Est-ce que les Français détestent les Américains?

My Saturday was never ending as I was completely jet-lagged, tired, but awake at the same time.  I got home from the parade around 8:30 pm.  On my way back from Marais to St. Germain, where my friend lives, I walk right through Ile de la Cite and past the Notre Dame; my friend says I need to actually go inside and to the top, so I’ll have to try that sometime this week.  I passed out and woke up at 12 a.m.  Realizing that I’m not going to go back to sleep for a while, I venture out to find some food.  Every cafe looks dimly lit and too romantic for me to walk in alone at this time at night.  As I’m walking down a small street, a man closing his restuarant asks me where I’m from.  When I say San Francisco, he pulls out his license and shows me he lives on 7th Ave in the Inner Richmond.  Do I really look that American, and even Californian to a single passerby?  I suppose so!

After dinner I’m too tired for a classic French lounge so I visit The Moosehead which is around the corner from my friends; it’s a Canadian bar playing the Yankees and Mets game.   I’m quickly approached by a french guy who promptly says to me “I hate Americans, and their culture.”  When I told him that saying that was not the best way to introduce himself to me, he said “You’re in my country, and you have to listen.”  Clearly he has no game.  He proves to me to be more ignorant than anyone I’ve ever met before.  He thinks America is imperialistic (read this article), and that everyone should stay in the place that they are from (good, he can stay in France).  When I reminded him how imperialistic his country was in the past, he said that at least it was honest; the French came with guns, while the Americans come pretending to help, educate and support.   I tried to tell him about the projects my friends are working on, and why I thought travel was important, but this guy proved he wasn’t worth my time.  Eventually he stopped talking to me, and when he left he tried to give me a kiss on the cheek,  I denied him.  He asked why, and I said “I don’t like you”.

I spent my “after-party” (a.k.a. me in Kenzie’s apartment fighting the 6 hour time difference) watching Al Jazeera in English.  I actually like the channel except for its reporting on Israel.  They had this great piece on stolen babies in Guatemala; apparently the Guatemalan Attorney General petitioned the US for help on adopted babies.  We would never  hear about this in the states.

Related posts:

1. Mon amie arrive!
2. Ou est mon amie Kenzie habite?
3. The Art of Abigail Adams