#JeSuisCharlie

Yesterday morning the deadliest terror attack seen in France happened quietly in the suburbs of Paris. Three gunmen forced entry into the headquarters of satirical publication Charlie Hébdo, and launched fire, killing twelve people in the name of Islam. The magazine had just moments before, published on Twitter a cartoon appearing to poke fun at the Prophet Mohammed.

Not a stranger to violence sparked by its content and satirical view on the world, Charlie Hébdo’s current incarnation has been the target for Islamist wrath since 1992. In 2006 a copy-cat article following the Danish satirical cartoons apparently mocking the Prophet Mohammed, ended with a court case and the then-President Chirac warned them to be more careful. Satire and freedom of expression are two immensely French values, so this did not stop Charlie Hébdo. As reported by the BBC at the time, an issue renamed Charia Hébdo, guest edited by the Prophet Mohammed himself, sparked fury among the Muslim community, leading to fire-bombing and hacking of their website.

http://www.charliehebdo.fr/index.html – 08 janv 2015

 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali of The Daily Beast brings a very powerful question to the forefront of this saga : “The questions going through my mind are: How on earth are there Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers in the heart of Paris? How did they get it in there? You think it’s only these three guys? There’s a whole network. There are a lot of people hiding weapons…”

Chérif and Saïd Kouachi, are brothers, the main suspects and still at large in the streets of Paris. Both were investigated on terror charges in 2010. A third suspect, a boy of 18 turned himself in overnight. “Two witnesses outside the Charlie Hebdo office building quoted the Kouachi brothers claiming they were members of al Qaeda. Security experts have suggested the brothers must have had some kind of military or weapons training in order to have carried out the attacks with such an air of professionalism. One police officier was cooly dispatched as he lay wounded on the sidewalk. Ten members of Charlie Hebdo staff were reportedly assassinated after being asked for by name”

The brothers were well known with links to French terror networks Buttes-Chaumont, which in turn link to worldwide organisations, Newsweek has a very interesting read on this network of jihadi training in France, and their threat in Europe.

http://conectica.com.mx/

 

 

The hashtag that followed #JesuisCharlie, stands in solidarity with those killed and threatened while enjoying and employing one of the most fundamental human rights : Freedom of Expression. Social media was flooded with photographs of journalists taking cover on the roof, relief efforts of the medical services, and the gunmen casually walking towards their getaway car. Paris congregated in silent vigil to remember the ten journalists and two police officers that lost their lives yesterday morning. “I’ve seen today the images of the sea of faces in European capitals holding placards saying “I am Charlie Hebdo.” That is beautiful and it’s the perfect thing to do. Tomorrow they should hold placards of the cartoons Charlie Hebdo had printed. Asserting our right to free speech is the only to ensure that 12 people did not die in vain.” – Ayaan Hirsi Ali (The Daily Beast).

Tonight Birmingham joined together in solidarity, a massive thank you goes out to Zoé Pelletier for organising the beautiful vigil in Victoria Square, and poignant remembrance outside the Library of Birmingham, the most fitting place for the event. People joined and held placards, with chants of “On n’a pas peur! We are not afraid” and the French national anthem.

#JesuisCharlie Birmingham

We remember that while France is in mourning today, all of the Western democratic world is in mourning for all these attacks, 9/11, the London bombings, Atocha… But it’s France to whom we need to turn our attention, we must remember there are twelve families that have lost loved ones, two employers that have lost precious colleagues, and two industries that are grieving the loss of twelve exemplary profiles. Britain and Germany stand united : Mr Cameron told MPs: “This House and this country stand united with the French people in our opposition to all forms of terrorism, and we stand squarely for free speech and democracy. These people will never be able to take us off those values.”, Mrs Merkel said: “In this very desperate hour, we stand by the French people. We stand up for the freedom of the press in such a resolute way as for the other basic freedoms that we hold dear in all of our countries.” The USA tends to take a leading stance in condemning world violence, and having previously been critical of Charlie Hébdo during their last brush with Islamist militants following a  similar publication in 2012, they are today wholeheartedly supporting the freedom of expression they represent.

