One of the things I enjoy the most about having lived in two different cultures is that your pool of stories and anecdotes grows a lot. And then it is nice to tell the contrasts between cultures based on your stories. I like getting the surprise faces in both sides.
I am sure one of the things European people could find difficult to assimilate is the importance beauty contests have in tropical countries like Colombia. Of course, I know almost every country in the world elects its own 'miss', but in most of them media coverage is rather low, which corresponds to the irrelevant, frivolous character a beauty contest has. Not in Colombia: both the election of Miss Colombia and her later 'performance' in Miss Universe are something extremely relevant for Colombian society. This could be considered the tropical instance of a feature commonly found in western societies: beauty is key to obtain respect and recognition from your peers, in detriment of other qualities or values such as intelligence or honesty.
In Colombia every town has its very own 'miss', that is usually elected each year in the town's festivity. Miss Colombia is elected from a group of candidates, each one representing a region or state (a candidate of a region, in turn, is selected from a smaller, local contest). The nationwide contest takes place in November in Cartagena, and draws all the media attention that you can imagine. This is specially annoying because the contest has associated several irrelevant events, and the whole thing might last a month, so you can imagine how interesting the associated media coverage is.
Beauty contests in Colombia are useful to reveal how low our collective self-esteem is. I mention this because of the outcome of the 2008 edition of Miss Universe, which took place in Vietnam last week. After almost two decades of systematic failures, the Colombian candidate managed to arrive to the final stage of the competition with the highest scores in the preliminary rounds. She was competing with the Venezuelan candidate. Of course both girls were astonishing. Apparently the final decision was made on the answers both of them gave to some random questions. It seems the answer the Venezuelan girl gave was more appropriate (or conversely, less stupid) than the one my fellow Colombian gave. (You can see the intellectually challenging final questions round here.) Taking into account the answers, and in spite of the scores of the previous rounds, the jury decided that Miss Venezuela is Miss Universe 2008.
This was on Sunday night. On Monday there was a national crisis because of the result. People was deeply disappointed, facebook groups were created to describe the miserable fraud and sorrow, and the media asked groups of "experts" to explain such an unexpected outcome. The generalized reaction was that Colombia was victim of an international conspiracy. Several conjectures were proposed on the origins of such a conspiracy. The first one is that Donald Trump (the owner of the contest) has interests in Venezuela and hence electing Miss Venezuela could have a positive influence in his businesses there. A second one says that Hugo Chavez (president of Venezuela) bribed the jury of the contest with his "petrodollars", something unfeasible for the (poor, honest) Colombian government. Other conjectures, mixing the two before with the fact that the Colombian candidate "had connected to Vietnamese people" and "was nicer than the rest" were proposed too. Previous editions of the contest in which Colombia also arrived in second place were accommodated into a larger, everlasting beauty conspiracy theory.
I am not really able to explain why Colombian people react in this way when dealing with a collective defeat or loss. In general, I find it quite lame to blame others, or to invent stupid conspiracy theories, to try to justify your own deficiencies. (In the Miss Universe case, people is not able to see that the weak answer to the final question might have ruined everything.) I claim this persecution complex is a consequence the low self-esteem we Colombians have as a whole. In a worldwide context, not only we are ashamed of our country but we tend to believe the rest is doing fishy stuff against us. Perhaps it's something related to the latinamerican idiosyncrasy but my lack of knowledge of other tropical countries prevents me from further concluding. As I argued in another post, Colombians are not aware Colombia is "below" in some 'implicit ranking of countries', which might lead to a reinforcement of our destiny of failure in case of a negative outcome in any kind of competition.
Colombian society kinds of enjoy suffering with the most deserved things that others took from us (such as beauty contests hosted by Jerry Springer (!) or important football matches) and finding external "responsibles" (such as greedy Donald Trumps or unfair referees). I am afraid this kind of attitudes is extremely difficult (if not impossible) to change.
Update (17/07/2008). The Colombian candidate is still blaming others for the outcome. She found a responsible, way more powerful than Trump or Chavez, but a bit more abstract than them: God. At her arrival at Colombia, she said her answer to the question hadn't had any influence on the final result: "God wanted me to arrive in second place; he wanted Miss Venezuela to win". Argh.
