mercredi 28 décembre 2016

Kind of request sent to a NYC host

  

 (I was advised by various people to get a couch in NYC I should insist

and that by writing “good requests” “it” would happen. Really? But this is theory. It takes about half-an-hour to write a decent request and the one below did not even receive an answer.  People who advise you to do so have usually only references from new and young members very unlikely to write themselves "correct requests". I know it by experience. Requests are mere filters which show the age and the gender and the rest is usually indifferent. For the very few people who accept guests over 40 you need to hit the right nail (taste) out of 20/40, like going to the casino.) and pray your request and your profile will be attractive enough.)

"Hi Daniel


How are you? 

My l name is Jean; I am a 65yrs and a retired French teacher. Before enjoying life in Mexico I love (I could tell you hours about it) I used to live in France near Paris. I will be in New York City between January 10th and 20th and I am looking for couches in the city.


I was in New York twice, last time in 2002. I am in love with the city, whether the touristic point the view, the artistic point of view, the great variety of food I enjoy so much and the real great vibes from the people. Sometimes I definitely feel the city is like another world.


 I liked your sentence:"To meet surfers who look and think different from me." Actually this is a problem for me since I think different from the mainstream people in many fields it is hard to make lasting friends. And this is even truer sometimes in Couchsurfing.


While in NYC I would like to visit the Metropolitan Museum, see some musicals like Cats and Bronx Tale, to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, eat Italian, Jewish, Chinese-American food and more... I would like to walk and or by bus to El Barrio, check the Highline and dream with nostalgia if there is anything left from my last trip. These are only a few ideas… 

Of course if you are kind enough to host me I could cook you and friends if you wish some French diner.


Happy New Year


Thanks


Jean"

Another request model letter

Hi ...!

How are you?
My  name is Jean, I am a 65yrs retired French teacher and I live in Mexico City. I will be in New York City between January 10th and 20th and I am looking for couches in the city.
I was in New York twice, last time in 2012. I am in love with the city, whether the touristic point the view, the artistic point of view, the great variety of food and the real great vibes from the people. Sometimes I definitely feel the city is like another world.:.)
Among various interests in common we share the love of chocolate, wine and arts. I would enjoy as well having you as a guide for one or more walks in the city. I like to visit seriously the Metropolitan and go to some musicals like Cats or Bronx Tale.
If you are kind enough to host me I won't forget some mezcal (the old CS tradition lol) and I may cook some French (even simple) food if interested.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Thanks

Jean

The Men's Rights Initiative and Sza Sza Gabor

"As the entertainment world marks Zsa Zsa Gabor's passing, they completely fail to call out her misandry. Gabor had nine husbands, including hotel magnate Conrad Hilton and actor George Sanders. Sanders later committed suicide. She speaks for herself here. Society may think it's cute. What if a man proudly said similar such things?"


vendredi 9 décembre 2016

Back from America


Dreaming in Paris 
Here is the story of a past trip in 1971/1972 to the US and Mexico City. (A story, not a thread)
I do not remember having reading "On the Road" before leaving for the USA in September 1971 even though I had been dreaming of it for so long. I must confess as well I did not know about the beat culture ignored in those days in France as well as the hippie world and culture. Maybe because it was hardly reaching the old continent except England, Holland and Germany that were already enjoying it? The Woodstock concert was far away from the Latin Quarter demonstrations…
In France it is only in 1972 when Maxime Leforestier a young singer back from California "opened the window" and let some fresh air in with his iconic song "San Francisco".He was telling us about an old blue house uphill in San Francisco were anybody can get in freely and live his life, play the quena, dream, smoke. The song was seen as an authentic anthem to an alternative and free life and it was. Maybe this song influenced me more than any other books or movies. I was already tired with conservative petit-bourgeois in France, it was time to leave.
(The San Francisco song is not played by its original interpreter but here you get the English subtitles:
Original version and real nice pictures but no subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po1VALnnaNY

