Man at work

2006-12-01T04:57:00.000-08:00

Dear friends / Mes amis / Carissimi amici / Queridos amigos/as:

At this moment I am very busy working on my PhD and I do not have time for posting. Unfortunately, I am not posting this season. Hope I can recover this activity pretty soon. Thanks for all! Keep in touch! Do not hesitate to contact me by email! Warm regards! Have fun and take care, folks!

Desgraciadamente estoy muy ocupado entre la tesis doctoral y actividades varias que me impiden tener el tiempo suficiente para mantener este blog decentemente. Esta temporada no podre actualizarlo con la periodicidad deseada, por lo que os pido disculpas. Espero volver dentro de muy pronto y continuar la actividad 'bloggera'.

S A L U D O S

Kisses - Baci - Bisous - Petonets - Bicos - Besos

PACO CABEZUELO
francisco.cabezuelolorenzo@mail.mcgill.ca

ACCIÓN vs. REACCIÓN

2005-11-23T09:08:00.000-08:00

Cuenta el columnista Sidney Harris que en cierta ocasión, acompañando a comprar el periódico a un amigo suyo, éste saludó con suma cortesía al dueño del quiosco, el cual, por su parte, le respondió con brusquedad y descortesía.

El amigo de Harris, mientras recogía el periódico que el otro había arrojado hacia él de mala manera, sonrió y le deseó un buen fin de semana. Cuando los dos amigos reemprendían su paseo, el columnista le preguntó:

- ¿Te trata siempre con tanta descortesía?
- Sí, por desgracia.

- ¿Y tú siempre te muestras igual de amable?
- Sí, así es.

- ¿Y por qué eres tú tan amable con él, cuando él es tan antipático contigo?
- Porque no quiero que sea ÉL quien decida cómo debo actuar YO.

I DO SPEAK EUROPEAN

2005-11-15T18:59:00.000-08:00

Montreal, Quebec, Canada, North America .... are great places.
Being here is amazing! But, sometimes, I feel that I do speak a language that nobody is able to understand. I do try to do my best speaking English and French, but so often some people look at me in a strage way. I guess they are wondering themselves a few questions. What does he come from? What does he speak? I guess I do speak a strange language called European. As Sting used to sing: "I am a alien man in New York". In this case I have to say almost the same and sing "I am a European in North America".

Quebecers are very proud of their French and European heritage and style. "Quebecers know how to enjoy life", they say. It is probably true. "But they enjoy life in a North American way", I add. I told this to a few of them and they got very mad. Sorry, sorry, sorry.... Maybe they do not realize, but at the same time they pretend to be French and different, ... they are very very very North American. This is North America... You cannot create a border where it is not a border... Nowaday and all around the world, everybody is very Americanized... the most clear example is that I am using English to communicate with you, instead of using Italian or Catalan or Castellano or whatever...

I did not suffer any cultural shock when I came here because I was living just for a few months in United States a pair of year ago. My opinion is that Montreal, Quebec, and Canada are very very very similar to the USA in the way they enjoy life and think about it. Even if some Quebecers try every day to wake up inventing a new idea about their differences with the rest of Canada and North America (... and the Planet).... They have more things in common with the rest of Canada and the USA, than someone from Naples, Bucarest, Lisbon, Aarhus, Bonn, or The Hague, ... Europe exists and North America exists. I mean they both have a common history, culture, languages, etc... but today the gap between both continents is getting bigger and deeper.

North America and Europe used to have some common values, ideas, and perceptions of the world very similar to each other. I think that is not true anymore. As far as I feel, there is an Atlantic gap which unfortunately is dividing us. For instance, from my personal point of view, the USA are creating their own burble and getting isolated. That’s wrong. We cannot create a common European Union to get isolated. It would be a big mistake to do like America is doing now. Keep on working on the EU common dream, which is not a dream anymore, it is absolutely real. Maybe I am very in love with the European dream and project that I cannot see anything else. Perhaps I am a EU-blind. I just see the good things of Europe.... No, no, no… trust me… I don’t… I am pretty aware of our problems, weaknesses, and how much we have to improve our countries to become as good as the USA and Canada in a brief list of some points.

The problem is that like Quebecers, we Europeans are critiquing Americans and the way they do things, and everyday we are more like they are. We are like some Quebecers, we are proud to be something that we are not. In Europe, instead of learning the good things that some Americans do, we just copy and import the bad stuff…. So we are getting bad-Americanized. Fast food, bad jobs, no welfare-state, …. Come on, make the difference, and have our own ideas. Share and learn with Americans as much as we can, but let do speak European.

3547 RUE UNIVERSITY

Man at work

ACCIÓN vs. REACCIÓN

I DO SPEAK EUROPEAN