clean out the debris, clean out frustration, dissolve the past & integrate the bitter flavor of it, as fuel to produce sweetness in my life & not to perpetuate any of the themes that I left behind me in my old home. I feel vacillating between past & future, but both pointing with their messages though, that I should not be attached to either of them, remaining grounded in the present, keeping my discernment sharp, my awareness where it belongs. Trusting Life & Trusting God, while I consciously take one step after another true to my integrity & values, responsibly responding to whatever is here & now presented to me.
There was not much opportunity to make proper updates on our situation, but we will keep documenting our entire adventure as it progresses, if you resonate with our vision & would like to support us, any contributions to our Fundraiser will be of tremendous help, while also just sharing it with others is equally invaluable to spread the word.
by AEK, Shahanshah Artin
