In short this is what it comes down to.

Apparently in Mexico City, one of the world’s largest cities they have been having trouble in public park spaces, with fecal contamination of the canine kind. Owners have been walking through the parks and their dogs have been doing their bowel movements there in the park. The owners have not been obliging enough to pick up their dog’s mess.

Consequently this has been having an effect on the walking spaces. Some people find they have a bad smell following them, when finally they look at their shoe and have some part of someone else’s dogs past foodtime. The park sometimes can look like a visible mine field, with people having to dog the line of poo’s left behind.

The solution. Terra a Mexican company has come up with a solution. If the owner picks up there beloved dogs doo doo, a places it in the special bin provided, a wifi machine ways up the poop, and transfers that into free internet time. Obviously this is not going to be fair for a Chihuahua owner, but great for an owner of a Great Dane. The weight of the poo transfers into free internet time. And voila, happy surfing for the internet users.

Walking through the park trying to avoid every dog poo that comes in your way is an almost impossible task, but it wouldn’t be a problem if owners would just clean up after their pets. So Internet portal Terra has teamed up with ad agency DDB to create something that would motivate people to actually pick up their dogs turds. After some brainstorming, they came up with Poo Wifi, a machine that offers a free wifi connection in exchange for dog poo. So after they’ve picked up the droppings, people can drop the bags in a special box on top of the machine, after which the machine offers a number of minutes of free wifi, depending on the weight of the poo. Obviously, large dog owners will get more free wifi, which makes sense since their dogs’ droppings are the messiest.

Click here to view full article

wifi sign in Estonia Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hopefully this will get the owners to do the right thing. The last thing that you want is tread in a poop and go for and slide which makes you touch more dog poop. Now anyone got a plan how to cure the same habit in other countries? Maybe Spain and France for example.

When it comes to world rock music industry the Spanish-speaking rock industry is the 2nd largest after English. Mexico, the largest Spanish-speaking country is the epicentre and launch pad for many of the Latin America rock acts. Many up and coming rock acts or groups, from Colombia, Argentina or Cuba for example move to Mexico to build their career up and grow their fan base.

Mexico being one of the oldest Spanish speaking countries developed their own variations of Spanish traditoional music like “corridos” and “Paso Doble”. From their they have developed a tradition with a variety of other musical styles, and one of the most musically diverse countries of all Spanish-speaking countries.

Also Mexico has made large contributions to music styles that have become popular in the country, to such an extent they are just as much a part of their musical culture as they were in the country of origin

Here are a few of the traditional styles of music popular in Mexico

Norteño- This music is a cross between Mariachi and American country music, from the Northern areas bordering the United States. It is characterised by many, as music to play in a Mexican cantina full of drunk people, singing about their lamentations of life. A popular band in this genre is Los Tigres del Norte

Mariachi- the emblematic music of Mexico born from mixing of colonial era immigration style music usually played by a large group with many different styles of instruments, guitar, and wind sections the most predominant

Corrido- is a style of Mariachi, with protest lyrics just like “La Cucaracha” which is a song from the Mexican Revoltuion

Ranchera- a type of Mariachi usually with one man with a guitar Vicente Fernandez and Antonio Aguilar, the latter with his famous song “Yo Soy El Aventurero- I am the Adventurer”

Cha Cha Cha- Mexico’s dance style musical genre, originally from Cuba, but widely popular in Mexico with many Mexican composers adding to the genres repetoire

Cumbia- originally from Colombia, Mexico as many countries has experimented and developed their own type of cumbia. It is generally an upbeat tropical sounding music mixing percussion (e.g bongos) with large wind sections

Bolero- this type of “Bolero” was originally a music style from Cuba, but Mexican bolero composers have definitely left there mark on this style of bolero. Agustin Lara is a famous Mexican bolero composer

Ψ Note Below

In creating this post I have come across too much t about Mexican pop and rock’n'roll so I have decided to leave it for another post. So stay tunes  to our future post- “Mexican Pop and Rock”

Paulina Rubia, one of the sexiest artists in the Mexican pop industry- Image via Wikipedia

• El Jarabe Tapatío
• La Bamba- Richie Valens
• Besame Mucho
• La Cucaracha
• Mariachi Alegre

