Feb
21

La Burla – To Make fun of

English Version.

Ser inmigrante es una de las cosas mas difíciles que me ha tocado vivir en esta vida. Gracias a Dios estoy casado con una Colombiana y no tengo que lidiar con las diferencias culturales en mi casa como lo he tenido que hacer en el pasado, pero de todas maneras termino siendo alguien que no es ni de aquí ni de allá.

Cuando llega el momento de ser aceptado por una cultura, uno tiene que sacrificar algunas cosas. Una de las cosas que me toco sacrificar por mucho tiempo fue mi sentido de humor. El sarcasmo de los americanos es mucho mas negro que el de los colombianos y la recocha no es lo mismo. Este tipo de humor es solo usado entre amigos cercanos y uno no interactúa con personas particulares a ese nivel en ningún momento. En Colombia si alguien se tropieza la persona mas cercana diría, huy le movieron el piso, pero acá si uno dice lo mismo lo miran a uno como si uno no tuviera respeto. En Colombia esa clase de humor se utiliza para despejar el aire y vivir la vida un poco mas liviana, acá todas las relaciones se manejan a un nivel mas seco.

Ese fue uno de los cambios que le hacen sentir a uno mas solo en este país. Uno se aísla totalmente de los demás porque en realidad hasta para pedir permiso en un supermercado cuando estan pasando con el carro, parece que les cuesta trabajo abrir la boca a la gente, y cuando lo hacen es en un tono afanado y sin nada de cortesía. Yo creo que en Colombia estar listo con frases que uno conoce para muchas situaciones lo mantiene a uno conectado con la gente. Uno ya sabe que al momento que le pase algo inesperado alguien estará ahí rompiéndome el silencio con algún chiste acerca de la situación. Eso hace que uno le mire la cara a la vida de una manera un poco distinta.

Gracias a Dios he sido capaz de hacer de las personas alrededor mío mis amigos. En el trabajo hay varias personas las cuales están listos a cualquier momento de burlarse si yo con torpe que soy me llevo algo por delante, y aunque paresca tonto es algo necesario que le digan a uno al momento que uno tumbe cualquier cosa, “se lo empaco? o se lo lleva así?”

English Version Read more…

Feb
04

Colombians all of over the world stand up.

No Mas Farc

Today, I am leaving early from work to march for something I really believe in… stop the FARC. For more info, visit my wife’s site.

*** UPDATE ***

Check out the flickr group (No More FARC) we created and bellow is a little video we shot there.

Nov
11

Best Food in KC

Everyone loves comfort food, warm handmade tortillas, cornmeal, sweet potato. My comfort foot favorite meal is called Bandeja Paisa. This dish coming from the mountains of Colombia like our coffee is a common theme on most authentic restaurants all over this country. I have had it in Chicago and Miami and now the best on can be had right here in KC.

Downtown Kansas City, Kansas there is a little Colombian restaurant called El Rincon Colombiano. It was were I had my first meal as a Kansas City resident and I still have the friends I made that first day… actually thanks to them I have met many more. The restaurant has been newly renovated under a new owner. He was actually somewhat of the star of the piece the Pitch wrote some years back.

The Bandeja Paisa is the equivalent of what many Americans think of when they see a plate with turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and stuffing. While in the US we only get that dish combination once a year, imagine getting that kind of comfort food every time you go to a restaurant in a distant land.

Aldemar who was the waiter mentioned in the 2005 pitch review of the restaurant, greeted us now wearing the hat of owner operator. In the kitchen there was now a new cook and I was exited but cautious with my expectations. This is the only Colombian restaurant here and if they changed things too much I was going to be disappointed. To my surprise, the Bandeja Paisa was the best one I have had since I was probably back in Colombia.

There was enough meat on my plate to induce a food coma, I kind of feel like I am still recuperating from the meat intake. My only complaint about the place before was that the steak always lacked a little bit of juiciness, and I would ask to get my bandeja with pork instead of beef. This time I actually got a bandeja and none of the things that make it up needed to be substituted. Every single piece was delicious.

A bandeja paisa is composed of rice an beans as a base, the red beans are cooked with Colombian flavor and rice that is plain white but has a flavor that is hard to describe. The meal than start climbing in calories and mouth watered with the delicious arepa , fried plantain and avocado. However the star of the meal is all the protein, a fried egg, a nice and crispy chicharron, a very lean piece of steak and a Colombian sausage. To round the meal up you can order a tropical fruit juice.