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label society. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
More on France
In a "companion" post, I talked about a recent visit to Paris and argued on some of the things I don't like about France. Here I want to elaborate a bit on the things I really like about France.
As I think I mentioned once, sometimes in the past I took French lessons. I did it for a year or so, shorty after visiting France. I have great memories of those lessons, for several reasons. The lessons were given in an unusual time (6-7:30 am, Mon to Fri) which was really a challenge in terms of sleeping time. I joined the lessons with other friends, and we all had a great time. Indeed, we used to make jokes, especially because otherwise we would fall asleep! Also, we had a teacher that enjoyed creating controversy and could keep you awake either with the discussion topics or with his unusual teaching methods. The teacher's name was Djamel, a PhD student in Social Sciences that was in Cali (the Colombian city in which I used to live) to study the consequences of the free trade agreement between US and Colombia. Lessons with Djamel were a nice cultural exchange: we 'used' him to confront several of our myths/clichés on French culture; he also learned something from the Colombian culture from us, I think.
The French lessons were based on some method (a book plus videos) called "Reflets" (Reflections). The book and the videos tell the story of four main characters who share a flat in the center of Paris. It was easy to see how each lesson of the method was a carefully crafted piece on a particular aspect of the French culture. For instance, one of the lessons was about the birthday surprise party of one of the characters. I still remember some sort of mini cultural shock that such a lesson caused: in the video, the guy is given a flowers bouquet as a birthday gift, something absolutely inconceivable for a straight guy in the Colombian culture. (You can see the video here.) In many different ways, the lessons were very enjoyable because apart from the language, you could learn precise aspects in which the French culture and behaviors were different from ours. Properly assimilated, those lessons were a priceless opportunity to open your mind.
One of the 'Reflets' lessons I recall the most is one concerning the activities French people do in their spare time. The message of the lesson was clear: French people do not waste time. They're are very organized, even in their spare time: they spend time with the kids, play games with the friends, do some sport or hobby. According to 'Reflets', something very Colombian like watching TV on a Sunday afternoon for hours and hours ---without a good reason--- is out of the question for an average French.
In my last trip to France I remembered that 'Reflets' lesson. During all the metro/train travels, I cared to observe what French people did to kill the time. While I was looking around or listening music, most of the people in the train were reading a book, doing a crossword or some other useful activity. Of course, it wasn't like every single person was doing something useful, but the proportion of people who was committed not to waste the time was surprisingly high. Also related to 'not-waste-time' philosophy ---and this is something that would be considered outrageous in Colombia--- is that in France you have to pay an additional tax if you want to have a TV at home. (I don't know if this also occurs in other European countries.) I can certainly imagine that there are persons and families that instead of paying such a tax, prefer doing more instructive ways of entertainment, like going to the theater or to the movies. I can also conjecture that, overall, the tax might have had an influence on the attitude people have towards TV, and as such, they watch less TV, which in turn could be a positive thing in intellectual terms. Granted, I am sure it's not they're all geniuses in France, but I would dare to say that because of a reduced TV time, an average French teenager has a more responsible, realistic attitude towards the world than, say, a Colombian teenager with a comparable quality of life.
I really admire that French attitudes (or ways of understanding life, if you want.) Another, somewhat related, aspect I appreciate is the role education has in the French society. Indeed, only by knowing people from the French school in Cali, I could see that kids there not only study way more than in other schools, but also that they're given a better education. (It's a pity not everyone in Cali can afford the French school, though.) I have such a good concept of French education, that in the very unlikely case I have a son or a daughter, he or she will attend a French school :) Again, it's not simply the fact that they have more intense curricula: it seems to me that, at all levels, French education effectively aims at giving you an adequate preparation for life. For instance, you rarely see a French computer scientist that only knows about theory: even mathematicians have a good knowledge of implementation aspects. In general, I think that since they're kids, French people are educated to have a comprehensive view to solve problems, to propose solutions for them, and to lively defend their points of view.
