The unforgettable bus trip to Yosemite. 10/ 25-26/ 2014

I went to Yosemite National Parc last week-end, on a bus trip organised by my school.

Let me give you the bright version of it:

We had a wonderful weather with a blue sky. I had the chance to take a picture of the most beautiful and famous scenery of Yosemite as you can see above! I also had a nice hike in the sequoia forest, admiring the oldest and biggest trees you can find on this planet!

Now let me give you the less glamorous version of it:

We had an 8 hour bus ride the first day, a 7 hour bus ride the second day. After having taken THE picture of the breathtaking view (see above), saturday afternoon was just a sheer waste of time: wandering around a cafeteria, then a few paved roads to end up in a food store...in a wonderful sunny afternoon in one of the most beautiful natural parc of California! As for sunday, we had two hours to visit the sequoia forest (more exactly the pine forest with spotted sequoias) needless to say we just ran to get to see the main part of it, with no time to even eat a sandwich! Yes this is how organised tours are, I should have known...

The good things of this all is that :

- Getting to speak to other students from other language schools, I realised I was very lucky to have chosen St Giles School? When students from other schools mainly complained about the quality of their teaching, I am very happy with mine. Actually my school appears to be well renowned for its quality.

- I almost made a friend... yet she is French (not good for my practice), and she is here for only the next couple weeks.

The uncanny mystery of Dorje Chang Buddha III

It happened that I came across this International Art Museum of America - IAMA -  close to my school, and the entrance was free, so I went in... It is difficult to describe my feelings while exploring this museum, bewilderment would be the word.

Well, this is a warning, and I want you My God and my Buddhist friends to forgive me for what I am going to say next. I do not mean to offend you.

The mission of the museum is presented as : The IAMA strives to create a bond between disparate cultures through beauty, thus promoting harmony and peace. But it, surprisingly enough,  does not mention that its mission is to praise the work of the holly Dorje Chang Buddha III!

Who is DORJE CHANG BUDDHA III? This guy is supposed to be the true incarnation of an ancient Buddha, the fact beeing identified by Dharma Kings and others (who? the Dalaï Lama does not seem to be in the loop!). He was awarded the United States presidential Gold Award in 2002...and many other awards...(what are those awards worth? may be I could get one with my lovely water colours!). His art work has been recognized by the royal academy of art of the united Kingdom, and the Organization of the American States (those organizations might be charity ones for  artists in demand of recognition).

As a matter of fact, the museum is dedicated to Dorje Chang Buddha III. It exhibits 80% of this guy's works of art, and also Chinese and European works that have been invested by the museum. The paintings, that are not his, are really of great artistic value, beautiful european19th century landscapes or masterpieces of chinese painting. I can recall: les Lavandières près du Pont, a work of Edmond Petit Jean whom I have never heard of, who has been made Chevalier of the Legion of Honor (Dorje Chang Buddha III loves the awards) but I truly find it a wonderful work. It stands next to a Vlaminck more renowned.  Some paintings of famous Chinese painters are also featured, like Zhang Daquian's (1899 - 1983). One of his work was auctioned 550 millions dollars  in 2011 (this is also a kind of reward Dorje Chang Buddha III appreciates).  Yet I can tell that I was truly impressed by the work. Then you think of universality of beauty, a master piece is recognized over times and beyond cultural frontiers... but I am not at all an expert!
 

And yet those beautiful master pieces stand side by side with the most hideous and ludicrous pieces of art  I have ever seen!

I was not allowed to take pictures. But fortunately I could find some pictures on the internet!

Those are sun flowers painted by Dorje Chan Buddha III.  This painting is simply compared  to that of Van Gogh himself, not less!!!

I have actually written down one comment I found hilarious to remember, and by chance I found the picture of the painting it is related to : the one below featuring two horses. To me it looks like the little pictures of "chocolat Poulain" we were given when we were little kids. And to tell the truth I do not think the horses were actually painted by the holly master, he added the black ink on the side, that's it!

The comment is the following:

From the brushwork style and details of this painting we can sense the profound cultivation of a renewed scholar. The abilities of a literary giant with abundant talent are visible everywhere. The scholarly tone and brushwork style are skillful and vigorous totally free of any trace of the mundane and reflect the highest level of painting and calligraphy. Anyone who lifts a brush in an attempt to paint such painting will appreciate the fact that this scholarly style cannot be accomplished by anyone other than a literary giant who is a great master of art.