This not a meal for the calorie counter but for one that wants to try a little taste of Colombia. I can tell you that you will not regret trying this meal. I seriously think that the 10-15 bucks you spend at this little place will give you a better meal than any of the big fancy chains all over the city. If you are ever downtown KCK, go down a couple of blocks south on Minnesota on 6th street and you will find one of KC’s hidden great eateries.

Oct
15

La Calle – The Street

English Version.

Tengo un nuevo amigo por Internet. Es un Colombiano de Medallo! y conversando vía e-mail nos prometimos hacer un articulo de lo mismo pero desde las dos perspectivas, Medellin, Colombia y Overland Park, Kansas.

Aunque desde mi punto de vista tengo algo de ventaja, yo se que es una calle en Colombia por haber crecido en Cali, nunca he estado en Medellin así que será un poco interesante. El primer detalle del que quiero hablar es que en general la gente acá en los Estados Unidos no camina a ninguna parte. En parte por las distancias, nomas para comprar un galón de leche, acá no venden bolsas, se tiene que manejar a veces unos 5 o 10 minutos. Me acuerdo tanto que después de haber vivido en un apartamento en Chicago como tres anos, me di cuenta que nunca había cruzado la calle… pasado en carro, muchas veces pero nunca cruzado la calle. Tener carro acá no tiene nada que ver con estatus social, es casi una necesidad. Digo casi porque en las grandes ciudades hay transporte publico, pero apenas sales de una de las mayores ciudades así sea la población inmensa no hay transporte publico.

La palabra calle tiene dos significados muy distinto entre los dos países. La Calle en Colombia a veces se utiliza solamente para indicar que uno va a salir afuera de la casa. En algunos sentidos cualquier lugar afuera de donde uno vive es considerado la calle. En los Estados Unidos el termino La Calle tiene que ver mas con el lugar donde vives. El termino es usado negativamente hasta el punto que decir “street walker” que literalmente significa persona que camina en la calle significa prostituta. Cuando uno le dice a alguien callejero en Colombia significa solo que a la persona le encanta salir de la casa, pero acá seria alguien que esta como en malos pasos o en malos negocios en la calle.

Cuando salgo de mi casa veo los apartamentos de mis vecinos y al lado la oficina del conjunto. De donde vivo ahora si he caminado a comprarme una gaseosa hasta le estación de gasolina que queda a unos 200 pasos de la casa y he también salido a tomarme una cerveza al bar que queda casi a la misma distancia de la gasolinera pero hacie el otro lado. También he caminado hasta el parque que queda como a una cuadra a jugar fútbol y también solo a caminar por ejercicio con mi mujer.

La calle que recorro todos los días es la 87, trabajo y vivo prácticamente sobre esa calle. Me demoraría unos 20 minutos en caminar hasta el trabajo, pero la costumbre ya es de manejar hasta la oficina todos los días. Todo acá es cuestión de tiempo. Es cuestión de no gastar mas tiempo de lo que uno tiene y caminar parece una perdida de tiempo… aunque yo se que seria mas saludable y si no fuera por los cambios extremos del clima de acá depronto hasta me animaría a caminar hasta la oficina de vez en cuando.

Read more…

Sep
20

The Jena Six Facts

I have been wanting to post about this since I heard about it, but I wanted to first gather as many facts about the situation before I posted any of my thoughts on the matter.

* The incidents happened in the fall of 2006.
* A group of 3 white students hung nooses in a tree on high school property.
* A group of 6 black students proceeded to beat a white kid unconscious because of escalated racial tension over the tree incident. (The six kids were prosecuted and one is still being held in jail because he has not posted bail.)
* The six kids were charged with “Attempted Murder” but later the charge was lowered for 5 of the kids to “Battery”.
* The white kids were never charged legally.

This is where the facts end, and the feelings from everywhere start to run wild. I want to first write a little background for my international readers that might now understand what this is all about. When you are from outside the U.S. and you hear about someone hanging nooses from a tree you never think of race relations, you think of the wild west.

Historically in the US, a cross burning, hanging nooses or even some people flying the confederate flags have been used as intimidation symbols by “white” people to “oppress blacks”. I put quotes around the words white and black because I personally believe that you cannot generalize to the color level. Not every white person in the U.S. is a cross burning member of the KKK and not every black person is a uneducated thug. When there is a racial incident in the U.S. everyone has to pick a side or risk being called racist.

I am sure if this town is an example of the many towns that are still segregated in the U.S. or not. I am not sure if there is race tension or not. One little known fact about the U.S. outside of here is that every single town seems to have places that are still segregated as in the “black” part of town, the “Hispanic” part of town, and here in KC, Johnson county. Wait a minute… I live in Johnson county… that’s right. There is no “white” part of town… or is there?