To conclude, and to emphasize on my admiration for French education and culture, I must mention the place in which I took French lessons: the Alliance Française. The Alliance is the cultural dependency of the French embassy, and as such, it's supported directly by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It's mission is to spread the French language and culture around the world. In some way, one could say that France feels that is not completely understood by the world, and finds it useful to "explain" to the world its culture, language and traditions. I think the approach advocated by the Alliance is extremely successful: it's fair to say that most of the cultural activity in Cali is organized or sponsored (directly or indirectly) by the Alliance. Apart from France, in Colombia no other foreign country has such a clear commitment when it comes to spreading its culture out. (I know Germany and Italy have similar things, but only in Bogota; the Alliance is in more than ten cities in Colombia.)
To really conclude, I must say that find it fascinating the French culture and society, with all the things I don't like, with all the things I admire, with its (sometimes unintended) arrogance. And above all, with all the things I still am not able to understand about such a great country.
As I think I mentioned once, sometimes in the past I took French lessons. I did it for a year or so, shorty after visiting France. I have great memories of those lessons, for several reasons. The lessons were given in an unusual time (6-7:30 am, Mon to Fri) which was really a challenge in terms of sleeping time. I joined the lessons with other friends, and we all had a great time. Indeed, we used to make jokes, especially because otherwise we would fall asleep! Also, we had a teacher that enjoyed creating controversy and could keep you awake either with the discussion topics or with his unusual teaching methods. The teacher's name was Djamel, a PhD student in Social Sciences that was in Cali (the Colombian city in which I used to live) to study the consequences of the free trade agreement between US and Colombia. Lessons with Djamel were a nice cultural exchange: we 'used' him to confront several of our myths/clichés on French culture; he also learned something from the Colombian culture from us, I think.
The French lessons were based on some method (a book plus videos) called "Reflets" (Reflections). The book and the videos tell the story of four main characters who share a flat in the center of Paris. It was easy to see how each lesson of the method was a carefully crafted piece on a particular aspect of the French culture. For instance, one of the lessons was about the birthday surprise party of one of the characters. I still remember some sort of mini cultural shock that such a lesson caused: in the video, the guy is given a flowers bouquet as a birthday gift, something absolutely inconceivable for a straight guy in the Colombian culture. (You can see the video here.) In many different ways, the lessons were very enjoyable because apart from the language, you could learn precise aspects in which the French culture and behaviors were different from ours. Properly assimilated, those lessons were a priceless opportunity to open your mind.
One of the 'Reflets' lessons I recall the most is one concerning the activities French people do in their spare time. The message of the lesson was clear: French people do not waste time. They're are very organized, even in their spare time: they spend time with the kids, play games with the friends, do some sport or hobby. According to 'Reflets', something very Colombian like watching TV on a Sunday afternoon for hours and hours ---without a good reason--- is out of the question for an average French.
In my last trip to France I remembered that 'Reflets' lesson. During all the metro/train travels, I cared to observe what French people did to kill the time. While I was looking around or listening music, most of the people in the train were reading a book, doing a crossword or some other useful activity. Of course, it wasn't like every single person was doing something useful, but the proportion of people who was committed not to waste the time was surprisingly high. Also related to 'not-waste-time' philosophy ---and this is something that would be considered outrageous in Colombia--- is that in France you have to pay an additional tax if you want to have a TV at home. (I don't know if this also occurs in other European countries.) I can certainly imagine that there are persons and families that instead of paying such a tax, prefer doing more instructive ways of entertainment, like going to the theater or to the movies. I can also conjecture that, overall, the tax might have had an influence on the attitude people have towards TV, and as such, they watch less TV, which in turn could be a positive thing in intellectual terms. Granted, I am sure it's not they're all geniuses in France, but I would dare to say that because of a reduced TV time, an average French teenager has a more responsible, realistic attitude towards the world than, say, a Colombian teenager with a comparable quality of life.
