Sunday, January 01, 2006

$100 Dinner


Good morning todo el mundo,

Last night, my friend, his Europen friends and I went out to an Italian restaurant in Williamsburg, seemingly a white neigborhood in Brooklyn. The restaurant was located in the middle of bodegas/warehouses area. We had nicely refined and presented foods and a few bottle of wines... I really enjoyed the beautiful presentation of the foods and unique taste that I could tell lots of ideas and efforts were in it (that's what I was missing in Latin America, greatly refined ideas and efforts in food). One girl from southern France kept lecturing the dishes and drinks in details while we were eating. After having a bit classy Italian style dishes, we all ended up with paying $100 dollars each... Que? What? Nani? $100 on a meal? That's 30 casados (lunches) in Costa Rica. Did I really spend 30 lunches on ONE dinner? I can't keep up with these European people.

So, it was kind of a surprising "welcome to the capital of capitalism". My friend parhaps felt bad for me, so he said "pay me $70 coz you didn't expect to pay this much". I accepted his considerate offer in exchange of cooking my version of Mexican or Japanese food for him and his GF. Yeah, at least for now, me as a student, this way of socializing more suits me... cooking and eating together, than being served.

But then, since I am in NYC, I want to learn some of apparently snobby European mentality and manners. Actually, I have never exposed to hard core Europen manners. (In Mexico, I once had an situation in which all the foods were served by a made, and I had to eat a leaf of a lettuce by a folk and a knife... what a nonsense manner)

My friend told us, "Talking about the food, French culture and Japanese culture are very similar in a way. They both are pround of own culture since it is highly refined". I guess it is true. But also, that is a sign that people from this kind of environment could possibly be blind because they are too pround of their own things. These culturally blind people may not able to appreciate others refinedness... since everything they judge is through their own filters.

My voice, "How can I bring these people's essential qualities together, to cultivate some sort of profound and collective consciousness?" It sounds like long way to go.

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