Paris: A Moveable Feast of Kindness
- 24322 Views
- May 4, 2012
- 6
Shaping Cultural Experiences
Travel has been an integral part of my life since I was a young child. I grew up in a multicultural, bilingual home in the Netherlands with a Polish mother and a Dutch father. My
- 15626 Views
- May 10, 2012
- 7
Update & BBC News Link
A brief update: One interview video will be uploaded tomorrow evening. I believe the BBC News One-Minute World News provides well-balanced reporting of news, hence why I wanted to share it. Top stories on May
- 20628 Views
- May 11, 2012
- 5
From Nigeria to Boston
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VNkCazT_T4&feature=youtu.be
When you first meet Oluwagbeminiyi Osidipe, you encounter a very vibrant, friendly, and unique personality. Oluwagbeminiyi or Niyi – as she shortened her name for simplicity – was named by her mother, who had a “very personal experience” when she had her, Niyi explained. Niyi is a Yoruba Nigerian transplant who arrived in the U.S. in 2006. As one of the most densely populated (West) African countries, Nigeria derives its name from the river that spans its land. To the South, it borders the Gulf of Guinea to the Atlantic Ocean. Originally colonized by the British, Nigeria gained independence in 1960. Its main ethnic groups are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba, who speak English and their own respective languages, while major religions include Islam, Christianity and indigenous beliefs. Niyi shares her story, her views on politics, cultural differences she’s embraced with humor, and what we can learn from each other by expressing curiosity. Her message is simple: travel enriches us through its exposure to new cultures, and enables us to grow.
- 11465 Views
- May 16, 2012
- 6
Mark Twain on Travel
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” (American author Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad).
Have you had the opportunity to travel (extensively, within your country, or even once abroad)? Can you relate to Twain’s sentiments? How does travel enrich us?
- 11756 Views
- May 19, 2012
- 19
Pleasing The Taste Palate
Food has the wonderful quality of uniting us no matter where we are. There is nothing partisan or narrow-minded about food. It simply invites us to indulge, create recipes, and share with others. Two of my favorite Polish dishes (included in collage) are pierogies and barszcz czerwony – a beetroot soup – served on Christmas Eve in Poland. How does food bring us together? What are some of your favorite dishes and why? Can food trigger memories?
- 11906 Views
- May 23, 2012
- 2
Stereotypes: Truth or Fiction?
DEFINING STEREOTYPES: “An idea or statement about all of the members of a group or all the instances of a situation.” (Merriam-Webster). Stereotypes enable bias and preconceived notions to perpetuate, but can also reveal valid
- 10914 Views
- May 29, 2012
- 4
Annual Human Rights Report
“The world changed immeasurably over the course of 2011. Across the Middle East, North Africa, and far beyond, citizens stood up to demand respect for human dignity, more promising economic opportunities, greater political liberties, and
- 9303 Views
- May 31, 2012
- 4
Euro Crisis & Emerging Stereotypes
Brief Crisis Breakdown Since the onset of the global financial crisis, or Great Recession, in 2007, the Eurozone has feared impending growing global debt levels, as well as sovereign debt within European countries themselves. In
- 9874 Views
- June 4, 2012
- 2
Remembering Tiananmen
Today marks the 23rd anniversary of Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in Beijing, China. Inflation, a lack of career prospects, the fall of Eastern European communism, and political corruption, are all said to have fueled anger
- 11562 Views
- June 7, 2012
- 18
Coffee's Uniting Power
A cup of coffee can bridge cultural gaps. At least, that’s what Gizem Salgicil White, founder of Turkayfe.org, believes. Her organization aims to create awareness of Turkish culture, particularly within America. Gizem is a Turkish native,
- 6171 Views
- Valerie Sisco
- May 25, 2016
- 4
- Food
Today’s guest post is by Valerie Sisco of the blog Grace with Silk, and our new Culture With Travel Food Correspondent.
Artisan cheese and French wine, coffee at a sidewalk cafe, chocolate croissants and fresh-baked bread. Even foie gras. I was looking forward to the food tour through the Latin Quarter that I’d booked months before I left on my trip to Paris.
