13. Travel book (2)

the book of laughter and forgetting

For my second assignment, I had a bit of a hard time deciding what book to read when it came time to narrow down a second book for our travel blog. I wanted something that I could use as a basis for understanding Czech culture and how natives think, but at the same time wanted something that I would both enjoy and that would serve a practical purpose, so in that spirit I did my research and found just the book. As it turned out, I chose to read “The Book and Laughter and Forgetting” by Milan Kundera, one of my favorite authors, who wrote one of my favorite books of all time, “The Unbearable Lightness of Being”. Funny enough, I later got an e-mail from the NYU Global Affairs office stating that NYU in Prague students were actually assigned to read the same exact book after I had already purchased it (needless to say I returned my free copy at Barnes and Noble and now have a store credit which I’m planning to use to buy the Harry Potter-related Tales of the Beetle and the Bard). ☺

Lonely GuideI already finished my last two books that were travel memoirs of 2 journeys throughout Argentina and Latin America, so I decided to open the free travel book that NYU gave us as a supplement to being accepted to study abroad. The book they gave us, a Lonely Planet's Guide to Buenos Aires, is pretty short and sweet. Hopefully the writers actually wrote this one. There's not much in the book that's particularly mind blowing, but I do love the little stories of Argentine expats and how they view Buenos Aires from the perspective of someone born and raised there. It's nice to hear advice from travelers to Argentine, but it's also great to hear where Argentine people like to go and what they do with their spare time. With questions like, "what's the first thing you do when you get home?" and "where's the best place to go to just write?" these are things that are relatable to everyone and things that can be appreciated by everyone.

Something NewOkay sorry for being a little late with my book, but I am reading Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood and yes, I highly recommend it. It’s about an aspiring writer, Eden, who travels to Paris in 1986 inspired by her Aunt Victorine’s stories of the freedom that blacks, such as Josephine Baker and Langston Hughes experienced in the 1920s. She feels that the prejudices of the South have denied her the opportunity to become a writer by following in their famous footsteps she can achieve her dream. She arrives with $200 in hand finds a cheap room in the Latin Quarter and takes low-paying jobs to follow the path of her literary heroes. Her main focus is to acquire a meeting with James Baldwin himself, as she hears rumors that he is in the city. Along the way, she meets interesting characters and has an affair with a white jazz musician. She slowly finds out that Paris is not what she expects it to be In fact, the book depicts it as quite dangerous with terrorist bombings, police beating students, and increasing racial prejudice.

The cover of Kushner's bookFor my second book, I read "Telex From Cuba" by Rachel Kusher. "Telex From Cuba" is a novel, and an employee at Idlewild suggested it to me when I bought "Havana: an Autobiography." I didn't buy the book (since hardcovers are so expensive) but I did find it at Bobst Library.
In "Telex From Cuba" Kushner wrote beautiful fiction about the buildup of tension in Havana and the Oriente Province until the explosion of the Cuban Revolution. In the pursuit of showing this, Kushner makes clear the hierarchy of 1950s Cuban society, in which most Cubans were near the bottom. The book is written more heavily from characters who are Americans living in Cuba in the ten or so years before the Revolution.
Kushner’s descriptions of Cuba are my favorite parts of “Telex.” One character, La Maziere, inhibits a red-light district of Havana and sees the city as a sticky, off-color version of Paris. Most of all I love Cuba through the eyes of K.C. Stites. On page 83 he describes a beach called Saetia as a “perfectly protected cove, with pink sand that sparkled like it had grown up diamonds in it, and reefs that were teeming with sea life.” K.C.’s experience in Cuba is driven by his childlike, physical relationship to his environment. He lives like a prince among beggars; with a paradise for his playground. While K.C.’s position seems morally repugnant in terms of Cuban political values, K.C.’s Cuba is beautiful in its simplicity. K.C. saw the harsh treatment of poor Cubans, but his narrow scope left no room for questioning. His ignorance of inequality is easily justified: "it wasn't right, but that's just the way it was."

Louis Garrel - THE French guyIf you have ever dated a French guy, you have got to read “Almost French,” by Sarah Turnbull because she nails the social misunderstandings dead-on and you will consequently die a happy death from laughter. From the language barriers to their schoolboy humor to their old-fashioned albeit charming style, the Australian author hilariously describes falling in love with her Frenchie, Frederic. One of my favorite parts of the book is when Frederic rants and raves about how the English language makes no sense—I’ve heard this before. Another part I really like is when Turnbull tries to convince Frederic that the scarf he is wearing makes him look like he’s from a different century—again, been here.

The second half of the story is less about her romance and more about Turnbull’s struggle to make friends in Paris and integrate herself into society. Although it was a little scary to learn how mean the French can be to outsiders, how cold they are at times, how women pit themselves against each other, and how unreceptive to they are to making friends, I suppose it was good to prepare myself for some potentially unfamiliar situations.

I’ve always been more afraid of French women than men, Turnbull told me why in “Almost French.” Turnbull has a horribly frustrating time trying to make French girlfriends because at parties nobody is welcoming or seemingly interested at all in getting to know her, she is pretty much ignored. She finally meets a Frenchwoman, notably a woman who’s lived outside of France for long periods of time, that tells her that women in France think of each other more as rivals and the reason nobody talks to her at parties is simply that after forming strong friendships over the teen years, the French generally think they’ve “got enough friends already.”

