english version

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Daniel Bosshart daniel_bosshart@gmx.net

Winterthur (Switzerland), October 2011

english Version Many thanks to Evelyn Schalgenhauff

who helped me out of my lost in translation

Thanks to all the people at the f!bda, Algiers Madame Dalila Nadjem

The algerian minister for culture The swiss embassy in Algiers,

Mr. Christian Scherrer, Mr. Angelo Stucker and Md. Nassima Hammouda

Pro Helvetia, Madame Caroline Nicod Cuno Affolter and Cla Werro

And all the people who accompanied me in thoughts

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english version

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Algeria ?!

WHEN I FIRST RECEIVED THE INVITATION FOR THE COMIC FESTIVAL IN ALGERIA, I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENED TO ME…

UNTIL THEN, I DIDN'T REALLY KNOW ALGERIA AND WHAT LITTLE I KNEW WAS ALL NEGATIVE…

Today it was told in the news that Ghaddafi maybe fled to

Algeria …

It they can organize a comic festival it couldn't

be that bad, could it?

Yes, exactly!

You will paint on the walls of your prison

cell and when Mr. Merz comes for your

rescue …

…But you will say you definitely had to finish these walls first..., please come

again tomor-row…

cancel the newspaper…

have my mail held

MY FRIENDS AND I TOLD JOKES THAT IF I DIDN'T GET KILLED, I CERTAINLY WOULD BE KIDNAPPED…

* Swiss Federal Council in the Gaddafi-case

Mr. Merz* will come to your rescue

Ah yes?!

back…

AS THE DEPARTURE DATE CAME CLOSER, THE MORE CONFIDENT I BECAME ABOUT THE TRIP.

«LEAVING IS ALWAYS A LITTLE LIKE DYING…» BECAUSE I DIN'T KNOW WHAT WAS AWAITING ME, I HALF-JOKINGLY, HALF SERIOUS PREPARED MYSELF FOR THE WORST CASE.

I need to take the originals of the book to the publisher…

prepare everything at the office…

… pay a visit to my parents...

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Well....

the t-shirts, socks and such weigh about two pounds … the pants

500 grams

the toilet bag another two

pounds ...

circa

With 23kg maximum weight

I could carry 14 books

a book weighs 700g... 23 deducted by 10.3…

that's about 12 divided by 700..., equals about 14

the suitcase is more than 3 kg…. maybe even 5kg?

oops

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…and the flight

leaves in half an hour ...

Holy moley, what a bad connection. I can hardly understand...

Your colleague said it wouldn‘t cost anything..!

well, then he gave you the wrong information…

myeah…

I should have guessed that the changing my reservation wouldn't work…and now

the e-mail came back…

What?!

Yes good morning… I wrote an e-mail last Saturday, I will

have to change my flight because I haven't received my visa so far…but

now I see that you didn't get my mail…

You're charging me more that

the ticket!

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Are you still here?!?

Didn't the visa arrive yet?

…sadly no…. But maybe I may

depart this evening if they manage to

organize the visa in Algiers…

…but at least now I have a story to tell…

What a way to start your trip...

...but it the visa doesn't arrive on Saturday, why

should it arrive on Monday?

...they certainly dont work on week-ends…

the funny thing is that if the visa came via mail today… I wouldn't get it, because my

mail is held back as of today…

Hello I have a

tiny prob-lem...

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.ah...finally an e-mail from the swiss embassy… and

the festival...

.mhmmm...what is she writ-ing: The Problem will be solved in one or the other way…well ok….

I think matters there are handled in a different way…

Yes indeed, here things get handled

differently

BEFORE THAT I WAS TOLD, THAT THEY COULD ISSUE A VISA ONLY THE NEXT MORNING…

Look... you can stay here

for the night …

ABOUT 15 HOURS LATER AT AROUND 00:30 A.M., AT THE AEROPORT OF ALGIERS…

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AT 2:00 A.M. AND LATER AT 04:00 A.M. A FLIGHT DEPARTED…

IT WAS GETTING COLDER BY THE MINUTE…

AT AROUND 07:00 A.M. THE HALL BECAME SLOWLY MORE LIVELY AGAIN AND A NEW DAY BEGAN...

AFTER THE LAST DEPARTURE THERE WERE ONLY STAFF IN THE HALL AND ONLY SOME CLEANING PERSONNEL WAS TALKING...

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I WAS POSITIVELY SURPRISED THAT SOMEONE LOOKED INTO MY Case…

Ah finally...

...BUT THE NOTHING HAPPENED FOR HOURS...

…A GOOD MOMENT LATER…

Are you Mr. Daniel Bosshart? With the request

for a visa?

Yes.

you already had your coffee sir?

…no I only have Euros to pay with…

Allright, I will fetch you one

This is very nice!

Yes... Are you from Switzerland?

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Hello Mr. Stucker*- Yes finally everything is fine, I just ar-

rived and now I am accompanied to town ...

WE RETURNED TO THE PASSPORT CONTROL WHERE I GOT STRANDED UPON MY ENTRY ABOUT 12 HOURS BEFORE…

*from the embassy

Stay here.

Come with me...

Yes…

Are you tired…?

…Yes a bit

Look! Now we can

say: Welcome to Algeria!

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Voilà the Hotel Safir.

Amine …and what‘s your name?

Thank you.

Hello! Are you at the

festival?

yes

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AFTER A SHORT BREAK WE WERE TAKEN TO THE VENUE WHERE THE FESTIVAL TOOK PLACE AND WHERE THE OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY HAPPENED.