• Gimme tha Power- Molotov
• Mariposa Traicionera- Maná
• Afuera- Caifanes
• Eres- Café Tacuba
• No Dejes Que- Caifanes (Jaguares)
• Dame Otro Tequila- Paulina Rubio
• La Historia de Taxi- Ricardo Arjona
• Hacer El Amor con Otro- Alejandra Guzmán
• Si Tu Supieras- Alejandro Fernández

Popular Songs from Mariachi, Ranchera, Norteño

• Yo…El Aventurero- Antonio Aguilar
• El Chofer- Vicente Fernandez
• Malagueña Salerosa
• Ay Chavela- Antonio Aguilar
• Contrabando y Traición- Los Tigres del Norte
• Volver
• La bikina

ψ Note from above The women singing the song ‘Besame Mucho” is neither a Mexican nor a Spanish native speaker. Cesaria Evora was born in the Portuguese speaking island of Cabo Verde. During her career she was one of the biggest names in the Portuguese music arena, and a well renowned international singer. In December last year she left us, she and her beautiful voice will be sadly missed.

Germany is one of those countries that love making beer. And you might have noticed they even like drinking it. There are so many breweries there, and for the people, there is nothing more refreshing than sitting in the beer garden and having a cool beer of their choice.

Beer (Photo credit: SteFou!)

Germans like beer so much that they even celebrate beer. The Oktoberfest in Munich is like one large celebration of beer and is not the only one in the land.  The Germans take pride in their tradition of brewing beer to produce the best beer for you drinking experience. Because of this they have come up with the Reinheitsgebot, German Beer Purity Order, which specifies pure, clean ingredients. Pure water, unadulterated hops, barley, wheat etc, especially for the drinker.

Augustiner beermat: "Münchner Reinheitsgebot - 500 Jahre" (Photo credit: mdid)

Without beer many Germans just like the song “Bier her, oder ich fall um- Beer here, otherwise I’ll fall over” will probably fall over. So it is time for us to give you some insiders information and some of the best and popular beers:

Becks- one of the main export beers from Germany. Not a bad drop, a pilsener with a clean fresh taste

Bitburger- they also make one with herbs added to it.

Krombacher- a popular beer in Germany

Paulauner- found at the Oktoberfest, the Paulauner Hefeweizen, is one of Germany’s most popular wheat beers, containing that smooth creamy wheat beer taste

Warsteiner- one of Germany’s most popular pilseners, tried in Germany

Beer 8237 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Augustiner- the Edelstoff beer is one of the most popular, and due to much time spent is Munich, it is one of our favourites

Augustiner Hell in the "classic" bottle (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Franziskaner- the Hefeweizen from Franziskaner is definitely their best, but not their only good beer, one of the most popular wheat beers in Germany

Schneider- this company has many popular beers on many lists of top best beers. The favourite of all being the Aventinus, a dark amber beer

Aecht Schlenkerla Fastenbier- also a brewery with many great beers. This beer is a darker smoked beer and is a well awarded beer on many best beer lists.

Wiehenstephaner- This brewery between Munich and Ingolstadt (Audi car company) has many great beers, in fact our favourite. The Hefeweizen and Kristal Weissbier are really smooth and great tasting beers, and really deserve the thumbs up

It might be good to point out that many beers on this list are wheat beers. Wheat can mean white, but many beers can have a whiter look to them.  Wheat beer has wheat malt placed in them, usually instead of barley malt which gives a smoother and creamier taste. Germans call these beers summer beers, because they are good to drink in summer.Careful they can give you are quicker “bierbauch- beer gut’ than normal beers.

White wheat beers are usually more popular and better tasting than the stout of dark varieties “Dunkel hefeweizen”.

There are many more different types of beer that exist in Germany so if you are interested the best place to check is Wikipedia Beer in Germany for the other types of beer made.

German beers are usually served with big heads of foam (schaum) on them, and the bartender has pride in producing the biggest head possible. This is mostly to show the biggest head means, the beer is fresh.

Germans also drink from a ‘Steifel- boot”, which has an art to drink it so it doesn’t splash back in your face and also a ritual to follow to drink it.

These are some of the best or the most sold beers in Germany. However in certain areas, the local beer is the best seller. In Munich the Augustiner Helles or Franziskaner Hefeweizen. In Düsseldorf DAB beer. In Hamburg Hansa Beer is popular. In Freiburg, the Black Forest area and Lake Constance area Tannen Zäpfle is the popular choice.

What’s the favourite choice of your area? Would love to have your input.