                                                       ********************************
Planning (I)
So, once the decision was taken it was time to think about the concrete issues. Actually what determined me is the cheap flight: PANAM, TWA, Air France were definitely out of reach!!
I heard about Loftleidir (the Icelandic Airlines) offering real low prices for transatlantic flights. Loftleidir was not a IATA company, they were paying very few taxes and gas was still very very cheap (US$3 a gallon). The Airlines became very popular with students, young intellectuals who flew with it, the Clintons (separately in those days!) did it!.The company was soon referred as "Hippie Airlines" or even the “"Hippie Express"". Between Luxembourg and New York City there was possibility for a stopover in Reykjavik without supplement. At last, with Loftleidir you did not have to buy both ways at the same time, you could pick up your return date when needed!
What we needed to travel back then? As usual, but things were simpler. A simple backpack, a sleeping bag, a sheet. We would not travel with tons of clothes nor cosmetics. There were no guidebooks for backpackers ! Only by chance I found one a few days before leaving: “A Student Guide to North America and Mexico”. It was a thin two hundred pages small book with some local touristic tips, and some very cheap hotels and restaurant addresses. This was supposed to be my road gospel, some kind of primitive Lonely Planet...
There was one important administrative point to settle before leaving and not a small one: the US visa, compulsory in these days. The visa was delivered by the American consulate, near Place de la Concorde. We had to fill up an application in which about twenty questions were asked all of them supposed to be answered by the negative. 
- Have you ever belonged to a communist organization, are you a Nazi or did you participate in a genocide, have you ever been to Cuba, North Vietnam or North Korea, are you suffering epilepsy or tuberculosis or mental disorder, have you ever been condemned for a crime, are you a drug abuser, have you falsely claimed to be a US citizen... and many more of the same kind…. 
Since it was not my case I was able to recover my passport two weeks later with a big multicolored five year visa covering one full page.
Ready!
                                                   ******************

jeudi 8 décembre 2016

  It is obvious that Cuba was all the contrary of a democracy with hundreds, thousands of political prisoners, zero election or  with 100 % in favor of the "Lider Maximo" and friends, corruption and an unbelievable misery. But yet desperate people need icons and since no new  Andre Gide wrote some kind of a "Return from Cuba" millions of idealists remained with their (dangerous) illusions.




mardi 6 décembre 2016

No: time does really exist!

Does time exist?

of course it does, with or without clocks, even your body is a clock.

 Who became the slave of time? At least not me nor most people I know.

Life is a cycle, we accept it or not, it does not change much.






mardi 22 novembre 2016

A new step for the blog and communication

Hi friends

From now on comments for  the blog postings are allowed. Quite normally they are all subject to moderation.  
Hope you enjoy!


Mexican homeopáthy

This "pharmacy" is located in a market not too far from my home. I was not interested in any cure (fruit juices) against  the listed sicknesses but I asked for one to reduce sensitivity.

("Cida" (sic): AIDS, "riñon": kidney, "higado": liver, "riuma": rheumatism.)



samedi 19 novembre 2016

"Stephen Hawking believes the future...

...of mankind lies away from Earth."
But anyway it is not going to happen in a near future so...





mercredi 16 novembre 2016

All the rest is litterature... :-(

So many intellectuals (but not only true) abstained or voted Trump. People who pretend to be progressists, democrats, liberals...etc. to defend the opressed ones...




jeudi 10 novembre 2016

mercredi 9 novembre 2016

Anyway we get drunk! (Charlie Hebdo, May1974)

Frontpage of Charlie Hebdo in May 1974 right before the presidential election  between rightist Giscard and social-democratic Mitterand. 
Mitterand won with 51,76%  of the votes against Giscard (48,24%).

Anyway we get drunk: of fury, of joy!

mardi 8 novembre 2016

In the meantime in Russia

Why only in Russia...? In most of the world actually.


The calvados bottle to " recycle"

 
Here is the bottle with a wooden figure to "recycle", my little treasure filled up with brown rhum  so that the figure does not dry.
Obviously difficult to take the pictures with a basic camera...




jeudi 3 novembre 2016

Michelin woman?

"In winter there are two kinds of people: those who are cute and those who are warm."


samedi 29 octobre 2016

Pour Papa et Maman

In sweet remembrance...of my parents, their picture on the top of the Altar(tradition)
With some of the items they used to like or Mexican traditionnal ones: a coffee cup, fruits, a small Michelin guide, a Jewish calendar, "Herbes de Provence", chocolate skulls, the traditionnal flowers and more... In these problematic days I added a blue-white-red garland...


LOVE LOVE THIS CARTOON!!

I  find it HI-LA-RIOUS!

The caption says (more or less): "How fucking great is the Chinese wall!"


lundi 24 octobre 2016

"I refuse to hate" (There is a second humoristic picture)

"The last line is the only one that really matters."

