Let me send my sincerest regards to you, wherever you are in quarantine, under lockdown or in any other virus-fighting modality, as long as it’s not the one where you deny reality. The good thing about this time is that everyone has more time to read. And even I, usually on the move quite regularly, am not at all unhappy about the enforced break. Finally, I have more time to write, especially as long as I will still be stuck on this island in the Atlantic.
Even once the travel restrictions will be lifted gradually, we won’t be able to travel around the world carelessly for quite a while. Ohh, wouldn’t it be great to know a globetrotter who can tell exciting, amusing and insightful stories?
Someone writes, the others read. I see an opportunity here. People could come together and stimulate each other. But whether you believe it or not, research and writing, editing and replying to comments, all of that takes a lot of time. Some of you have already rewarded my efforts from time to time, and I am extremely thankful to you. Not only because that sometimes finances a train ticket to Ukraine or the entrance to a museum, but especially because of the recognition. This is very motivating!
As one possibility (among many), I have opened a Patreon page. There, you can support artists and writers with a monthly contribution, which can of course be cancelled at any time. To allow more readers to participate, I have created three moderate tiers:
Somebody is going to say now: “Just go to work, you lazy slacker!” Of course I could carry crates at the harbor or draft lawsuits all day long. But then I wouldn’t have any time to write, because I would be exhausted at night. And there are many people who can handle court cases and crates just as fine as me. In the latter case, many who can do it much better than me, actually. But I am the only one who can write the articles and stories which you have been enjoying on this blog in exactly this way.
And by the way: Writing is serious work, often keeping me up all night.
Other travel bloggers get free flights and stays at hotels and other types of sponsoring. I don’t get anything, because I don’t write any high-gloss crap where everything is great and amazing and the sun always shines.
Instead, I descend into a silver mine in Bolivia with child laborers. Or, with a ration of only two Snickers bars, I test how the human body responds to altitudes above 5,000 meters. I meet the men who reaped enormous profits from the wars in Yugoslavia. I go undercover in the French Foreign Legion.
This is more than a travel blog. Much more.
I mainly try to portray people with whom you probably will never have a longer conversation. Like Sebastian, the homeless gentleman at the train station in Cluj in Romania. Or Immanuel, who walked up to me in the street, asking for a loan (and me being dumb enough to grant him one). Or the Mennonites in Canada, who live like in the 18th century, speaking ancient German.
But I am also frolicking around in other fields, like politics, law and history. I want to assume that most readers have come to my blog for the romantic short stories, but I know that in reality, many of you discovered me while seeking my expertise in German law. In which case, if you have found my advice helpful, I would really appreciate your support. You will rarely get access to a hot-shot lawyer for such a reasonable contribution.
And there is much more where all that came from. Plenty of notebooks have been piling up, impatiently waiting to be published
In exchange for that support, some writers offer a lot of gimmicks, but most readers have told me that you really want one thing: more articles. But if you do want a postcard, please let me know, and I will send you one from the next trip.
And do you know what we creative creatures really crave? When you share our articles on Facebook or on Twitter or through some convoluted Samizdat channels, when you send them to your Representative in Congress or Parliament, when you talk about them at the family dinner. Because we always want more people to read what we create.
Many thanks indeed,
Andreas Moser
Links:
- This is my page on Patreon.
- I have a similar page on Steady.
- All the ways to support this blog.
The Happy Hermit 
I don’t think I like being “Bourgeoisie”… we need a different name.🤔 “Bougie” is an insult amongst the people I know.🙊 Or maybe I just need to meet new people?😂
I don’t think anyone wants to be a proletarian or a capitalist, either. :-(
And I thought I was super funny and creative (plus the self irony by using my own photos). But I may have overestimated my readers’ penchant for Marxist terminology.
I had to look up “bougie” because I have never heard it before. And I just wanted to use a fancy term for “middle class”.
Maybe it’s not so bad… I taught you something new. I like that. Learning new things is good!😁
Oh, now that I checked my e-mails, I just saw it.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH for signing up as a patron!
Hello Andreas,
Thank you for your blog. I am confused, don’t know what I must do.
I am a Filipina and my longtime boyfriend is currently living with me here in the Philippines. We had have process our papers to be married in Germany last year. Then he said it’s all ok. I am actually just waiting for my A1 examination which supposedly happened on April but due to pandemic it was cancelled and for further notice when it will be again. He wanted to go back Germany for his medicines and other personal stuffS. My questions is, is it possible for me to apply any visa so I can follow with him? He wanted to comeback Philippines soonest. And by the way, we are not planning to live in Germany, we only want to get married there and be back here in PI. He already had a retired visa for Philippines.
Sorry for my complicated situation. Thank you!
As you have posted this question on the article about my Patreon page, I would really appreciate any kind of support for my blog.
Thank you!
Andreas- I’ve been following your content for awhile now. Sincere gratitude for the assistance you have given so many on topics that are clearly dear to your heart. Thank you for also for your frank and honest feedback.
I found a blog where you helped a few others out regarding Article 116 and the process to reclaim German citizenship by decent. I fall into the category of an ancestor who left prior to 1914 and no record found yet in the and had two questions I did not see addressed that I wonder if I could challenge your expertise on.
Ancestor moved to US from Germany in 1890 when he was 2 with his German citizen parents.
The father received disability payments from the German gov due to work injury in the mines near Essen. We know he received payments from the German government through his death in 1904.
1904- the father and mother both die when the son is 15.
If we cannot prove a record in the local Konsulatsmatrikel (German Embassy in Pittsburgh closed down). If the father and he lost his citizenship after residing outside Germany for 10 years- does this mean that it left his son stateless and a minor?
We have his (the son) US naturalization record dated March 1945- so we know he didn’t give up his German citizenship (if he thought he had it) till he was well into his 50s, and well after he had my mother (b. 1921).
Would it be worth while to
A- Still try to find a record in the Konsulatsmatrikel?
B- Try to find a record of disability payments for the father from the German government through his death in 1904? (Would this prove anything?)
C- Is it worth seeing if we have a way around this law if loss of citizenship left a minor stateless?
If you are still up for answering some of these questions- please let me know. Happy to make a donation if you want to direct me to the right place to do so. :)
Hello Jorunn,
thank you for your kind words!
I’ll be happy to look into your situation, but because it requires a bit of time and research, I would appreciate a donation of around 70 or 80 $.
You can either use my Paypal blog@moser-law.com or my bank account, which you find here: https://andreasmoser.blog/support-this-blog/
Thank you very much already!