Blog — Mosaics

"Spoiled, white, middle class, male European" in Guatemala

19 August 2021, Jürg Messmer

Wow, nicely written diary!!! How about if I say you are living a life of a "spoiled, white, middle class, male European" in Guatemala??? Any thoughts??? Worth writing!!! 😝😝😝

A bohemian in Guatemala

5 August 2021, Jürg Messmer

I laughed out loud when an old friend (an artist, with a meager pension) from Switzerland told me that I was leading the life of a bohemian; probably simply because I emigrated to Guatemala, which must be very strange for most, I admit.

Answer

10 July 2021, Jürg Messmer

Who doesn't know them, those moments when you hope for an answer, an answer to all questions, or even the One!

Quite simple!

3 May 2021, Jürg Messmer

Life is very simple. Yes, even love. Oh God, I know how complicated it all can be.

The frog who wanted to be a authentic frog

28 March 2021, Jürg Messmer

Since I published the two stories "Faith and the Mountains" and "The Dinosaur" by Augusto Monterroso, I have not been able to rest. Outside Latin America, these mini-stories (translated) have generally not been received as well as I had hoped or expected. "Depressing", or "what is he trying to say?", or "how do you interpret these stories?". I was speechless, even disappointed, and almost willing to try quick and reassuring interpretations. I didn't. The stories simply belong entirely to the reader, I cannot imagine that Monterroso had seen it otherwise. A testament to this might be "The monkey who wanted to write satire" ("El mono que quiso ser escritor satírico").

Tags: Short-stories

The dinasaur

24 March 2021, Jürg Messmer

That same evening, as we sat in Café La Luna, sharing a pizza and reading short stories by Monterroso - who had inspired me to try to write, for once, a hopefully cheerful and short story entitled "Faith and the Mountains" - Vivian also showed me this probably shortest mini-story in the world, also by Monterroso. This fantastic text made me laugh again, perhaps because I didn't understand it very well. Perhaps the beauty of it lay in the fact that I didn't have to understand the text completely. It was only when I tried to translate it that I realized how difficult it is to translate such texts, and what can happen and get lost in the process of translation and understanding. Vivi told me that this short text had inspired many a long analysis, including master's thesis.

Tags: Short-stories

Faith and the Mountains

21 March 2021, Jürg Messmer

To make a long story short: Vivian and I sat in the Café La Luna in Xela, ordered a glass of wine each and tried to distinguish between the Cabernet Sauvignon and the Merlot with a blind test, which didn't really work, not even for me, the acknowledged and quite experienced wine-blind-tester :-) And so it happened that she finally drank the Cabernet Sauvignon, and I the Merlot, although I traditionally would have aimed for the Cabernet Sauvignon, but then preferred the other. So in the end deciding was simple, and we both got what we wanted. Well, I also wanted to smoke a cigarette, and asked her for permission - with a slightly guilty conscience as always, but also with a mischievous charm, hoping that she would bear my absence well, so left alone as a woman. And it worked out fine. When I returned from smoking on the street, she had been looking for short stories, and had found this one to share with me. She let me read it aloud, in spanish.

Tags: Short-stories

Porn Willi's wild desire for life

6 March 2021, Jürg Messmer

When a friend told me this story about Porn-Willi, I laughed out loud, greatly relieved for a moment. But I was also very upset that no one seems to see the world as he does anymore, maybe we are not even allowed to do so, and somehow well-educated people seem to be more affected. Immediately I thought about drafting a law, which would promote a view beyond the pure number mechanics that are ruling science and politics right down to health and "life". But, of course, I failed to do so - as usual - ran out of steam, and decided to simply tell this story. No, not neatly scientifically recorded facts, cleaned up for statistics, but simply a story. And even Porn-Willi would tell it differently again.

A painted history

19 January 2021, Jürg Messmer

A few days ago I discovered this painting, right above the armchair where I enjoy the early morning hours in peace every day, drinking some hot coffee, smoking my peace pipe, and where I write as usual. But this often still in the dark, so I had never paid attention to this picture.

2020 Revisited - Best Moments

3 January 2021, Jürg Messmer

This morning, a friend shared a video in a chat group that promised a funny clip about "Best Moments of 2020", with a simple click on arrow. I clicked Play! ... but nothing happened. Not a thing.

A little smoker story

27 December 2020, Jürg Messmer

The second to last cigarette in my pack, at 10 o'clock in the morning! Already breathless at the thought alone. A nice short walk is announced. Smoking does move some.

The flower and the sidewalk

20 December 2020, Jürg Messmer

Oh, what an early morning waking up to a brand new day, and freshly inspired! And that after a night of a short but deep sleep, an exception in the past few weeks, passing through many threatening insecurities, with few certainties like hope, as I have been travelling through a world afraid of the virus called Corona.

Tomorrow I'm gonna have fun with an entertaining guy

19 December 2020, Jürg Messmer

The title of this text, Vivi put it in my head yesterday. Originally it was a bit different, sharper, but we immediately forgot about it, and finally agreed on this one. Her wish is my command. ¡Estamos para servirle!

