WONDERLAND - Comments

Repeating shapes and patterns in Paris - Daiva

Daiva — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:19:14 +0200

Melodie, it's all yours! Let me know if you need original photos, but I think they are easy to copy. Thank you, I'm happy to receive compliments from locals and I want to thank my great guide again!

Sorry for slow reaction, real comments often get lost amongst the spam that I receive, and it takes me time to sort them...

Repeating shapes and patterns in Paris - melodie

melodie — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:32:23 +0200

Hello Daiva,

Thank you for this great article. Your Parisian experience is very original and personal.
I work for the paris.cafebabel.com blog and I would really like to translate your work and publish it; Do you allow me to do so and to post your links and photos ?

Cheers from Paris,
Mélodie.

Repeating shapes and patterns in Paris - Daiva

Daiva — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 15:41:38 +0200

Alex, I didn't mean the lifestyle But it was surprisingly unlike Budapest, where you take a street which seems parallel to another and find yourself miles away from where you had to be, or Vilnius, with its narrow streets where you have to watch out for huge icicles :D It was more like Vienna than like Brussels, for example. And don't forget that the centre is where not only tourists, but also locals go to hang out.

Repeating shapes and patterns in Paris - Alexandre Heully

Alexandre Heully — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:24:02 +0200

Dear Daiva!
As a Parisian living in Paris, I have to say this is a nice piece of article on Paris focusing on... well known touristic places in Paris! This organisation and structure that you mention is particularly true in the historical and most prestigious areas of Paris. However getting in the poorer areas of Paris (well, 'poor' in Paris is always a notion to be cautious with) you'll feel the sense of dis-organisation that also makes Paris so attractive and still a little bit lively!

Your article is nice: I will see if the paris.cafebabel.com blog would be interested in republishing / translating it!

Cheers,
Alexandre

Repeating shapes and patterns in Paris - NS

NS — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 23:06:20 +0200

Wonderful report. As a resident in Paris I miss all the things that you see, so thanks for drawing them out for us! Interesting point about the repetition. The city has a good dose of culture though I miss the often wacky themes and ideas in neighbouring London, which define a more urban space. And as a resident of Chateau Rouge, or little Africa before it becomes a heady mix of tourism and eiffel tower keyrings, I have to say it is safe; but yes, not at all a fan of the station 'Barbes' which is where lots of men stand around selling counterfeit cigarettes and well, stand around trading. It should be renamed Barbes! The area is developing though, and it's a good place to buy property for young buyers, Another great thing about Paris: you can easily walk around, not having to eternally catch public transport to get from A to B.

Repeating shapes and patterns in Paris - Aulis Kallio

Aulis Kallio — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 11:53:06 +0200

I like very much Paris and also this fotoreportage.

Sex and violence in the city - dead serious and leading to new initiative - Ziu

Ziu — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 13:27:10 +0200

Super geras straipsnis!

Sex and violence in the city - dead serious and leading to new initiative - Daiva

Daiva — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 21:24:12 +0200

Nice to meet you So, do you actually want me to hide your previous comment? Also, we can exchange blog links if you like. Happy New Year!

Sex and violence in the city - dead serious and leading to new initiative - Miquel

Miquel — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 12:01:34 +0200

Anyway I will appreciate that my comment would not appear at your site

http://cartasdesdeleste.blogspot.co...

Sex and violence in the city - dead serious and leading to new initiative - Miquel

Miquel — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 11:59:51 +0200

Labas Daiva,

I am Spanish guy living in Kaunas. After reading this post I understand better the attitude of some of my students. I teach Spanish at Kaunos Medicinos Universitetas where there are many guys from Israel. And also some girls. The guys are quite unpolite in my classes. And the girls are quite violent. Thank you for your work. Your blog is excellent. Myself I am writting as well a blog. But it is in Spanish. My nickname is argonautas (I protect myself cause sometimes I speak in a bad way against your government :DDD). But my name is Miquel. I have other blog in English but it is just a kind of
tool for my students and customers (http://mpuertas.blogspot.com).
I will use some of your post in my own blog (just I will translate sometimes something that I think is isteresting for my readers). Feliz Navidad

Frozen Vilnius - Daiva

Daiva — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 22:39:08 +0200

No, it applies to any alcohol, but recently it hasn't been enforced so thoroughly. The fine is 30-50 LTL for adults and 50-100 LTL for parents/foster parents of minors. The law says that alcohol cannot be consumed in public places except for places where alcohol is actually sold. So I guess it applies to Kaziuko mugė.

http://www.15min.lt/naujiena/miestas/vilnius/vilniaus-policija-primena-apie-baudas-girtaujantiems-viesose-vietose-41-92875

Frozen Vilnius - Mark

Mark — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 03:03:40 +0200

You know you've lived in Vilnius long enough when you can actually hear and recognize "that sound" of a ton of ice sliding off of a roof in Old Town down to the sidewalk, and know to get out of the way.