In a France where revolutionary values of Liberté, Égalité and Fraternité are threatened, one of the great European powers, the people are mourning and in shock of the events in Rue Meaux yesterday morning. My small opinion, is that all the legally enforced freedoms in the world cannot protect you from the select few that take offence. Those poor journalists did set out to provoke a reaction, I think there is no doubting that, but there’s a big difference in knowing your audience, those that will grumble quietly between themselves and the extremists that will act on their fury.

It reminds us that we are not immune, here in our lofty European bubble, we are not the Middle East, or North Africa, we are not Latin America or South Asia, we are affluent and politically stable by those standards, we think it will never happen to us. Corruption and abuse are rife in those countries where we thought we knew better – the heritance of empire is this politically charged society, militants and pacifists, all trying to live and express themselves and a world that won’t always listen.

Read more here : Le Monde, BBC, The Independent, Buzzfeed, Reason.blog, The Daily Beast, Medical Daily , The Guardian, Le Figaro, Charlie Hébdo

How to Use the New York Subway

We had few days in New York earlier this year, and then a wedding in Connecticut (that in my head I can’t stop pronouncing the c, as in Connect-icut). Let me just start by saying in the nicest possible way, nothing in that country makes sense. We first realised this when it took us two wrong trains and about 10 dollars wasted trying to work out how on earth to use the Subway.

Manhattan Web

1. The Precedent – Forget everything you know about European city metro systems. You’re used to London, Paris and Madrid where all the trains stop at all the stations, platforms are normally colour coded per line, so all you have to worry about is getting one in the right direction.
2. The Map – You arrive, you want to get out there seeing stuff as soon as possible! So let’s find out how to get there. This one is a mish-mash of numbers and letters and on the map we had we didn’t even have the end stations of each line to help us out. The Manhattan Island main section works on a very simple Uptown / Downtown system. Go Uptown to go North, and Downtown to go South.
3. The Route – The numbers and letters show which trains stop at which stations, ie., the 1 stops at all of them, so is the Local train, but the 3 stops only at a few, so is the Express train. So not only have you got to find a route where you can change trains to get to another line, most times you have to go out of your way to reach your hotel.
4. The Entrance – There are sometimes separate entrances for Uptown and Downtown, and really they are not very well marked. We found them quite difficult to find because there isn’t anything big and glaring alerting you to the fact that there’s a station here. One that we found was basically a door next to a big office building with the Subway markings on the wall rather than stuck out so that you know it’s there. The older ones that go straight down off the street tend to have two yellow lights on the entrance, but still you can walk past two or three without realising that that’s it, because nothing actually says “Subway”.
5. The Ticket Machine – If you’re in New York for a day or two, buy singles at $2.75 each. If you’re there for a few days like us, get a MetroCard from a booth, it was about $30.00 for seven days and well worth it!
6. The Platform – Find your platform, which is a challenge because it’s a maze of pillars, not nice spacious tunnels like in Europe and the A stops on this platform except for weekends when it stops over there, and the 2 stops on this platform unless it’s after 9pm when it doesn’t stop at all… And crap like that.
7. The Train – The newer trains are equipped with an electronic display to show where you are and what the next station is, great! If you’re lucky you’ll find a busker, or a beggar, it’s generally quite quiet too, we didn’t see any trains that were too busy – but we weren’t travelling at rush hour and we were going to the tourist areas so probably this didn’t give us a true picture of the trains themselves.

The Skyline – a beautiful disused Subway track converted into a park

And then you’re off the train. Going back to The Precedent – New York doesn’t seem very proud of its subway. The European metro seems to be more like a brand. You see no end of “Mind The Gap” tat in souvenir shops in London, and the art-nouveau Paris Metro design conjours up romantic images of the wide leafy streets leading up to the Louvre or the banks of the Seine.

It certainly looks like the Subway’s Golden Age has been and gone in New York. While many stations retain the old mosaic street number markers on the platform, and the pillars spaced evenly are evident of the might of the city above, it seems that the Subway system has been forgotten in recent regenerations, he needs a lick of paint, improved lighting, signage and passenger information, especially for tourists. But he’s so integral to this city, work it out and he’s your best friend.