To see some good German Songs with lyrics while your drinking click here

To brush up on your German Slang click here to view our slang pages

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The Oreo craze is taking off around the world. It’s unstoppable.

You’ve probably noticed the popular United States snack time treat show up on your doorstep, in Germany, Sweden, France, Australia or even Indonesia. This post is not to say we don’t like Oreos, or anything bad about them, or to affend anyone with great childhood memories, it is try to understand why the hell they have become so popular. Just like some countries have developed a tradition with things that aren’t popular in other countries like Jägermeister in Germany, Vegemite in Australia, haggis in Scotland, or pickled eels in England.

To understand a little more we investigated what biscuits (cookies for a Yankee English speaker) are popular in other countries.

• In Germany Bahlsen Leibniz, which are a biscuit filled with a Nutella like chocolate. If you knew about their addiction to Nutella then you could understand this one, but this is much sweeter than an Oreo
• In France, Le Petit Écolier, which is not a bad biscuit just with a chocolate covering. I’d choose these over Oreos
• In England, Milk chocolate digestives and custard creams. I wouldn’t go for the first one but the custard cream Yumm Yumm
• In Australia, Scotch finger or Tim Tams, they are so popular amongst women folk, that it is almost like an addiction, with their heavy sweet chocolate content
  

  A man performing a Tim Tam Slam. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

• In the United States, I believe Chips Ahoy are also popular. I can understand a liking for this
• In Colombia, a popular snack is a “bocadillo-little mouthful” which is a type of guava jelly (jello) with soft cheese of top (yuck)

To make an example of why it’s seems strange that they are so popular,  Arnotts biscuits in Australia has a combination packet called Assorted  Creams. All of the 9 varieties of biscuit have a basic tasting biscuit, combined with a nice cream inside. Of these there is a brown coloured equivalent called Delta Cream. Of these the Delta Cream is the least popular. A recent example was while on a  tour, for morning tea, the tour company provided a full packet of Classic Creams. As to be expected the 2 most poula varieties disappeared first. Then slowly the others disappeared according to popularity. But in the end most of the Delta Creams were left over.

Arnotts Assorted Creams

To see why we did a test. 3 people tasting Oreos. The response, it didn’t taste bad or good. We didn’t receive any superhuman abilities, and it didn’t make us speak with an American accent. Damn it! What now?

So we started asking questions. Why is it so popular? We did a google search and a yahoo forum came up with some good answers http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120216172351AAdm4XE:

1. Because they are delicious and made with crack.
2. Things that are from your childhood make you feel happy
3. If you don’t like them some funny Americans get angry and violent,
   Who the hell doesn’t like Oreos I’ll kick their a**!
   People who don’t like Oreos make me feel kind of violent.
   I’m about to choke someone out.
   Not really. Oreos are delicious!
   Point taken. I really like Oreos, believe me! They are the best in the world (Please don’t hurt me! Please!)
4. Then an answer was given, they are good in milk (a revelation in understanding)

Double Stuf Oreos, by Nabisco. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

That’s it! Dunk them in cool to tepid milk or ice cream! Now I understand a little. Dry Oreo’s not so tasty. In milk a little more scrumptia-licious. I’m probably tapping into some thoughtwave here. From my understanding, drinking a glass of milk (rather than beer-mothers milk) is a tradition in America, so dunking a chocolate biscuit in the milk would have developed side by side with that the drinking of a nice glass of milk.

Now a bit of understanding. Whilst doing some research we have come to a realisation, why Oreos have become popular. So the question arises.  Do any Americans want to try vegemite? It looks like squashed ants, and is made from the left overs at the bottom of the beer barrel. Or what about some dried chillied mangoes? Or maybe some haggis?

What to brush up on your American Slang from Street Talk Savvy click here?

For any of you who have the vaguest idea, in Australia the sports that are common to the rest of the world, aren’t so common to Australia. Many of the sports were brought to the country by the English. Australia’s biggest sports don’t even unite the vast country together, that is they aren’t played in every state.  Because of a climate, where snow anywhere on the mainland is a freak event, Australians take advantage of the good weather conditions,  and sport  is enjoyed by many people and in many different categories.

