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?"

Caldo de piedra (soupe de pierres) pres de Oaxaca

Caldo de piedra (soupe de pierres) pres de Oaxaca

Kirk Douglas! Un cowboy de 100 ans !

From the INA (French Institute for Audiovisual)

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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fXLYfInYtQ

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!

                                                   ******************

  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.

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.