I'm not entirely sure, but "illegal to drink alcohol in public spaces" must certainly only apply to strong drink, since there are plenty of festivals in Vilnius, such as Kaziuko Muge, and other days where beer is actually served in cups on the street in Vilnius, and any park with a lake or beach has vendors selling from kiosk/take away, or walkaound peddlers... "šaltas alus.... čeburekai" is yelled with a license at Nida and Palanga all summer long..

Public transport in Vilnius: survival game - Ziu

Ziu — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 17:50:46 +0200

Darbo reikalais vazinejau po londone su greitaja pagalba. Buvom iskviesti i autobusa, kurio keleive - jauna mergina, paaugliuke - nualpo. Jau buvo atsigavusi, bet autobusas stovejo stoteleje isleides visus keleivius ir ijunges avarinius zibintus. Pirmas dalykas, kuri pasake vairuotojas - 'as staigiai nestabdziau!' Esme, kad ten tikrai ne jo kalte buvo - mergina nevalge pusryciu + zemas spaudimas; bet issigando zmogelis. Zmogiskas jausmas turbut.

Cia nepateisinu vairuotojo niekaip, tik priminei man sia istorija..

Manau moterytei vilniaus autobuse butinai reikejo kviestis greitaja, o veliau pareikalauti kompensacijos is Vilniaus autobusu. As tikrai taip daryciau, net jei nieko blogo nenutiko (bet jei ji artimiesiams skambino, gali buti kad nutiko, o kaip dabar irodys??)

How people meet and greet - jordan

jordan — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 00:19:31 +0200

Remember that it was an American who thought to get you the Little Prince in Hebrew ...So not just Europeans read it.

Public transport in Vilnius: survival game - kimimak

kimimak — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:51:31 +0200

not quite different that Sofias public transport

Special offer: fly cheap, feel worthless! - Gintaras

Gintaras — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 17:06:04 +0200

Dievaži, įdomus tinklaraštis!

Voice your opinion: the most annoying questions to expats - OLé

OLé — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 14:18:07 +0300

Hey Daiva,
cool to see that your blog is still flourishing.
Greetings from CB's deceased community editor
Ole

Voice your opinion: the most annoying questions to expats - Daiva

Daiva — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 00:18:52 +0300

Jordan, I think these two are related. I didn't go deep into ignorance questions, although it's true, I mixed some in (about the polar nights). What I wanted to discuss this time is what people consider normal to ask about other persons (and I think our discussion about ethnicity, religion and race is very relevant).

Also, to add to your point about Israelis and someone's criticism of their country, they usually get angry hearing it when they have just said/ let you know that they think their country is horrible. Most cannot understand any reason to come to Israel apart from tribal attraction, which I found very strange, especially after meeting quite a few people who struggle very hard to get a visa and stay there because they simply have good friends or enjoy the atmosphere they find. Most people don't understand that foreigners can be attracted by good jobs, world-class universities, pleasant climate and optimal size of their cities.

Thanks all for the comments, I hope to receive more.

Voice your opinion: the most annoying questions to expats - NS

NS — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 11:52:57 +0300

Cultural differences part is true: I'm British but from Pakistani parents. So already I have this crazy reaction from people when I say I am British - which I am! It's like the other side of the typical question: 'but explain your skin'

Voice your opinion: the most annoying questions to expats - Jordan

Jordan — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:58:25 +0300

You're dealing with two different but sometimes overlapping issues here. The first issue is the myriad of cultural differences. The second are annoying questions that result from stereotypes (some of which are unnerivingly accurate reflections of real cultural differences). Recent political events and ignorance about basic things like climate or geography can play a role into both catagories but they are usually distinct catagories all the same.

Believe it or not, in the US leaving one place and going to another establishes one as a kind of expatriate. Foodways, dialect, local manners, sports teams, popular culture and clothing change and people can identify the "foreigner" pretty easily. People from Philadelphia get asked about all of the typical Philadelphia things, people from NYC the NYC things. I'm not going to get into most of the specifics because you wouldn't be familiar with them, although most Americans reading this comment would be.

So for stuff you'll be able to relate to, I'll tell you about things Americans ask each other and don't ask each other (and by extension what foreigners should and shouldn't ask), then I'll go on to what we ask foreigners that we probably shouldn't. Finally I'll give some examples of what we're actually asked.

Americans discuss politics all of the time; with strangers, friends, family, taxi drivers, people on buses, trains etc. Discussing politics is always acceptable although many people just aren't interested, especially if it's not an election season. Americans discuss ethnic origin all the time unless one of the people is black and the other isn't in which case it isn't mentioned or the black person may ask the non-black person but not the other way around because it's self-evident. This bothers some Haitains and Africans who would like to be asked about their origins. With American blacks it's a sore spot because of the history of slavery and the Jim Crow era and you don't discuss ethnic origins with them unless you know the person. They won't know their family histories before the 1860s anyway because of the poor records during the era of slavery. For various types of white people and Asians though "what are you?" is usually answered by "Italian" or "Jewish" or "Irish Catholic" or "Scots-Irish" or "Protestant Mut" or "Italo-Irish" (real common in Philly) or "Polirish" (real common in Baltimore) or Korean etc. More recent immigrants give their home country. People always ask if someone has an accent, something that frightens many recent immigrants, which of course most Americans are obvlivious too "why should they be insulted, we're showing an interest in their culture."