(From Facebook)



Below the second picture to which my second message is alluding to:


mardi 18 octobre 2016

Brave New Kids

(Maybe we had something like this previously but...)

+ Only casher for me
+ No picante for me
+ No bland for me ;-)




lundi 17 octobre 2016

Mexican cats' good manners

This is something happening quite often but next time spaghetti!!

- When I am invited to a fine and elegant place:
"Hay chips?"

mardi 4 octobre 2016

No comment (in Arequipa)

Never posted for fear some people might find it racist, who knows...?


Logic, isn't it?

Only if you like tamales (maize flour and lard balls with some (very little) meat filling).


dimanche 2 octobre 2016

Only if you like bortsch of course...

Ukrainian immigrants in the United State Offer free bortscht to celebrate Stalin's death (March 1953)


dimanche 18 septembre 2016

vendredi 9 septembre 2016

Tacos al pastor or a la Pasteur

Would Pasteur approve of the tacos and of the general street food in Mexico or more countries like India, Ecuador or even some "restaurants" in western " civilized countries...?


mercredi 24 août 2016

The four musketeers of terror

(I  am Dracula the Vampire and I am going to suck your blood
I  am an alien and I  am going to eat you all
I am Osama Bin Laden and I am an evil terrorist
I am Donald Trump and I want to be president of the United States)


lundi 22 août 2016

Politically correct and hypocrisy

A good example.
Watching television:

"The repression against (indigenous) Oaxacans goes on"


jeudi 18 août 2016

Ethnic Davids ?

Less known than Miguelangelo's David two bronze Davids are classic ones  as well.

David by Andrea del Verrochio
l.
David  by Donatello


ll




Ivy League in Israel!

Learning  Hebrew in a kibbutz was more or less like studying in an Ivy League college!



Entrance of a communitarian shelter 
in Kibbutz Mesilot

mercredi 17 août 2016

Danny the Red (Daniel Cohn-Bendit) taunting the police

Danny the Red (Daniel Cohn-Bendit) taunting the police, maybe the symbol of the May 68 in France.


lundi 15 août 2016

vendredi 12 août 2016

Life is so easier when....?

The problem is that people care about what you say, what you think and those are the people who sometimes control life wether in a forum or in a country.


jeudi 11 août 2016

Dog's life!

Racism is invading our societies!
Racism is everywhere! :-(



(Difference between.info)


jeudi 4 août 2016

Frankenstein's guacamole

 Boris Karloff's (Hollywood Frankeinstein)  receipe for Guacamole. Interesting English twist with a dash of sherry. Deserves to be tried, instead of canned chilies I would use according to taste one tsp or oneTbsp of very finely chopped fresh green chiles.




samedi 30 juillet 2016

When an aztec beverage turns into a fashion drink

"Pulque, is a traditionnal prehispanic Mexican alcoholic beverage made from the fermented sap of the maguey " (Wiki)
It was rather out of fashion but lately it turned into the "national" drink of the trendy youth. It is a thick liquid  with fruit flavors added sometimes. Not everybody's favorite...



jeudi 28 juillet 2016

The temptation of confusion... :-(

("No confusion: "Islamist terrorist" vs "Refugee with mental disorders.")

 The "Refugee with mental disorders",a phrase we read or hear about quite often, tends to excuse the horror  we are living.  
Definitely it cannot be the case.

 (The thread was deleted since some members were insisting with
compasssion and empathy towards the murderers)




mercredi 27 juillet 2016

A donkey life :-(

"Where the is a will....there IS a way!
 Fiesta!" (on line comment)


vendredi 22 juillet 2016

Politically correct waltzes...

Poor Javier Solis, the Mexican señoritas icon! He had to dress up not to look indecent!

1964 Edition
1980 edition

mercredi 20 juillet 2016

How hot Hollywood mellows in Mexico

More than seventy years after the famous poster of "Gone with the Wind" is still inspiring advertising.
Here is the poster for a Mexican musical about an impossible love story hence the title: "Si nos dejan" ("If they let us"or "If we could do it")




vendredi 15 juillet 2016

Not much but.....

Yes I am now into this kind of Facebook profile pictures solidarity.
It it merely virtual and symbolic but I cannot keep a manga, tacos or myself half-drunk as a profile picture while my people is crying.