Un coup de Marseille

Place Thiars, Marseille. It would be really pretty without that ugly fountain. High buildings, restaurants and cafés then leading out onto the Vieux Port. Marseille was a really strange experience, I was sent for work to improve cohesion and communication with the French sales team, and then – very unexpectedly – I was asked to stay there permanently. I remember sitting for hours on the side of this fountain, in the crêperie just nearby for a whole weekend, toying with my future. I’d just starting seeing Daniel, I was living in a nice house in Moseley and had good friends in Birmingham. Should I stay or should I go? The longer I sat the more beautiful that clumsy fountain became, and the longer I sat the more I was resolved to come back to the UK. But I still think about that weekend in Place Thiars, where my life could twist either way. When I see that ugly fountain, I’m glad I’m not there, it was too hot anyway!

Place Thiars, Marseille

Written for Ailsa’s Travel Theme : Twist

French Fancies in the City

Hidden away with so much promise at the back of The Cube on Commercial Street, we’d walked past so many times over the last few months, dreaming about little French pastries, hoping for it to open. We were supposed to go running, but I had a phone call from Daniel at about six o’clock on Wednesday evening to ask if I wanted to go for a coffee because Madeleine Fine Coffee House was finally open for coffee and cakes.

Madeleine Fine Coffee House

My first impression was that it was very quiet, it’s a bit hidden so what if nobody knew about it?! But we asked the waitress who said they’d had a big rush at lunchtime so we felt quite good that we’d caught them at a quieter time to enjoy the atmosphere. I was expecting something quite opulent like La Durée, and in comparison it very stark and modern, but the wooden tables and seventies print upholstery still gave it a very rustic and traditional feel. I love the exotic flowers on the table at the door, and the cakes on the counter looked divine, from little muffins to enormous chocolate chip cookies and a bowl full of madeleines. There’s also a range of flavoured lemonades, tangerine, rose, grenadine, everything looks delicious!

Yummy Plum Tart

They will start doing a full menu from Monday, I assume to include baguettes and yummy salads. And they open for breakfast from7am! It’s actually the same owners as the Brazilian Rodizio Rico which we’ve been drooling over for months too, and reading this interview with Mr Nayla in the Birmingham Post, it looks like they are here to stay! There’s another restaurant next door that’s not quite open yet, Bun and Bowl – a burger place – that’s owned by the same family, so we’ll be trying that out as soon as we can too.

We had a hot chocolate and a coffee, each came with a little madeleine cake and the hot chocolate was so rich and full of flavour. Our bill was a bit more than the size of the portions, but that rich chocolate was worth it. Coupled with a plum tart it was a lovely little surprise visit and I can’t wait to go back there for a proper look!

Le Français : Mon Mal Nécessaire

À Marseille 2008

Ma relation avec la langue français est pertubante – j’ai toujours « n’a pas aimé » apprendre, lire, voir des films de l’art, traduire – mais je peux la parler, et j’aime parler, écrire, voir des films de romance… En fait, sur mon sac à l’université j’avais écrit « I hate French » pour n’importe quel raison. Donc peut-être ma relation avec le français est plutôt créative.

En comparaison avec l’espagnol, j’ai plus de vocabulaire en français mais j’ai plus de fluidité en espagnol. Les Français sont vraiment fiers de la langue, et la langue est si attaché à l’identité, que les fautes des étrangers est comme un trahison ! Comme je travaille avec des français, et j’ai beaucoup des amis français, je ne peux pas vraiment parler des Français, et ils sont tous vraiment sympas – mon problème est la langue.

Je m’ai enregistrée avec le groupe Meetup Français de Birmingham en 2008, pour améliorer ma fluidité. J’aime beaucoup, mais après presque 6 ans je connais les gens – et comme nous nous voyons hors du groupe et nous avons nos partenaires qui ne parlent pas français – nous nous parlons en anglais !

Bon, j’ai une toute petite liste des choses français que j’aime : Les marchés de fruits et légumes aux centre-villes · Meringues · Cosmopolitain (magazine) · La mode · Franglais · L’Auberge Espagnol (film) · Les Poupées Russes (film) · Les châteaux · Sephora · Macarons · L’Evian · Marseille · La vue des Pyrenées à Pau

_______________

My relationship with French has always been troubling – I’ve never liked it, learning, reading, artsy French films, translating – but I can speak it. And I like speaking it, and writing it and watching French romance films… I actually wrote on my schoolbag at uni “I hate French” for whatever reason. I often think then that my relationship with French is much more creative.