The map of London's TubeLondon, along with basically every other city in the world, has been undergoing some major changes as of late both in the city itself and its people. When I went to Bobst to look for my second travel book on England and the culture, they almost all were outdated and consequently didn’t seem as relevant when I flipped through them. Therefore, I figured that my best option would be to scour my travel guide, which is Fodor’s See It London and was published this year. I had only used it once before, in order to find stores and main sights for the map assignment, but I hadn’t explored any of the book’s many other features. The guidebook itself is set up in a fairly generic way, outlining top stores, restaurants, hotels, and things to do. Where it seems to stand out (and the reason why I picked it over other similar ones in the bookstore) is that it is filled with tons of colorful images and large maps, and offers a bit more on London’s culture, community, and history—with tips. The first part of the guidebook, entitled “Living London,” highlighted these features and was the part I chose to focus on.
I learned that London is split into three parts: “the City,” which is the financial district and the center of London which contains the majority of the historic sights, the West End, which is filled with parks and museums and considered the more elegant area, and then the East End, which is more working-class London. I will be living in the West End in the district of Marylebone, which is right above Mayfair—a district filled with chic and expensive restaurants and shops (that’s going to be a mixed blessing for sure!).

Argentine Money For my second book I was thinking about reading Motorcycle Diaries because I really love the movie. It is also the only book I know of that at least partially takes place in Argentina and specifically Buenos Aires. Even when I went to Idle Wild I was only presented with guidebooks or writing from Argentine writers. So I took myself to Bobst and searched for Motorcycle Diaries. The computers said that it should be on the shelf but of course it wasn’t, it also wasn’t on any of the surrounding tables, the room books go to before getting put back on the shelf, or the area books are held right after being returned. I became very frustrated and checked the shelf one last time.

Motorcycle Diaries is nowhere to be found in Bobst but I did begin to look at the books on the shelf were it should have been. I came across the book “Travels With My Father: A South American Journey,” by Daniel and Feliks Topolski. The novel is what the title promises: a recollection of a man’s journey around Latin America. It begins in Paraguay then moves to Argentina. I browsed other chapters but only really read this chapter from start to finish.

angry golferSince I’m pretty active here in New York, I figure I’d like to continue working out and exercising in Prague. NYU offers YOGA twice a week, however, I can’t imagine that is going to suffice so for this assignment I consulted my Time Out Prague Guide “Sports and Fitness” Section.
Though they are clearly not the best in Europe, let alone Eastern Europe, Czech Football is celebrated throughout the country. The national “AC SPARTA PRAHA” team is quite the spectator sport in Prague and I definitely plan on going. Horse Racing is another spectator sport I have never been a witness to. The “Chuchle” track is the only track in Prague that opens in April (the rest open in May when, most likely, I will no longer be in Prague). The world’s longest horse race takes place in Prague at the Dostihovy Spolek, but this occurs only once a year, the second weekend in October.
Since NYU recommends joining a local gym since theirs is apparently inadequate or nonexistent, I researched workout facilities to find an affordable one that I also found interesting. Delroy’s Gym specializes in martial arts but offers courses ranging from aerobics to self-defense. I have never studied/taken any sort of class so I think I might pursue this in Prague, which should be rather entertaining/enlightening because my only notion of martial arts is associated with Asia and the South Pacific.
Since I hate golf with a burning passion (I have no patience for it), I have decided if I’m ever a businessman, tennis will be my old-man-sport. The Czech Republic has produced some revered Tennis champs such as Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova. CLTK is a famous, recently renovated structure with 16 total courts, 6 of which are inside. I would really like to get a chance to play while I am in Prague because it’s pretty inexpensive and centrally located.

The Bells in their Silence by Michael GorraFor my second book on this blog, I took Steve’s suggestion and read The Bells in Their Silence: Travels through Germany by Michael Gorra. Written in 2004, the book is able to offer a refreshing perspective (at least for me) on Germany. Then, in this book, Germany is not constructed in terms of a decadent 1920’s veering on a depressed 30’s and ending in the Third Reich. Rather, Germany is granted a level of modernity only because Gorra allows Germany the agency of reflection. I would argue that the main issue surrounding seeing Germany as a premodern place, as many North Americans (tourist or otherwise) have seen or continue to see it, lies in believing that Germany has in no way looked upon its past in a critical way. I remembering seeing this Family Guy episode after having returned from Germany and being frustrated by the common, while simultaneously humorous, portrayal of Germany as a nation that only exists currently because of a renunciation of its past. Similarly, I find that the members of my family who identify as Jewish, especially ethnically/culturally Jewish, refuse to believe that Germany has entered the modern era. I really liked this blog post by Emily-Kate for discussing the problems of representation that pervade American logic.

Let's Go Buenos Aires
The guidebook I chose to read is from the “Let’s Go” series…it’s called Let’s Go Buenos Aires. I chose the book because it is very recent (just released about a month ago), and because it is supposedly “for independent travelers on a budget, with an emphasis on whatever’s hip, fun, or free”. I feel that the book definitely lived up to these expectations.

With an emphasis on moving beyond the tourist experience, the guide really seemed to offer an “authentic” Buenos Aires experience by making an effort to capture the local culture of the city through facts, accounts, and a surplus of information. While the book includes everything that I would typically expect to find in a guide (food, sights, museums, nightlife, entertainment, and shopping), I was pleased to find that it offered several other useful sections. Two sections, “excursions” and “daytrips”, will be very helpful for when I plan weekend trips outside of Buenos Aires. It recommends when to travel to specific places in Argentina, as well as it offers information on transportation, accommodations, and food in that place. Also the book includes plenty of in-depth maps, and most conveniently, the first page of the book is the “Subte” map (the subway).