I really admire that French attitudes (or ways of understanding life, if you want.) Another, somewhat related, aspect I appreciate is the role education has in the French society. Indeed, only by knowing people from the French school in Cali, I could see that kids there not only study way more than in other schools, but also that they're given a better education. (It's a pity not everyone in Cali can afford the French school, though.) I have such a good concept of French education, that in the very unlikely case I have a son or a daughter, he or she will attend a French school :) Again, it's not simply the fact that they have more intense curricula: it seems to me that, at all levels, French education effectively aims at giving you an adequate preparation for life. For instance, you rarely see a French computer scientist that only knows about theory: even mathematicians have a good knowledge of implementation aspects. In general, I think that since they're kids, French people are educated to have a comprehensive view to solve problems, to propose solutions for them, and to lively defend their points of view.
To conclude, and to emphasize on my admiration for French education and culture, I must mention the place in which I took French lessons: the Alliance Française. The Alliance is the cultural dependency of the French embassy, and as such, it's supported directly by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It's mission is to spread the French language and culture around the world. In some way, one could say that France feels that is not completely understood by the world, and finds it useful to "explain" to the world its culture, language and traditions. I think the approach advocated by the Alliance is extremely successful: it's fair to say that most of the cultural activity in Cali is organized or sponsored (directly or indirectly) by the Alliance. Apart from France, in Colombia no other foreign country has such a clear commitment when it comes to spreading its culture out. (I know Germany and Italy have similar things, but only in Bogota; the Alliance is in more than ten cities in Colombia.)
To really conclude, I must say that find it fascinating the French culture and society, with all the things I don't like, with all the things I admire, with its (sometimes unintended) arrogance. And above all, with all the things I still am not able to understand about such a great country.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Miraculous Fishing
Consider the following series of events:
It occurred a week ago in one of the main highways of the country. Around 9pm, a group of bandits stopped the Mercedes in which they were traveling, right in the middle of two lanes of the highway. Next, they set the car on fire, thus blocking the traffic of the highway. People in cars behind them were threatened with rifles. Although no one was hurt, it is easy to imagine a dramatic scene of panic at the highway. Right after that, with the highway clean for them, some of the bandits took two cars and started to chase a money transport truck that was a bit ahead from them. They chased the truck, and by repeatedly shooting at it, managed to force the driver to stop it.
Using sophisticated tools, the group of bandits opened a hole in the left side of the truck and extracted a large amount of money. However, a substantial part of it remained in the truck, mainly because of the armored material of the truck and of the methods the attackers had used. After taking the guns of the money truck, the bandits escaped, although this last part of the events is not very clear for the authorities. Some believe they ran away from the highway by foot, while others claim that some other cars were waiting for them. Independent of this, the authorities' concern about this kind of professional attacks is growing. Indeed, this is not the first time a group of 10-12 young males set a roadblock in a main highway, aiming at 'catching' a money transport vehicle. The same authorities have assured the main members of the band have already been identified, and that police operations to arrest them should give positive results in forthcoming weeks.
As fictional as it may seem, this is not part of an action movie; it's a real story that occurred recently. It didn't occurred in Afghanistan nor Irak. Not even in Colombia, where attacks of this kind, called miraculous fishings, were very common some years ago. You can read about such a modality of fishing here.
No. The above story occurred in Italy, in northern Italy to be more precise. It was in the north direction of the A14 autostrada, which connects Bologna to towns like Imola. I was very surprised when I first heard the story, and it felt weird to see how things that were common in Colombia are starting to occur here in Italy. Of course, it's not like Italy's infrastructure is under guerrilla attacks, but I find this miraculous fishing in Europe (well, Italy) simply unacceptable. If this kind of things is already happening, what's next?
We already knew the line that differentiates Italy from third-world countries is disturbingly fuzzy. Now we know that line it's getting thinner and thinner.
It occurred a week ago in one of the main highways of the country. Around 9pm, a group of bandits stopped the Mercedes in which they were traveling, right in the middle of two lanes of the highway. Next, they set the car on fire, thus blocking the traffic of the highway. People in cars behind them were threatened with rifles. Although no one was hurt, it is easy to imagine a dramatic scene of panic at the highway. Right after that, with the highway clean for them, some of the bandits took two cars and started to chase a money transport truck that was a bit ahead from them. They chased the truck, and by repeatedly shooting at it, managed to force the driver to stop it.