À Marseille 2011

Compared with Spanish, I’ve got much more vocabulary in French, but more fluency in Spanish. The French are so proud of their language, it’s so linked to their historical national identity, and any foreign mistakes turns out like treason! I do work with French people, and have a lot of French friends, but I don’t want to talk about the people (who are lovely by the way!), my problem is with the language itself.

I joined the Birmingham French Meetup Group in 2008 to improve my spoken fluency. I love it, but after 6 years you get to know people – and as we see each other outside, or have partners that don’t speak French, we just end up speaking English!

Here’s just a very small list of things I like about France : Little fruit and veg markets in city centres · Meringues · Cosmopolitain (magazine) · Fashion · Franglais · L’Auberge Espagnol (film) · Les Poupées Russes (film) · Castles · Sephora · Macarons · Evian (water) · Marseille · The view of the Pyrenees in Pau

Comedy Sans Frontières

You’d think that comedy could cross borders very easily in the English-speaking world. Look at the big successes of Friends, the Big Bang Theory, and dare I say, Seinfeld. I’m not a big fan of Seinfeld, I prefer shows with a proper story to them and development, but that’s not to say I don’t find it funny, or necessarily the other way round. I enjoy Friends and How I Met Your Mother, but I rarely laughing out loud – not like in modern British greats The IT Crowd, or Green Wing for example.

I know I risk being ostracised for my opinion on American comedy, but I find it milked, there are too many series, too much change almost. British comedy tends to finish on a high, with the actors looking at new projects rather than wrapping up the old. The only one standing the test of time so far is Peep Show, with its ninth and final series starting this year. It’s somewhat of an exception to the rule, The Fast Show, two series of The Office, three of Gavin and Stacey, 80 episodes of Dad’s Army compared to 180 from Seinfeld.

Then we get into stand-up comedy, here I think we excel. There are so many different accents and nationalities that find their niche in the UK. From the Irish Dara O’Briain, there’s Adam Hills, the South African comedian with the prosthetic leg, Tim Minchin’s hilarious piano songs from Australia, British-Iranian Shappi Korsandi, and even Henning Wehn from Germany. And vice-versa Eddie Izzard even does gigs in fluent French!

Rich Hall – picture from the internet

I can’t do American stand-up, it’s like they say more than they need to, they leave nothing for the audience to think about – or they follow-up a punchline with something unnecessary, like the same again but said in a different way – why? We laughed, we understood, we don’t need it explaining again. It’s like the UK rejects that kind of comedy as though it’s too obvious to be funny. We like clever comedy! There are a few that have made it here though, my two favourite Americans are Reginald D Hunter and Rich Hall, the latter actually we saw recently on stage at the Glee Club in Birmingham. I like that they can poke fun at their own countries, and they know enough about the UK that, being British, we can also laugh when they make fun of ours. I love Hunter’s sketch about sarcasm, that in the US someone says (along the lines of) “well that went quite well”, and it went well, whereas in the UK you hear that and start thinking “what did I do wrong”! That you call your friends bastard and wanker and shithead.

Being a linguist I’m also interested in foreign comedians, however Daniel told me that it really wouldn’t be worth trying to see any comedy when we’re in Mexico because it’s all about “how vulgar can you get?”. If you are learning French, you must look up Les Mots d’Eric et Ramsey. These guys are famous for sketches, and they’ve done a couple of films. It’s like a word-a-day sketch, they have a word on the board and act it out to learn it – but because of all the homonyms in French they always get it wrong!

“Mettons-nous en situation…”

 

Prospero Año Nuevo 2014

It’s that time of year again, I’m off to Mexico and all the presents are bought and wrapped. I had a few more days left at work and still had to tidy the whole house. This year’s been manic busy, here’s a short list of what has made this 2013 the best year ever :

1. Turned 30 years old – big party!
2. Got a new job – so happy!
3. Bought a brand new car – about time!
4. My sister asked me to be witness at her wedding – honoured!
5. Daniel got the permanent UK visa – best thing in the world!
6. Got engaged – absolute best thing in the world!
7. Bought a house – absolutely bloody best thing in the world!

Happy New Year in the Zócalo!