Completly unlike ethnic origins however, religion is never discussed among strangers (unless it of course refers to an ethnic division like Irish Catholic vs. Scots-Irish which is a big big deal in the Southeast). Similarily asking about income or asking a women her age are both no-nos. Asking marital status is fine in most contexts but can of course be interpreted as flirting. "What do you do?" means "what type of job do you have?" and is perhaps the single most common question when you meet someone.

One real sore point is discussing medical problems. 50 million Americans don't have health insurance and tens of millions more have poor health insurance so revealing that you've spent time in a hospital can seem like a put down to those who can't afford to see a doctor at all. If you know a person it's one thing but this isn't usually discussed with strangers. This of course would never occur to a European.

The US Civil War is a surprisingly sensitive topic in the South and especially in the rural parts of the border states like Pennsylvania,Delaware and Maryland. Displaying Confederate flags (the south's flag) is extremly controversial up north and routine in the south and can have entirely different connotations depending on who is doing it and where. 9/11 is an extremly sensitive topic here, something that foreigners shockingly often fail to appreciate (can't tell you how many times I've been asked in Europe if I knew anyone who was killed). 9/11 is expecially raw the closer you get to NYC. There are very few people in North Jersey/NYC who didn't know someone killed so it's a topic to be avoided in polite conversation.

In the US, as in many places, with casual acquiantances "how are you doing" or "what's up" is supposed to be met with "fine, thank you" or "alright", even if you're neither of these things. People just don't want to know.

So questions commonly posed to foreigners: Most Americans live in places where non-immigrant foreigners don't ever reach so this is really tough to generalize. We have a lot of immigrants but I've seen relatively few interactions between foreign tourists or exchange students in the US (or full time vagabound expats). That said, Americans are notoriously iffy on geography so an answer like "Slovenia" to "where are you from?" is likely to get a response like "that's near Russia right?" There are people who know a lot about the world but we're a minority. That said, we may also be the people who are more likely to actually interact with foreingers so it gets offset a bit. In any case, people are often asked if they "like" the US, as well as if they like the state or city they're in. People here, however, don't go "Israeli" on you if you answer in the negative unless you say something really direct like "America sucks." People will be perfectly sympathetic if you say "it's not what I expected" or "it's very different and I miss home sometimes." People are often asked if they have kids or a spouse and if they miss them. Americans outside of big cities like to hear people speak a sentence or two in their native tongues if it isn't something like Spanish or French or Cantonese or Vietnamese which get heard pretty much everywhere in the US. People in big cities have heard all the major languages. Many Americans think that the rest of the world is a lot poorer than it actually is so if someone isn't from Western Europe questions like "do you have running water, a stove, roads, cars" etc are frighteningly common. If someone is from anywhere that is in the news as of late they'll be asked about this. People from Vietnam or Iraq are often apologized to profussely for our wars against their countries. This can be quite annoying to the Vietnamese-Americans, almost all of whom fought for the South Vietnamese (or their parents did). These apologies also won't occur in conservative regions.

Americans like to tease Canadians and many Canadians haven't caught on that it's a joke. Strangely, they don't tease us in the same ways when we go there. French Canadians, especially in New England are openly discriminated against.

Americans are liable to make nasty comments to Russians, Germans and Japanese about WW2 and the Cold War. The bombing of Pearl Harbor is a sore point for older Americans. Some Americans are uncomfortable around Japanese people because of the atomic bombings (due to their own shame). Others will tell Japanese visitors that it was unfortunate but necessary. This is the opinion held by the vast majority.

Mexicans are given crap all the time, no matter if they were born here or if they just came here. 10 to 20 million Mexicans live in the US illegally (another 4-6 million born there are here legally, along with 39 million people of Mexican descent!! which is 10% of the population.) They've rapidly increased in prominence just during my lifetime so this is a really sensitive issue and one that should be avoided by foreigners visiting here.

Questions Americans get in Spain from personal experience:
"Do you/did you like Bush?"
"Do you own a gun?"
"Do you live on a farm?"
"Do you have any friends who aren't the same race as you?"
"Wait, you're not Latino, how come you actually speak Spanish?"
"Why are you all so fat?"
"Why do you smile all the time?"
"Why are you so quiet?"
"Do your Gypsies cause problems?"

Questions American Jews get in Israel or from Israelis in America from personal experience:
"Do Americans hate us?"
"Is your president really a Christian?"
"Do blacks live in ghettos/how are you able to keep them under control?" (same guy)
"Why haven't you made Aliyah yet/why don't you speak Hebrew?"
"Why is there so little security in America?"
"Do we (Jews) really control the media there or is that just Arab propoganda?"
"Is the Hasbara program working?"
"Why is the falafel awful here?"

Hope this answers and raises some questions.