A “new life”…

It has now been already several months since we moved to our new home. And whereas the location of the home itself is the actual one, the house we live in isn’t, as our whole process of obtaining permits as well as material and building was interrupted by a global pandemic. Our Tiny House was not only not yet ready to move into by July, but we haven’t even started building. Luckily a renovated sheep stable on the property made our plans to move mid July possible after all.

We found it to be a wonderfully welcoming space; bright, warm and – in it’s limited amount of square meters – so spacious! It is a huge step down from our 4-bedroom-apartment in Basel but still not quite at the small space where we are planning to end up on. Still I was prepared for that moment of overwhelmed silence the morning after the move. That voice that gets suddenly unbearably loud and says “what the heck have you done?! How could you have ever thought that all your stuff fits in here? One room? What’s wrong with you?!” That voice never came. Instead we woke up on the couch in the midst of untouched moving boxes at 6 o’clock in the morning with the sun rising over the fields right outside and Yuki climbing on the beam above our heads, catching flies. Nothing felt small or overwhelming. Somehow what we lost in actual space, we instantly gained in relaxation and possibilities. It was a magical experience.

Over the first weeks all or most of our material possessions found a new spot in our house. It is lovely to see, how little it takes for a space to feel like “yours” when it holds all the things that are familiar and have a meaning to you.

Of course the settling in in a new place (which we are still doing – my inpatient inner self starts to slowly accept that), far away from a lot of familiar things, smells, sounds and rituals came with it’s challenges and was and is, not without it’s little crises. Our little home, our sanctuary however always feels like a safe place to deal with those doubts and fears and gradually we both learn, that this is a normal and probably quite important part of entering a new chapter in life.

And so we, sometimes without even noticing, created new rituals and remodeled old ones to fit our new life. From passing phones and laptops up to the sleepingloft in the evening to Yuki jumping on the window sill to watch the chickens and ducks in the morning to harvesting salad leaves for dinner and cooking our pasta on a little camping stove outside of the house.

A lot of rituals were “forced” on us by the situation of our home. As we neither have a kitchen, sink, shower or toilet – all or most of those things require us to go into the main building. It is something I dreaded before the move. And while it is sometimes inconvenient, it has gotten a certain charm; like for example getting out with our basket full of dirty dishes when it is already getting dark and a nice breeze greets you. And to together plan your walks to the toilet because it is more fun than going alone is certainly a new ritual in our relationship.

New rhythms also include my regular departure to Basel for work and return 48 hours later. It is a interesting and at times intense experience, that let’s me feel the differences between those two worlds very strongly. The ride on the little red train through Jura landscapes let’s me ease in to both of them and inspires me to write, experience, listen to my favorite songs, breathe and be on my own.

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Staying in Basel let’s me connect and catch up with some of my kindred spirits in a dear old setting which is something I truly appreciate. Sam keeps Yuki company (and the other way around of course) and keeps things moving at home. He spends a lot of time in the garden, working and watching his series in the evening. The magic of spending some precious time on his own is something he newly discovered and appreciates as well. Because that is a special time not to be underestimated.

So so much is new and yet some things don’t change. New chapters now also help us to figure out, what “home” means. It is clearly always the place where you are right now (it is a saying and I have heard it before, but somehow now understand it again fully).

We would love to update you more about our actual Tiny House plans (as this is still a blog about our journey of building our own home from start to finish). There has for a long time not been that much to tell, but we still want to tell you all about the developments and now there is actually some big happenings. So we will tell you all about it in the following post 😉