As a matter of fact the work on the horse's hair is something! But as a whole I would not give a penny for that.

I have to tell you about the last but not the least of his work of art: THE HALL OF FRAMES.

This hall actually displays the most hideous crap I have ever seen.

Not only Dorje Chang Buddha III 's expertise inlcudes painting but also : literature, music, martial arts, buddhism, science, philosophy, ethics, traditional chinese médicine AND why not SCUPLTURE. That is the point we wanted to reach! That is the reason why the museum has dedicated a whole hall to his frame creations!

The Paramount work of art of His Holiness lies below. I let you take an inspiration and breathe...

WELL!!!

Now one can wonder how can a public museum (which it is) can support this cult of personality and spend money on that?

I had to find more about this holiness...So I actually found this guy is the object of quite a controversy. Already in 1993, a meeting of the Dalai lama with a group of 12 Dharmas and teachers had already published an article to warn people and especially western countries  againts so called "living buddhas"."Such kind of title pretty unusual goes against buddhist ideas of modesty" they said, giving a list of 50 personalities among wich appeared our dear Dorje Chang Buddha III  with this comment: A 'Buddha' without history, flooding the internet with self-referring messages of his coming, using all the possible titles he can find... 'Highest Buddha', 'Supreme leader of Buddhism', on and on.  This makes him quite suspicious."

 

 

Moreover this issue made its way to the BBC. I can read, in 2009:

It caught the interest of Dan Damon of the World Service’s Reporting Religion. The BBC contacted various Buddhist organisations, including the Dalai Lama’s office in Dharamsala, but “they’ve never heard of Master Dorje Chang Buddha III  ”. The International Buddhism Sangha Association appears to be rather obscure, too...

Some of Dorje Chang Buddha III  s art is sold through a company called Microputt, along with artwork by members of his family – despite the claim on the BBC that His Holiness is a monk, he has a son and a daughter. This company also runs International Arts Publishing, which sells books by Dorje Chang Buddha III.
 

My theory is : San Francisco must sponsor some well known and popular chinese figure whoever it is in support of the chinese community which is one of the biggest in San Francisco (with the hispanic one), and must be sponsored itself by rich chinese personalities...This is how the world goes... And then Dorje Chang Buddha III can sell his crap!

My English classes at St Giles. 10/10/2014

As some of you might wonder, my answer is YES I am working. I am attending English classes from 9 am in the morning till  4 pm with an hour break for lunch at 1pm, and I do have homework !

Actually I was firstly in a general English class with Shane, the guy who took us to China town, but I switched class to go to the CAE that prepares to the Cambridge Advanced Exam which will take place on december. I need this CAE certificate to be eligible for the CELTA class. The CELTA certificate is the Cambridge certificate I need for teaching English as a second langage.

When I first got into the CAE class, I was welcomed by a bunch of six 25 year old (at most)  girls all from Switzerland. "Hi girleeees ! I love grated gruyère!!!". Two guys (at most 25) joined us, one of them...Swiss and the other Korean...Needless to say I feel a little bit solated among this youth, eventhough they are quite nice.

Regarding the training, my teacher's name is Chris. At first sight, Chris looks like a laidback, outgoing teenager with his long hair, his stocky body and his check shirts.  But it appears he is a great teacher. We are trained in a way like monkeys to the final test, following very structured courses in a book without leeway, but this guy manages to make this lively, highly interactive and to make us have fun and play games. So I learn a lot about teaching. In terms of the content, I find it a little bit too easy so far, but we'll see. And I need to get this certificate so I think this is the best training at the moment. We take a test every afternoon so we need to be very concentrated for 1 hour and half for either  a WRITING - READING - GRAMMAR - LISTENING -  or SPEAKING test. And each of those is not that easy.  I can tell you this is EXHAUSTING! We correct it altogether shortly afterwards.

So This is my job guys!

After school, I can stroll around till 5.30 pm, go for some shopping if needed. Then I go home because we have dinner at 6.30 pm with my "organic" host family. We chat a bit. Dinner is usually over around 8 pm. I go to my bedroom, do my homework till 9 pm, then I check out words and vocabulary I have come across during the day till 10 pm. Then I am wondering WHOUAAAA I am so tired and I want to read Hunger Games because I am so hooked on this story and I really want to know what is going to happen to Katniss! But then I think "WHOUAAA you have to write your blog otherwise you will forget all the things you wanted to tell..."
So this is my day guys!