1. Cricket: Australia’s #1 sport. The only sport that brings the whole nation together. Many people would say it is as exciting as watching paint dry, but that’s not if you’re an Australian cricket fan. And it’s still more exciting than golf. The idea is to throw a ball toward the ground in a an overarm throw action, and the hitter protects 3 sticks, otherwise he goes back to the stadium. Until recently the Australian team was an invincible force, then things went all pear shaped and quickly. They say that the captain of the Australian cricket team is the 2nd most important person in the country (after the Prime Minister)

beach cricket a great Australia summer pastime(Image via Wikipedia)

2. Australian Football (AFL): this strange game is played by everyone that is not Queensland or New South Wales, therefore it is the 2nd most popular sport. Played in winter, the trick is to get an oval ball between 3 giant sticks, the amazing thing is if you miss a target that large, if you miss you have to be uncoordinated. Fans of this sport only have the national competition to watch their sport as it is played nowhere else in the world. An average fan would watch every televised national club game, which is usually around 9. For this reason they are world champions.

Aussie Rules Game on the Gold Coast, Queensland Featured teams: Adelaide Crows (Red) Melbourne Demons (Navy & Rouge) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3. Rugby League- played on the east coast in New South Wales and Queensland, which is a little less than half of the Australian population. This sport is noted for sticking your face in what is known as a scrum, next to someone else’s butt, and trying not to sniff it. It is a hard contact sport, with many heavy hits. The benchmark of the game is the annual State of Origin between the 2 states, it is also played professionally in England, and a little in New Zealand.

 4. Football: the round ball game, it is the most played winter sport because the other football codes are not united. Usually played by children of migrants, including some British ones, Australia is becoming more and more competitive, although not yet a big force. Most fans of football also support their local League or AFL team

Harry Kewell Australia's highest paid footballer (Image via Wikipedia)

5. Rugby Union: Similar to Rugby League, Australia has fewer players than Fiji, but because of league Australia is usually ranked 2nd or 3rd in the world, always after the invincible All Blacks.

Locks are tall and typically the target of a rugby lineout. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6. Tennis: once a very important sport in Australia, tennis has taken a back seat lately because of a recent lack of success from local players. Just before the Open era in tennis, Australia was the best in the world for 20 years. It shows in Davis Cup results where the 2 most successful countries US 32 and Australia 28 Davis Cup wins are well ahead of the 3rd most successful country, Great Britain with 5 wins. Rod Laver is also the only person to win 2 grand slams.

Margaret Court Arena at the Australian Open. Rod Laver Arena, the centre court, in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

7. Surfing: With a country surrounded by water, some of them turbulent coastlines, Australians have really taken to surfing. On a good day most surf spots around the east coast, near Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and Hobart are full of surfers. Also, Australia has more or less dominated the sport. At the moment it is more numbers of Australians in the professional ranks, but still no-one can beat the one man surfer freak Kelly Slater 11 times world champion.

Gold Coast- a popular surfing destination

8. Swimming: Such a hot country Australia, most of the children turn into fish at a young age, in an attempt to keep themselves cool. Swim lessons are encouraged for school children to reduce accidents in the water. The Surf Life Saver movement was started in Australia to protect the many beach goers, and these days is an Australian cultural institution.

9. Hockey: Field hockey, brought by the English is a traditional Commonwealth sport. India traditionally have been the most competitive team, and Australia have an impressive statistic of always coming 2nd no matter who is the world champion. Recently world champions changed from Holland to Germany but not the #2 spot. I believe finally Australia is world number 1. The women’s team seems to have better results than the men.

Trabajo propio (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

10. Netball: Another sport brought by the English, it resembles very much basketball, but is the most played women’s sport in the country. Once you receive the ball you can’t move and have to pass the ball to gain ground. The best teams in the world are usually Australia, New Zealand and West Indies.

Australia vs New Zealand (Image via Wikipedia)

Lawn bowls at Mowbray Park Bowls Club, East Brisbane, ca. 1925 Men playing lawn bowls, with the two storey clubhouse in the background. The upper storey has a wide verandah. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are many more British invented sports these examples which are played in Australia, but these are the main ones.

To view Australian Slang in Street Talk Savvy click here.

Germany. A country where blondes abound. At least you’d think so when 2 of the hottest are Heidi Klum and Claudia Schiffer. But who are the hottest Germans of all? No not Angela Merkel, strike one. And what about the men? Remember Boris “Boom Boom” Becker? We put down our beers and lederhosen for a while to investigate, the best German Augenschmauz- eye candy.