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IT'S NICE TO MEET SO MANY PEOPLE HERE THAT SHARE THE SAME INTERESTS, WE GOT TO KNOW EACH OTHER QUICKLY…

have a seat!

THE VISITORS WERE VERY CURIOUS AND LIKED TO HAVE A PEAK OVER OUR SHOULDERS IT'S NICE THAT PEOPLE WERE DRAWING ALL

THE TIME AND THAT WAS JUST NORMAL AROUND THERE… Can I have

a look? Ah yes…

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IN THE MORNING AT 09:00AM WE LEFT THE HOTEL FOR THE FESTIVAL…

…AND ARRIVED BACK AT AROUND 08:30 P.M

…BECAUSE I DIDN'T SEE MUCH OF THE CITY, I TOOK THE CHANCE…

*-it‘s a little bit like in Brasil- ah yes…

*

Who wants to see the Basilika? Me!

Look at this!

No Littering! (Don't throw garbage in the landscape)

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MOST PEOPLE WERE SPEAKING ENGLISH AND FRENCH OF COURSE...

this wouldn't be possible in Swit-

zerland…

WITH EDUARDO PINTO BARBIER I COULD EVEN PRACTICE MY PORTUGUESE...

…SO I WAS HAPPY, WHEN I WAS ABLE TO SPEAK GERMAN FOR A CHANGE...

SOMETIMES I GOT CONFUSED BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES...

… I WAS FASCINATED AT HOW ALL THE BUILDINGS WERE WHITE AND THEIR WINDOWS AND SHUTTERS WERE ALL BLUE ...

Viktoria

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Lavaso, lavaso...? sounds oriental… hmm, that's proba-bly gonna be nice.

Lavaso… but it‘s a Lavazzo!!

Suag

r w

ith

a sp

oon

A coffee please

Lavaso or american?

…ähm I'm sorry, but I have only a 1000 Dinar bill

Ok…

But the change I wanna see it later

in my cash register

50 Dinar

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BEFORE I CAME TO ALGERIA, I ASKED MYSELF IT THE PEOPLE HERE WOULD UNDERSTAND MY STORIES, EVEN THOUGH I DON'T USE WORDS. BUT I THOUGH THE DIFFERENCES IN CULTURE AND

SOCIETY WOULD BE SO HUGE, THAT THE PEOPLE WOULD NOT UNDERSTAND MY IMAGES…

… I WAS REALLY SURPRISED BY THE OPPOSITE. IT SEEMED TO ME THAT THE STORIES DID OPEN THE HEARTS OF THE READERS, REGARDLESS OF WHICH CORNER OF THE WORLD THEY CAME FROM…

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ON FRIDAY THE STREETS LOOKED A BIT DIFFERENT...

This can‘t be!

now something became clear to me….!

… I thought: «Wow, the people on the embassy worked espe-

cially for me on sunday »

Friday here is like Sunday in Europe, the weekend is on Friday

and Saturday…

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Delegation!

ON THURSDAY WE WERE NOT TAKEN BACK TO THE HOTEL FOR DINNER…

THE DINNER WAS IN A VERY NOBLE HOTEL WITH MADAME MINISTER OF CULTURE OF ALGERIA… WE DIDN'T REALLY FIT IN AT

THAT PLACE…

… IT HAD ALMOST AS MANY WAITERS AS GUESTS...

What?

What‘s up?

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AFTER THE DINNER WE WENT TO THE TERRACE FOR A LITTLE DRINK…

Bye!

DURING THE NIGHT A THUNDERSTORM CAME UP…

What a pity!

THE RAIN FALLING ON THE WINDOW PANE IN THE BATH-ROOM SOUNDED LIKE SOMEBODY WAS TAKING A SHOWER…

* THUNDER!

*

ON FRIDAY A WEDDING TOOK PLACE IN THE ROOM JUST NEXT TO OURS AT OUR HOTEL…

This is traditional!

Hello!

Hello!

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* FROM THE EMBASSY

A WOMAN, WHOM I DIDN'T KNOW HAD MERCY ON ME AND HELPED ME WITH THE TRANSLATION …

THE NEXT DAY I SHOWED MRS. HAM-MOUDA* THE SWISS EXPOSITION…

…and here some artists…

…like Zep, Cosey…

…Iii…

…dont speak french…

Ah look!

She‘s the best in our school

…right! …what‘s here?

…right!

…a lighthouse

Thanks for your help

that‘s nothing…

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DURING THE DISCUSSION ABOUT SUPERHEROS THE GROUP RAN INTO SOME TRANSLATING DIFFICULTIES…

THE GROUP ALSO SUMMARIZED THE WEEK, WHICH I COULD ONLY AGREE WITH…

… well we saw that every student here is equal to every student in the U.S. - there is no difference! And so over all the differences, the social, political

and religion… the art of comic is equal I guess all over the world…

…I Know

I know

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Thank you for all!

IN THE EVENING OF THE CLOSURE OF THE FESTIVAL, WE WERE TREATED TO A SPECIAL DINNER OF A WHOLE SHEEP ON A SPIT…

AND SOON WE HAD TO SAY OUR GOODBYES AND BE ON OUR WAY HOME…

AND SOON AFTER…

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AFTER THE ADVENTURE DURING MY ENTRY I HOPED THAT THE DEPARTURE WOULD BE WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS…

STILL A LAST CONTROL OF THE PASSPORT AT THE GATE…

I REALLY NEVER EXPECTED THAT THEY HAD THAT KIND OF HUMOR…

That‘s good…

Ok.

Yes

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4-ème

Festival Inernational de la Bande dessiné Alger, bulles sans frontières

http://www.bdalger.net

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