The Aztecs, Bucephalus and Solzhenitsyn
Monday, July 02, 2007
I went to the pub last night with my husband and a friend. There we met a guy who asked us to look after his dog - Jack - while he went to the toilet. The guy, Mark, seemed nice, and the dog was very cute so we said yes, no problem. When Mark came from the toilet we gave him Jack back and continued our conversation. We were talking about the America cup and Venezuela. All of a sudden Mark came to our table and joined our conversation. He told me you look like a mexican indian! :s I said nothing.... and he said yes really you look like an Aztec, and I couldn't avoid laughing. I said I am not from Mexico. And he didn't listen. He kept on talking about the Aztecs. He said he saw a TV show about the Aztecs recently. He said something about the "last aztec" who was living in London :s He then asked me if I knew about Moctezuma. And I said just a bit, he was an Aztec king who was defeated by the Spanish. And he said you should know more of your history! Oh my God I am not Mexican!
Well, Mark continued with his tale about the Aztecs, and then he changed the topic to his favourite movie: ¡Viva Zapata! Again he asked us if we knew about it. I said oh yes the leader of the Mexican revolution. My husband said something about Marlon Brandon (in Viva Zapata and the Godfather) and Mark bought it. Mark liked Zapata's horse and he asked us if we liked it too. We said yes his famous white horse. And then my husband said: like Alexander's the great horse. And then the guy got more excited. Oh yes Bucephalus I love Bucephalus how wonderful horse... and Alexander the great... I love him! He told us stories about Bucephalus and got even more excited...
After a while, I don't know how, we ended up talking about Russian literature. My friend happened to know a book that Mark had read: The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn was a russian dissident and in his book he denounces the structure of repression of the soviet state. Systematic abuse by Lenin and Stalin. Awful stories about prisoners in concentration camps, etc. Apparently that book was a bit depressing, but of course Mark loved it... My friend and Mark discussed the book for a while until Mark got a bit emotional. I could see his eyes turning red... and it wasn't the effects of the pint of lager he was drinking!It was late (and Jack was getting very bored and impatient) so we decided to go home. We said bye to Mark and he asked us to say hi to him next time we see him. He said he might not remember us but that we should remind him of our interesting conversation.
Unfortunately, Mark did not know anything about software development, otherwise we could've had some fun discussing windows vista, agile methodologies, and the new iPhone!!!! (which by the way is internet enabled, has an amazing user interface, and a multi-touch screen... just beautiful) ... I'm such a nerd!
¡Viva México cabrones!
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only in Hull you can find people like Mark willing to talk about anything. I was struck that the guy knew so much more than the average Hullean (in my view anyway).
Brush up your history too!
oe oe oe oe
gulag, gulag
Another russian figure leading the space programme in the 60's was sent to the gulag and rescued from there later on, but it took a toll on him when he was most needed (just before the Apollo programme), and the russians lost the space race.
Solzhenitsyn's work would not have been published in 1962, during Khrushchev's regime..and it's not 100% safe to say that the novel confronted communism...maybe a bit of freedom of literature...
well,
i have to agree with the first comment. Impressive for a Hullean but amusing how his ignorance and 'you-should-know-your-history' thing. I remember one survey spotted a guy who thought sheffield was British colony.... :s
Mark is indeed impressive for a Hullean, still ignorant and arrogance (that bloody 'you have to know-your-history thing. i hate when they make such a comment). Anyone can read random articles and talk about statistics or the facts, but that's not 'history' , first of all. It is to understand 'Why'. It's amusing he kept on about Aztec to you, but i wonder if he knew why and how the Spanish defeated the natives. (Indian!!? For heaven't sake!!) I can talk hours and hours about dark side of history. something that they would never want to talk about.
People are funny.
- They will always talk about what they know, what they think based upon what they see. They will always see what they want to see.
- They are NOT afraid of being 'unware' of something. They are afraid of realising what they thought was right/correct turns out to be wrong/incorrect.
xxx
asi que tienes cara de azteca!!!! no lo puedo creer ja ja ja
Hola Cecilia! Did that happen in the Gardeners Arms?
That's surreal. George should have been there, so at least someone would have been Mexican in this conversation!
Did you leave Livejournal?
abrazos!
Hi Angel! that was Queens pub...
And now that you mention Uncle George, he has some resemblance to Mark..
Hey! Gardeners Arms is not the same since you left!!!!!!!
flaca ... no mojes que no hay quien planche...!!!! jajajaja me imagino tu reaccion cuando te dijeron eso.....chesssss jajajajajajajaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! ahora no duermes !!!\
ya me di cuenta en que andas...andas en
drogas...jajajaj....que caque de risa , ese tal mark realmente si que estaba recontra pasuchi para que te haya alucinado una india azteca...jajajaj a mi una vez alucinaron que yo era hindu....pero inducumentado...jajajaja
Salu2
Homer
I know GOULASH, Hungarian GOULASH... but... GULAG???? C'mon... That's Pepe desperately looking for his frineds Huh-goh, Juuh-an and Guuh-laaag
Regards,
Beto, the historian
PS: By the way, you are not Aztec, Tu le vas a las Chivas Rayadas del Guadalajara!!!
¡que buenaaaaa!!! nunca falta alguien asi, a proposito quiero un iphone.