Using sophisticated tools, the group of bandits opened a hole in the left side of the truck and extracted a large amount of money. However, a substantial part of it remained in the truck, mainly because of the armored material of the truck and of the methods the attackers had used. After taking the guns of the money truck, the bandits escaped, although this last part of the events is not very clear for the authorities. Some believe they ran away from the highway by foot, while others claim that some other cars were waiting for them. Independent of this, the authorities' concern about this kind of professional attacks is growing. Indeed, this is not the first time a group of 10-12 young males set a roadblock in a main highway, aiming at 'catching' a money transport vehicle. The same authorities have assured the main members of the band have already been identified, and that police operations to arrest them should give positive results in forthcoming weeks.
As fictional as it may seem, this is not part of an action movie; it's a real story that occurred recently. It didn't occurred in Afghanistan nor Irak. Not even in Colombia, where attacks of this kind, called miraculous fishings, were very common some years ago. You can read about such a modality of fishing here.
No. The above story occurred in Italy, in northern Italy to be more precise. It was in the north direction of the A14 autostrada, which connects Bologna to towns like Imola. I was very surprised when I first heard the story, and it felt weird to see how things that were common in Colombia are starting to occur here in Italy. Of course, it's not like Italy's infrastructure is under guerrilla attacks, but I find this miraculous fishing in Europe (well, Italy) simply unacceptable. If this kind of things is already happening, what's next?
We already knew the line that differentiates Italy from third-world countries is disturbingly fuzzy. Now we know that line it's getting thinner and thinner.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
On returning to Paris
Paris was the first city outside Colombia I had the chance to visit. It was at the end of July 2005. Paris was the first destination of a trip that also included Edinburgh and London. Some weeks ago I returned to Paris, and I couldn't avoid remembering that first visit, while comparing how my life was then and how it is now. This post covers some excerpts (the interesting ones, I hope) of that reflection.
As it occurs with the important events in my life, the first thing I remember is that it took me some time to assimilate the fact that I had to go to Europe to present a paper. Perhaps I only completely realized the consequences of that when I landed in Paris. It really felt like if up to that moment I had lived inside a capsule: seeing such a completely different world, very different people speaking all kinds of languages, felt like a strong yet gentle slap in my (innocent and skeptical) Colombian face. Indeed, only then I realized that a different reality ---a better one, from many points of view--- was truly possible for me. Only realizing that was illuminating.
Just as in the first trip, this time I stayed in a town outside Paris, in the south (Orsay). Since the airport (CDG) is located out in the north of Paris, you should take a train (called RER) that completely crosses Paris and connects it to neighboring towns. I remember my first RER trip by having a strange mix of surprise, jet-lag and eagerness to absorb as many things as possible. It was almost a childish feeling. This time, while in the RER, I tried to recall that feeling: I discovered that my eagerness prevented me from seeing things calmly. Put another way, I realized that being in Europe (well, Italy) for a while was useful to look beyond the childish novelty and surprise, and start appreciating some fine details. This also has to do with the different standpoints a tourist and a non-tourist have about the same place: where the former only sees possibilities for discovering attractive spots, the latter only sees an unsurprising (yet only partially understood) reality.
One of my motivations for my first trip to Paris was to find out whether doing a PhD in France, in some topic I was interested at that time, was possible. Back in 2005 I had some doubts and great expectation on the idea of doing a PhD. It's amazing to see how things have changed! While in 2005 doing a PhD in Italy was not in my plans at all, it is now my reality. Now I have great doubts and some expectations on the idea of finishing the PhD. It is curious (frightening could be a more suitable word) how the level of uncertainty regarding things has only increased: I have gone from a naive "will I find a nice place abroad to do a PhD?" to a more realistic "how will life be after the PhD? will i find a job?" While in 2005 I discovered that my wishes about to do a PhD in France were a bit difficult to do, now I don't discard France as a possible place to go after the PhD.
(Do not get me wrong: feel lost or frustrated is the normal status for a PhD student. After all, it's well known that with every PhD degree an extra degree on frustration management is awarded.)