You might also wonder : has she made new friends ? And my answer is desperately NO !
I rarely get to see Naoko during the day and she is leaving next friday, and Manuela has already left.
Of course I could meet new friends in the cafeteria of the shool. But everybody is clustered by nationality, Japonese, Corean or Swiss... Eventually I would see a guy coming up to me with a smile, so I would think eagerly :
OH my (future) friend please have this chair?
But the guy actually would tell me "Can I take this chair?" ( you have to understand : to sit with my friends I already have...)
So I desperately and angrily think 
"OF COURSE DARLING BASTARD you can take this chair!"
So that's how it is in the cafeteria of the school. Fortunately I have the Samsung Tablet of my dear Air liquide collegues. So I take it out to show I am so busy with MYYYY friends!
Needless to say I do crave a conversation with a person over 40!

WHICH IS BETTER : SAN FRANCISCO or PARIS ?

While I was curious to compare the surface of San Francisco with that of Paris, I found on the internet this interesting study about what would make Paris or San Francisco a more enjoyable city to live in.

I picked up a few arguments pros and cons that I wanted to share with you.

EQUIVALENT FACTORS  
- The surface is eerily similar. : 120 Sq km for SF vs 105 Sq km for Paris. But I am not suprised after three weeks going around the city, I realize it was not that big for it stands on a peninsula. Paris is almost as big as SF is.
- The unemployment rate is rather similar at circa 7,7% .
- The average age is 38 for both cities. They are rather young considering they two are developed countries.

PROS SAN FRANCISCO 
- San Francisco is by the sea
- It has lakes
- It has mountains nearby
- It has an appreciably lower population density : 6600 people / km2 vs 20 700 in Paris, that makes you feel you can breathe !
- It has a lower level of air pollution : 27 vs 40. Yes Paris is polluted, and the fog of SF is not pollution !
- It has a higher average temerature : 18,4°C vs 15,5°C in Paris.
- It has an overall lower cost of living:
    * one monthly public transportation ticket is 71$ vs 90 $ in Paris.
    * the litre of fuel is 1,09 $ vs 2,2 $ in France, can you believe that ?
    * the big mac is 4,09 $ vs 4,93 $ in Paris, which is THE criterion truly reflective of the cost of living.

PROS PARIS
- Paris has significantly less people infected with HIV : 0,23 in Paris vs 0,6 in SF. No wonder, SF is well known for being a gay area. Gays are the population the most impacted.
- It has a much lower income inequities : 0,32 in paris vs 0,8 in SF. When you have crossed the Tenderloin and Nob Hill in SF, you understand !
- It has a public health care. When you have crossed the Tenderloin, you understand !
- It has clearly much more museums : 152 in Paris vs 48 in SF. Strangely enough, once you have identified the 4 most important museums in SF, there is not much left ! In Paris, it is endless...
- It has clearly more prestigious Think Tanks : 8  in Paris vs 0 in SF. As surprising as it may sound!
- It has the possibility of drinking alcohol in public places, which SF has not. It seems to be a sign of a more thriving night life ! But I am not a specialist of this matter...

And I would personaly add:
- You are allowed to smoke on a restaurant's terrace or in a public park in Paris. It is forbidden in SF and however you would just feel like the last pariahs ! So SF is not for you my dear smoker friends !
- Book stores are no longer (almost) on the ground of SF, they has been swallowed by the internet economy (Amazon), the still living bookstores in SF look like antique stores that survive an earthquake!
- The selection of movies in the SF theaters is as poor as my grandmothers' selection of video games.

SAN FRANCISCO won 510 points over 463 for PARIS!

http://versus.com/en/san-francisco-vs-paris



SF has THE Golden Gate Bridge.



SF has a lower density of population, people live in houses.



SF is surrounded by the sea.



SF is by the Pacific Ocean.

Bike ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. 10/04/2014

I met with Naoko on  saturday morning to do this famous bike ride to the Golden Gate Bridge. We took this very touristy cable car from dow-town to Fishermen's Wharf and rent a bicycle there for the day, rode on the Golden Gate Bridge, and from then down to Sausalito where we took a ferry back to Fihermen's Wharf. It was very sunny and hot. We've had breathtaking views on the bridge all the way long. We had a very nice time with Naoko who is a very sweet japonese girl.

Nothing much to say, just look at the pictures...

Bloody sunday ! 09/28/2014

The little adorable Roxy made pancakes this morning. They seemed to be very good. But that was not for me!