The New Year is normally a time for reflection and anticipation, in the UK you make new resolutions about what you want to do in the coming year. One nice thing about coming into contact with other cultures is that you see what they all do. In Mexico you eat grapes, on every bong of the bell, and you make 12 wishes for the coming year. In France you toast to what you want to happen that year, your hopes. So here are just a few of mine :

1. That the actual move is not too stressful and that Daniel might concede to hiring a man-in-a-van
2. That Aimee has the most wonderful wedding day, and honeymoon and rest of their lives together
3. That I can get more experienced in my job, put myself forward for training and everything
4. That my Mom continues to get happier, the last few months have been lovely and I hope it continues
5. That I can plan our wedding with minimal stress, minimal convention and minimal money

Happy New Year to all!

Q & A – BritishBloggerSelection

During my Erasmus year, 2003/2004 I had another blog, on LiveJournal – Katty’s Little Adventure. I don’t even remember the username or password so I can’t link to it here. It told the story of my Erasmus year in Spain and then France, it was mainly full of snippets of nights out that I could remember the following day, or other little in-jokes we had between us. One of the things we did a lot, was quizzes! So #BritishBloggerSelection this week has taken me back to a nostalgic time of sitting in the Sala de Ordenadores at Residencia Pignatelli in Zaragoza…

Why do you like blogging? – I’m not a big social network user, so this is an outlet I can have that facebook just doesn’t provide. Facebook is for my photos or arranging nights out, the blog is more like an open e-mail to my friends that I don’t see very often, and a chance to explore things in a bit more detail.

How did you come up with your blog name? A chilango is a person from Mexico City, chilanga is the feminine form. I’m marrying my Mexican, so I’m becoming more and more chilanga every day. And Exported, that refers to both my job in freight forwarding, and the fact that I am a chilanga in the UK.

From http://www.birminghamfuture.co.uk/

Where from the UK do you come from? Originally, and still living in Birmingham. In order : Birmingham UK, Leicester UK, Zaragoza Spain, Pau France, Leicester UK, Sheffield UK, Birmingham UK. In my city I’ve lived in Hall Green, Moseley, Ladywood, and now hoping to move to a new housing development in Edgbaston. On the property ladder at last!

Favourite colour? This is Yellow, without doubt. And Silver, and Turquoise and Purple. I just love bright colours.

Do you like Lana Del Rey? I loved her Summertime Sadness song, and I listen to her to cool down at the gym. Lumping her in with Florence and the Machine, Lorde, Goldfrapp’s A&E etc., I like slow songs that sound like a fairy-tale that you can just lose yourself in, they are good day-dream walking songs.

Hidden Talents That You Have? I can catch, netball team and I’m still good at catching things as they fall out the kitchen cupboard before hitting the floor. And jump, at school I was one of the last three or four left in the high-jump but lost the competition in my teenage modesty because would not take my skirt off to get a higher measurement.

Celebrity Crush? None that I care to say here, I don’t bother much with celebrity. I don’t see the point in taking an interest in the lives of people we will never meet, who will continually make is feel inadequate and who have no idea who we are. Ok, fine! Gael Garcia Bernal and Romain Duris!

Favourite Blog Of All Time? I like Lady of the Cakes, she’s living my dream of living and working in Spain. That was my original plan but life took a turn and I couldn’t follow it through. The plan was to move to Zaragoza and surround myself with Spanish. I’m secretly quite glad it didn’t turn out that way, I love my life here in Birmingham with my Danielote and wouldn’t change it for the world. And Brummed Out, I get to hear about other things that are going on in Birmingham here.

What made you want to join #BritishBloggerSelection? I’ve been in the blogosphere for about a year, but haven’t really got much involved until now.

Reading back, this actually sounds really daggy like I’m back at uni! We spent hours coming up with the “coolest” answers to the endless quizzes.

Marseille Horizon

I just love this photo.  Taken when I was working in sunny Marseille in 2011, one weekend Daniel visited and we took the boat out to the wilderness on the Îles du Frioul. The coastline around here is beautiful, such clear blue water along the Calanques, and hidden little coves perfect for taking the sun. (Click the photo for the full beauty.)

Ratonneau beauty, Marseille

Posted for Ailsa’s Travel Theme : Horizon