The wisdom of decision

16 November 2020, Jürg Messmer

I have known this proverb for a long time, and it always has excited me, while remaining a mystery, including giving me a headache sometimes! Sinéad reminded me again. She put a newspaper clipping in front of me because she had stumbled across this text in various media over the last few days. A quotation from the Book of Prayers and Services for the US Armed Forces during the Second World War. The Irish Times writes in its Church Notes section, "that it speaks well to our fears in these troubling and challenging times":

Am I right here?

12 November 2020, Jürg Messmer

"Are we at the right place here?", "Where do you want to go?" "I don't know..." Hopefully someone simply points in the right direction and says, "Go there".

Relatively independent

4 November 2020, Jürg Messmer

In my case, being independent never really works out so well. Maybe because I move all the time, and constantly depend on somebody. Not to speak about the leaves and the oxygen. So it's no miracle that I have a lot of troubles using words like "independent", and the even more daring "free", also challenging my mind. But of course that's only my very own and personal difficulty. In this sense, I am probably exactly the independent and free solid human being, that I refuse in the very same breath.

God, the rock, and the leaf

31 October 2020, Jürg Messmer

Which one should I start with? With God, even again with his son? The rock, the one in the surf? Or the leaf in the wind?

The Lord of the Dance

28 October 2020, Jürg Messmer

It's my party, I can do what I want to! So let's dance 🕺🏼💃🏻

The fourth month - the illusionist

20 October 2020, Jürg Messmer

This morning I woke up late, at 7am, not very Protestant. But I was fine, although I had already wasted some of my most precious time of the day. When Sinead came into the kitchen, she quoted something to herself, as a lyric, but I heard the tune immediately and started singing: "I can see clearly now, the rain is gone". That it was Jimmy Cliff who had sung the song first didn't really occur to me. I was simply happy and played the song on my mobile phone. And I knew it fit perfectly: I "see the obstacles on my way", "the rain is gone".

The third Month

24 September 2020, Jürg Messmer

Carly Simon sings "You’re so vain" - forever. I had not even listened to the words when her song played on the stereo in Frieda’s car driving to Beara Penisula the other day. But now I suddenly remembered the song, including the main lines. And it’s true, I am one of these guys who feels often personally spoken to when listening to a song, as if it was a message directed only to me. Yes, I'm vain, full of myself. I'm tempted to say: we are all so vain. But that’s not the point.

The Second Month

9 September 2020, Jürg Messmer

Somehow this book "Holes" (by Louis Sachar) has caught my attention: the story of a boy who is sent to a camp for juvenile delinquents because he had been convicted for stealing the sneakers of a famous baseball player, even though they had simply fallen from the sky onto his head. But since nobody believes this heavenly story, this innocent unlucky fellow has no choice but to admit the theft.

Ireland - the first month

8 August 2020, Jürg Messmer

More than a month has passed since I set foot on Ireland, a place where I originally planned to visit for one or two weeks only. And it’s a good place to be, in spite of the rain. Actually the weather suited my state of mind. It had felt like rain had been falling on my head for quite a while. Covid-19 has pretty much fucked up my plans and it seems there is no end to it. A few days ago I talked to Anna and realised that not much has changed since we talked last, I’m still not welcome in the States, and the situation in Guatemala is not much different, nor in Mexico, another country that I have planned to pass by bus once more, to cross the borders on foot again, one more time in the opposite direction of most migrants and refugees that are coming up from the South to the North - at least in “normal” times.

What's allowed is right

3 May 2020, Jürg Messmer

It's Easter Sunday! I thought about it, also because my long-time teacher and confidante in Guatemala had looked at the rough version of this text (in Spanish) and wrote me, you are absolutely right! and also, I understand you!
In the second part of her message, however, she had struck a subtly different note, which I immediately felt was a reprimand. Rightly I understood this as a reminder! I also thought, as so often, of that person with whom I keep getting into a fight over subjects like health and rules. Both voices are important to me.

Esteemed Will!

1 May 2020, Jürg Messmer

What a title for a text in a travel blog? Surely not something like that again, where at the end you don't know where your head is at anymore and wonder why this text has exactly this title now. I’m trying to improve!

Dear friends in Traverse City, Happy Easter!

10 April 2020, Jürg Messmer

How strange, these times of the corona virus! Addressed and identified as Covid-19, for solid strategic purposes it seems - as if we were in times of war! How strange we are, we human beings, we share so many things, and are unique at the very same time. I have always been wondering how these so different perspectives can go together well, or even whether they need to be pacified?

Why not dream?

30 March 2020, Jürg Messmer

Life is a dream. A nightmare now and then, I have to admit. But we are free to do, good or bad, depending on our point of view, even under the conditions of these corona virus times. We are part of the conditions and we are determining them at the same time. We can rest, stay calm, get excited, be paralysed or keep moving.