However, I went downtown taking the Muni (Metro) up to Powel station to find out the location of St Giles school. Once I got there and found my way through a bunch of tramps, I realised I had forgotten to take money which I needed to buy the necessary plug adapter I needed to charge my computer that was running out of battery. So I had to return home and once there go back to downtown...which took me two hours.

By the time I got to Union square, the very center of dowtown, I was very hungry, it was 3 pm. I looked for a place to eat and went into this restaurant. And there I felt like beeing transported in another time space: which means 20 years ago in a US dead end with straight people (no gays) watching an american football match on a giant TV screen ! Yes this can also be a reality in San Francisco ! So you can hear the men (real men!!!) growling at every good or bad movement of their team beetwen two sips of pint of beer. I 've had the worst caleslaw ever in this restaurant!

 

At diner time, I played a game with my hostess, the vocabulary test:

"So guys, I propose you to set a rule, if you agree", and then I can see Cristina staring at my in a gasp thinking "you are not the person who can set the rule here!"

I continue " I want you to tell me anytime I make a mistake, ok?" Everybody nods.

"By the way, I want you to be indulgent with me, or may be "to me" or "towards me", what do you think ?" And I see the 3 faces squinting at me, asking me"but what does indulgent mean?".

And Cristina replies "If you want to be a teacher, you have to use more simple words, otherwise your students won't understand you".

 

I definitely felt I couldn't stay very long in this utterly positive environment!

 



A sound diet. 10/01/2014

As previously said, I had to escape the witch and her barbarian's house on wednedsay morning in a taxi  that took me to St Gille's School with my two big suitcases. Kitty arranged with my new temporary family that I could go there one day ahead. So I arrived in the evening at El Serreno street, on the slope of mount Davidson, the highest hill of San Francisco, even higher that its Twin Peaks sisters not far. There I met Jane and Jerry (not to be confused with Tom and Jerry), an old retired couple, the healthiest persons I have ever met - by the way I wish them a long, long deserved life. They eat ORGANIC, drink ORGANIC, go to SWIM every morning at 7 am, go to WALK every night at 9 pm, don't waste water or energy... They actually are retired teachers, they are really SWEET! He is the combination of Charlie Chaplin mixed with Sacha Baron Cohen, was teaching math, arts (is a great painter) and put on plays with his students! She looks like a cartoon's Character with her white curly hair, is feminist, democrat, active in all kinds of associations, and also good pianist! I have not smoked one cigarette nor drink the tiniest glass of alcohol since I 've been here. I switched from a crazy poisonous psychomaniac family to a sound sustainable benevolent one. Thank god!

I am very sorry this might get very boring if these people occur to be very nice ones !

They took me up to Mount Davidson this week-end, it was really hot (29°C) quite unusal for the beginning of october, a breathtaking view on San Francisco from up there, even nicer than the one from Twin Peaks which is filled with tourists.

Class outing in the chinese district. 10/03/2014

We 've made this cultural outing with my general English class: one entire morning visiting the Chinese district next to the school, isn't that great!

Shane is our teacher, the guy with a cap, barely 30 years old. We are 7 students, 2 from France (me included), 2 from Switzerland, 2 from Korea, and 1 from Germany. There is an extra student from Soudi Arabia, but she is fasting because of Ramadan so she did not come along.

 

Most of the sudents are here for a short period of time, one or two months maximum. The Korean girl (striped shirt with sun glasses) whose name is Kate (easier to say than her real Korean name) has been in this class for two years! She is amazing, she is married to a Korean guy who is currently working in a bank in SF, she has worked before as a consultant in Korea, but it was so "stressful", so she is now taking this general English classes, also attending cooking classes because she loves to cook, not worrying about finding any job,  trying not be bored, probably waiting to have children, she reminds me of a 19th century Bourgeoise of Maupassant's Novel!

 

We went to visit the fortune cookies factory which is a very little factory in a little pedestrian street. The Chinese district actually has the tiniest and probably the oldest Streets of San Francisco. There you can see three women workers sitting on a chair, picking up the cooked pasta on metal plates with their hands, and rolling it with this little written paper (including a fortune message) in the form of the famous fortune cookie , which I guess is as unknown in China as it is famous in the US. The visit is free, but be careful the picture is worth 50 cents!

After that we had the chance to visit this chinese temple on the third floor of a building. You feel like being in China when you are there. Even more when you listen to the explanations of this old Chinese lady you can barely understand!