I personally would never want to leave in a place where I am not welcome. There are communities in Chicago where you cannot live unless you have X amount of dollars. And no, I do not mean you could not afford the house, I mean you have to be able to buy the whole town or they will not let you into their community. I am sure that KC also has exclusive communities and it is mostly economic. However, there are still places in the U.S. where the “black” part of town and the “white” part of town exist. I am not sure where all the Latinos live in those communities because I have yet to find a city in the U.S. without someone that speaks Spanish. I know where I am not welcome and I simply don’t go there.

The story of the Jena six goes something like this, the high school has a “white” tree. The tree where the “white” things hang out. Again, I am not 100% on this being a segregated town or not because I have never been there, but I know that I have been to town where I have been the darkest person for miles. Two “black” students sat under the tree and next thing you know nooses are hanging from it the following day. Obviously a racist statement that should have been properly addressed, and in some people’s eyes it was. When the culprits were found they were suspended. Should they have been kicked out of school for being racist? Was it racist?

I have seen more teen movies than I can count. Most of them start by defining the cliques in school. I am not sure how it is in Jena, but it is possible that there are groups of friends comprised of only “black” kids and some of only “white” kids. I am not sure if Jena is a place where there are race tension is an every day thing, but from what I remember school age kids tend to have cliques no matter what you do. It is part of the identity forming process. Inside such groups stupid pranks and retaliations towards other groups happen, while the noose has a different connotation than for example toilet paper, I understand the suspension. Should have been this a felony and considered a hate crime? Should have this been the same as when when in the side of my high school someone spray painted “Die Ni**ers.”? Was this worse than that? (btw, the culprits at my school were never found.)

So, after the whole tree incident, some black student decided to protest under the tree and they were broken up by local authorities. Then there was the story of a black teenager being beat up at a party, and some others threatened with a shot gun. Supposedly the only charges that came out of that was that the black kids that were threatened with the gun wrestled it out of the hands of the other person and were charged with stealing the gun. I do not think any of this can be considered fact here because I have not seen it come from a “reputable” or even multiple sources.

As racial tension mounted, a kid said something to support the noose hanging and maybe even called the six kids in question “ni**ers.” A beat down ensued and six kids ended up facing the law.

In my personal experience I have seen many beat downs. Some between rival gangs in my high school. None of the people involved on those fights were ever charged with attempted murder, and I cannot recall any incidents in my school where someone was left unconscious. Partly because when that was happening I would just go down the opposite hall or stay indoors if it was in one of the courtyards.

Is attempted murder too high of a charge?

I personally don’t think so. The kid could have died as a direct result of the brutal beat down. Six on one is not a fair fight. The guy that is still in jail has a record. At this point, even with all the other information I have here I don’t see how this is a race related issue. Teenager get in fights all the time over a lot of reasons and even if this one was motivated by the hanging of nooses, I don’t believe that beating one kid until he is unconscious is going to change a community if it is really that racist. Again, why would anyone want to live amongst people like that?

I understand where people are coming from when they call the race card. It is hurtful when someone looks at you like you are from another planet because you do not look like them, it is even worse when they make assumptions about who you are based solely on the color of your skin. If I had a dollar for every time someone mentions cocaine when I say I am Colombian I would probably have enough money to be confused with a drug dealer. However, I believe that sticking up for 6 kids that beat up another for some stupid symbol is a waste of time.

Why isn’t Jesse Jackson here in KC talking to the superintendent of the KC public schools about why seven schools want to move to another district. This issue could be just a racial, they want to move to the “white” school district. Doesn’t that matter a little more than defending people that obviously committed a crime? I guess Jesse is too busy telling Obama that he is taking the “white side.”

You see, in this country unless you either have to support one side or you are labeled. If you support the law in this case, you are told that you are supporting the “white side.” I simply think that people need to stop playing the race card or what happened to the Duke students will get to be more common. If you are not aware of that case, using race tension for political gain a “white” guy accused some “white” kids of raping a “black” stripper. I hope that guy goes to jail.

People everywhere need to wake up. If someone breaks the law, make sure that they are put in jail. If people are racist, do not try to change them just let them be. The more you try to change people’s mind the more they are going to change yours. All you accomplish trying to change someone’s convictions is making yours thinner and thinner. Right now we get almost hourly updates on Britney Spears drug problem and that is what is news. Racism is going to end when we stop making it the first thing we think about when there is an issue. I am not saying it does not exist, I am just saying that the more you pull the race card, the less people are going to listen when race is really the issue.

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