To conclude, some words on my perception of French people. It hasn't changed too much in three years, although I admit it is less radical now. (In general, my opinions are more moderate now than, say, 5 years ago.) Few interactions with French people are enough to realize they're more distant than Colombians. In my first trip I learned that it's not they are mean by default (of course, there are some of them that are really mean) but it's also that we Colombians are too nice to each other. Even with people who they haven't seen in their lives. (People who know me know that I am not the warmest person in the world, but even I am warmer than an average European.) It is my impression that people in France (and apparently everywhere in the world but South America) is really individualist, and of course this has pros and cons. On the one hand, in our countries is perhaps easier to fit in: you get new friends very easily, for instance. On the other hand, the extremely individualist character people have in European countries endows societies a distant, cold atmosphere: you feel you have to hang around for a long while before fitting in. We should not forget that we're talking about societies that differ on a lot of aspects, especially in age. Societies in south american countries behave like young, immature teenagers, who have yet a lot to learn and go through. European societies are like those adults that are so self-confident that disregard younger friends, especially if they come from distant, unknown places. Young south american societies make stupid mistakes that the uptight European societies do not always manage to understand.
Apart from individualism, another thing I recognize in French people is how direct they can be. This is also a great contrast with the standard latin personality. In Colombia a critique is usually taken personally, and there's no way a big discussion doesn't end up in a real fight. In fact, before my first trip I thought I was a rather direct person. Being surrounded by people who are as or more direct than you is certainly an enriching experience. To illustrate this point (and to conclude the post), I take a story that occurred to my Colombian advisor in France. He and his wife went to some place to eat some fine cheese. They chose a cheese that had a smell that was so strong, that my advisor's wife had to complain to the waiter. He replied:
As it occurs with the important events in my life, the first thing I remember is that it took me some time to assimilate the fact that I had to go to Europe to present a paper. Perhaps I only completely realized the consequences of that when I landed in Paris. It really felt like if up to that moment I had lived inside a capsule: seeing such a completely different world, very different people speaking all kinds of languages, felt like a strong yet gentle slap in my (innocent and skeptical) Colombian face. Indeed, only then I realized that a different reality ---a better one, from many points of view--- was truly possible for me. Only realizing that was illuminating.
Just as in the first trip, this time I stayed in a town outside Paris, in the south (Orsay). Since the airport (CDG) is located out in the north of Paris, you should take a train (called RER) that completely crosses Paris and connects it to neighboring towns. I remember my first RER trip by having a strange mix of surprise, jet-lag and eagerness to absorb as many things as possible. It was almost a childish feeling. This time, while in the RER, I tried to recall that feeling: I discovered that my eagerness prevented me from seeing things calmly. Put another way, I realized that being in Europe (well, Italy) for a while was useful to look beyond the childish novelty and surprise, and start appreciating some fine details. This also has to do with the different standpoints a tourist and a non-tourist have about the same place: where the former only sees possibilities for discovering attractive spots, the latter only sees an unsurprising (yet only partially understood) reality.
One of my motivations for my first trip to Paris was to find out whether doing a PhD in France, in some topic I was interested at that time, was possible. Back in 2005 I had some doubts and great expectation on the idea of doing a PhD. It's amazing to see how things have changed! While in 2005 doing a PhD in Italy was not in my plans at all, it is now my reality. Now I have great doubts and some expectations on the idea of finishing the PhD. It is curious (frightening could be a more suitable word) how the level of uncertainty regarding things has only increased: I have gone from a naive "will I find a nice place abroad to do a PhD?" to a more realistic "how will life be after the PhD? will i find a job?" While in 2005 I discovered that my wishes about to do a PhD in France were a bit difficult to do, now I don't discard France as a possible place to go after the PhD.
(Do not get me wrong: feel lost or frustrated is the normal status for a PhD student. After all, it's well known that with every PhD degree an extra degree on frustration management is awarded.)