 

 

 

We ended up having a quick rather American lunch in this trendy newly opened restaurant, outside from the Chinese district: ORGANIC sandwiches and salads with a tiny ORGANIC apple as a desert. This is a San Francisco typical lunch!

 

 

Rosh Hashanah Yoga celebration in the Grace cathedral. 09/23/2014

Manuela, one of my house mate, proposed to go to a Yoga class which takes place every tuesday evening in the Grace Cathedral down-town.

So we met with Naoko and Manuela after school to go to this yoga class. AMAZING: This living cathedral (where mass is celebrated), is equipped with changing rooms, bathroom facilities and a cafeteria down stairs. Hundreds of persons gather there on tuesday evening to attend this free yoga Class. And there is this man leading with a microphone the people spread out in the alleys, the choir, everywhere, with their little matress on the floor. This guy wishes us a good Roshashana celebration in a Christian Church ! He reminds us that it was designed to people in struggle, and that is why we are here, to deal with our struggle in life doing yoga. Americans in SF are definitely open minded!

 

 

Nearly murdered ! 10/01/2014

I have not written for a while. It is that I 've had a near murder in my sleep experience which let me emotionaly quite upset. I am recovering....

For the good comprehension of the story, I have to mention what happened last sunday evening, when I went back from my little dowtown tour. I asked Cristina if I could have a cup of tea, because I was very thirsty and I was NOT GOING TO GO TO THE MALL for that ! She winced but accepted to boil water for me, provided I actually had my own tea bags. Then I took the cup in my bedroom, because I was not welcome in the kitchen, and there is no living room. Doing that I actually broke two rules in a row; a student is not allowed to make a cup of tea, and is not allowed to have a drink in his bedroom. However...

 

Monday was my first day of school. The school is located in the center of dowtown, next to all the shopping stores you could dream of. It is settled on the four first floors of a tower. It is a little bit outdated and narrow, but well organised. And the staff seem to be quite serious, professional, and comprehensive regarding my personal host family situation. Kitty , the person in charge of students ccomodation, found another host family for me I could join in the next couple weeks.

All the new students had a written test to evaluate their level in the morning and I had my first English class in the afternoon. The sudents are mostly young under 25, we are very few over 40. Most of them come from Japan or South Korea in Asia, Germany or Switzerland in Europe, Saoudi Arabia in the middle East. As you can see mainly rather economically privileged countries.

I had dinner with my two house mates at night at Cristina's. Manuela, a very sweet and easy going girl in her 30s, is from Switerland. And Naoko, an also sweet girl with a very low level of English, is 29 and comes from Japan.

Naoko was treated like rubbish when she went home and had a hard time with the key, not being capable to open the door.

Tuesday, Kitty told me she had Cristina on the phone who complained about me, and that I was to move next thursday to a temporary family.

In the evening we attended this Yoga class that Manuela told us about. Manuela texted Cristina to tell her we might be late for dinner. So we arrived home at 8.30 pm instead of 8 pm expected. We supposed Cristina would be angry and would make us wait for the dinner to be ready.And guess what, not only the dinner was not ready, but there was none, so she sent us to the mall because we were not clear about the fact that we would come back for dinner! We ended up eating tasteless lasagnas at the mall and came back home at 10 pm nearly after the curfew!

At 11pm, I heard somebody knock at my door. It was Cyrus, Cristina's husband,  I had not met him yet. "Hi Cyrus, nice to meet you!" And I see this tall, wild black haired and wild shouldered guy telling me : "You upset my wife, I want you to leave my house... tomorrow morning. You are Lucky I do not ask you to leave now!" That was a nice introduction! He is this kind of guy you always agree with, so I said "ok . I understand." And I packed my actually unpacked stuff (because I felt at the first sight the stay would not be long). No need to say I did not move a toe during the night, fearing the anger of the big guy, who I felt capable of murder...The next morning, I went to the kitchen to have my last breakfast, and Cristina popped up to tell me "You are leaving today so breakfast is not included, you cannot have breakfast here". That was the last benevolent intervention of Cristina. When I said goodbye to them, Cyrus told me something like "when you ask for a blanket, you get a blanket, and when you ask for a pilow you get a pilow" I did not get wether this was supposed to be philosophical or merely practical (I had actually asked the night before for a blanket and a pilow because I was cold and uncomfortable). And Cristina did not even turn her back to say goodbye.


How I ran away from the wicked witch and her barbarian's house...

Well I am making fun of it but I was actually very upset the whole day. I felt like having been mistreated, being thrown out like rubbish. It was not that cool!