But, I almost missed it.
The morning of the tour was just my second day in Paris and I was completely jet lagged. I overslept and on my way out of the hotel, I grabbed the directions for the tour meeting place from my travel notebook that I’d meticulously printed out at home. But I also hurriedly asked the hotel concierge for directions too, just to be sure.
It wasn’t long before I got confused since the concierge’s directions and my printed instructions didn’t seem to match. I wandered for blocks and started to panic since I knew I wasn’t going to meet the tour in time. A shop owner noticed me standing in front of the door he was just unlocking and asked if I needed help. He offered to call the tour guide’s number listed on my confirmation, but there was no answer.
Even if I could have found my way, it was now too late to meet the group, so I decided to head to the closest cafe for breakfast.
As I stood on the street deciding which way to go, a student asked me in halting English if I needed help. I gave him the address of my hotel and he offered to walk me there. As we walked, he told me he had come to Paris from Algeria and was studying English to someday move to the U.S. He said he planned to try his luck at being a waiter while he worked on making his dreams come true.
I offered to buy him breakfast for accompanying me, but he refused and made sure I knew where I was going before he left me.
Back at the hotel, I realized I’d confused the ending and starting points of the food tour. In my haste, I’d grabbed the page with the directions back to the hotel from the tour’s conclusion but asked the concierge for directions to the meeting place.
No wonder the directions hadn’t made sense.
The concierge asked me what I was doing back so soon and I told her although the mistake was my fault, I was so disappointed to miss the prepaid tour. She offered to call the tour guide and see what she could do.
I stood by listening to a stream of French words that grew louder and more heated. I was embarrassed and tried to motion to her to forget it but she kept right on talking.
Finally she hung up. “She’ll let you join Friday’s tour,” she said calmly.
I was stunned. She shrugged, “She was upset she held the tour waiting for you, but now she is okay.”
When Friday arrived, I made sure I was there early to express my gratitude. The tour guide brushed off my apologies and said it was no problem but I still hoped she wouldn’t hold it against me.
Our first stop was the Eric Kayser bakery where the guide bought a bag of assorted pastries and passed them around to us. I was lucky to get a chocolate croissant and a choux pastry ball filled with vanilla Bourbon cream. Both were scrumptious.
She led us through the streets of the Latin Quarter, to a specialty cheese shop, a charcuterie, and a gourmet vinegar store. She showed us Ernest Hemingway’s apartment and took us into a gated private courtyard she said belonged to a friend of hers.
As I stood in the tiny garden surrounded by Paris apartments, watching two French felines jump out of one of the open windows, I relished seeing this slice of Parisian life.
The tour ended at a wine store that had a window counter filled with plates of food from the shops we’d just visited. Wine was poured in our glasses, and as I sat down for my first taste of foie gras spread on a French baguette, I thought about how I’d almost missed this treasured experience if it weren’t for helpful Parisians I met along the way.
Before I visited Paris, I’d always heard that the French could be brusque, even downright rude, especially to Americans. But now I know that those reports may happen to be greatly exaggerated because I encountered a genuine movable feast of French kindness.
Valerie Sisco writes the blog Grace with Silk. She lives in Orlando, Florida, where she’s dreaming of her next travel adventure. Follow her journeys via Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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Comments (4)
Dee
02 Jun 2016Great peek into Parisian travel! I love your photos! Makes me want to pack my bag!
Nicolette
03 Jun 2016So glad you enjoyed this post, Dee! I learned a lot from Valerie’s insights and love the takeaways
B.Montes
26 May 2016What an experience! My first thought towards the end was “we looked like the difficult journey was well worth it to experience that wonderful food!” but then you so wonderfully reminded me something that is so very important in traveling! The journey is IS part of the wonderful experience! I love what you took away! Thank you so much for sharing!
Nicolette
26 May 2016Right? I loved this journey, too, Brittany! Thanks for commenting and pointing out the importance of enjoying the overall journey!