To conclude, some words on my perception of French people. It hasn't changed too much in three years, although I admit it is less radical now. (In general, my opinions are more moderate now than, say, 5 years ago.) Few interactions with French people are enough to realize they're more distant than Colombians. In my first trip I learned that it's not they are mean by default (of course, there are some of them that are really mean) but it's also that we Colombians are too nice to each other. Even with people who they haven't seen in their lives. (People who know me know that I am not the warmest person in the world, but even I am warmer than an average European.) It is my impression that people in France (and apparently everywhere in the world but South America) is really individualist, and of course this has pros and cons. On the one hand, in our countries is perhaps easier to fit in: you get new friends very easily, for instance. On the other hand, the extremely individualist character people have in European countries endows societies a distant, cold atmosphere: you feel you have to hang around for a long while before fitting in. We should not forget that we're talking about societies that differ on a lot of aspects, especially in age. Societies in south american countries behave like young, immature teenagers, who have yet a lot to learn and go through. European societies are like those adults that are so self-confident that disregard younger friends, especially if they come from distant, unknown places. Young south american societies make stupid mistakes that the uptight European societies do not always manage to understand.
Apart from individualism, another thing I recognize in French people is how direct they can be. This is also a great contrast with the standard latin personality. In Colombia a critique is usually taken personally, and there's no way a big discussion doesn't end up in a real fight. In fact, before my first trip I thought I was a rather direct person. Being surrounded by people who are as or more direct than you is certainly an enriching experience. To illustrate this point (and to conclude the post), I take a story that occurred to my Colombian advisor in France. He and his wife went to some place to eat some fine cheese. They chose a cheese that had a smell that was so strong, that my advisor's wife had to complain to the waiter. He replied:
"madame, if you want to eat something with a nice smell, you should eat a soap."
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A quickie
I have several new posts in mind or half written. They include issues as interesting and exciting as my view on French society (triggered by a recent visit to Paris) and some weird emails I have received. Now I want to do two quick remarks.
Watch out: your blog can be confiscated.
In Italy a lot of weird things occur. It seems things actually get weirder as you go down south. Through the Beppe Grillo blog, I learned that if you're in Italy and use your blog to say things that someone can find uncomfortable, you take the risk of losing your website. Yes, the police can confiscate your website. Amazing.
This occurred to a young journalist in Calabria, who published some informations about corruption acts of someone important. To read more about this, click here. To see what a confiscated web site looks like, click here.
Cristina Dona'.
Sterte recently introduced me a great Italian singer, Cristina Dona'. Her music is a bit difficult to describe, given that she has gone through several musical phases during her 12-year career. She's a rocker, essentially. Last Saturday, Sterte took me to a free concert of her in Ferrara. It was great. She's really talented: she has a very versatile voice, and her supporting band is awesome. Even if she sings in Italian, her music is worth listening anyway. (She released an album in English, I think, but I haven't heard it yet.)
Here are some of my favorite songs of Cristina:
Universo (Universe)
Nel mio giardino (In my garden)
L'eclisse (The eclipse)
Thanks once again to Sterte for showing me there's Italian music beyond Pausini, Bocelli and Ramazzotti.
Watch out: your blog can be confiscated.
In Italy a lot of weird things occur. It seems things actually get weirder as you go down south. Through the Beppe Grillo blog, I learned that if you're in Italy and use your blog to say things that someone can find uncomfortable, you take the risk of losing your website. Yes, the police can confiscate your website. Amazing.
This occurred to a young journalist in Calabria, who published some informations about corruption acts of someone important. To read more about this, click here. To see what a confiscated web site looks like, click here.
Cristina Dona'.
Sterte recently introduced me a great Italian singer, Cristina Dona'. Her music is a bit difficult to describe, given that she has gone through several musical phases during her 12-year career. She's a rocker, essentially. Last Saturday, Sterte took me to a free concert of her in Ferrara. It was great. She's really talented: she has a very versatile voice, and her supporting band is awesome. Even if she sings in Italian, her music is worth listening anyway. (She released an album in English, I think, but I haven't heard it yet.)
Here are some of my favorite songs of Cristina:
Universo (Universe)
Nel mio giardino (In my garden)
L'eclisse (The eclipse)
Thanks once again to Sterte for showing me there's Italian music beyond Pausini, Bocelli and Ramazzotti.
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