 10. Julia Stegner- German supermodel Julia Stegner

POTSDAM, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 26: BER 26: Models Eva Padberg (L) and Julia Stegner arrive to the Bambi Awards 2009 at the Metropolis Hall at the Filmpark Babelsberg on November 26, 2009 in Potsdam, Germany. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

9. Nina Bott- Sexy soap opera actor Nina

BERLIN, GERMANY - FEBRUARY 10: Minu Nina Bott, Marcus Schenkenberg and Tina Bordihn attend 'Movie meets Media' Party at Hotel Ritz Carlton on February 10, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

8. Sarah Brandner- is a model and football wag, the grilfriend of German footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger. Watch out Sarah, in case you didn’t know what a Schweinsteiger is! (Hint- Schwein- pig, Steiger-pig, you do the maths now)

7. Xenia Seeberg- all rounder Xenia is quite a talented woman, an actress and now lead singer in the band “Vertikals”, she also speaks 3 languages and has a degree in Latin and philosphy. Xenia is more than just a pretty face

Xenia Seeberg (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

6. Juliette Menke- blondes rule the roost in Germany, this curvaceous TV personality would certainly get the eyes fixated on the television

5. Lena Gercke- the 2006 winner of Germany’s Next Topmodel is a favourite on many lists  for many German men

 4. Claudia Schiffer- Oooooh Claudia. A former supermodel, for many years Claudia would have been on top of the list of hot German women. Still for her age, she would still turn a lot of heads, including young ones.

Claudia Schiffer wearing red latex dress (Photo credit: ALO Atheist)

3. Janine Habeck- In a land full of blondes and a list full of blondes, this sexy brunette from Germany really bucks the trend

2. Eva Padberg- Eva is a favourite model from Germany sometimes seen in television commercials

Eva Padberg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Heidi Klum- just before German blooded Brazilian Giselle Bundchen became the highest paid supermodel, Heidi Klum was the person all the worlds attention was focused on, and she was called “the Body”. This title usually goes to the girl considered to have the best body in the world

Heidi Klum modeling at The Heart Truth Fashion Show New York, 1st February 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

And now

Germany’s Sexiest Men

According to British women, German men are the sexiest. So who do they consider sexy

10. Franz Beckenbauer- former German football legend, now not so young, but his latest wife is. He has had a lot of success with the women for more reasons than his football talent

English: Franz Beckenbauer (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

9. Jürgen Klinsmann- former German football coach, has had many a female eye on him at the football matches

PARIS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 11: Coach Jurgen Klinsmann of USA looks on during a pre match training session prior to the International Friendly between France and USA at Stade de France on November 11, 2011 in Paris, France. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

8. Erol Sander- a German-Turkish actor with Turkish blood but grew up and spent his life in Germany

7. Michael Schumacher- so far the most successful Formula 1 racing car driver, still does laps around womens heads- good work Mr. Shoemaker

Michael Schumacher, German racing driver (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6. Joachim Löw- the best dressed football coach the World Cup has seen for a long time. Current German football coach

Joachim Löw (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5. Andreas Frege- punk rocker and singer of German band “Die Toten Hosen- The Dead Pants” is more than just a punk singer

Campino, Singer of Toten Hosen, in Concert in1987 in Garching, Munich. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4. Boris Becker- I’m sure women think more about his nickkname “Boom Boom” rather than his prowess at tennis

Boris Becker at Stars & Cars 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3. Michael Ballack- current German football captain, obviously popular with the women

Michael Ballack (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2. Michael Fassbender- what is Michael famous for? he was Magneto in X-Men

Michael Fassbender (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

1. Sebastian Koch- not so young anymore, but capabale of turning heads in the old days

Sebastian Koch (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In case you’re wondering no Arnie is not German therefore this list is not for him.

If you want some eye candy tourism and want to meet some of these blonde beauties, then go on, brush up on your German Slang-Romance and Pick Up Lines or just German Slang, just click here.

Che! Vos querés un matecito?- Hey Man! Do you want a little maté?

Ever been walking down the street in Berlin, on a bus in Spain, on a beach in Australia, and seen someone carrying in their hand, a wooden looking receptacle with a metal straw protruding from it. Then straight away you knew that it was yerba maté, and you knew they must be from Argentina or Uruguay. The people from the maté consuming region take their maté with them wherever they go. Possibly consuming it all day long.

This image shows a calabash as used for drinking mate tea. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So what is maté?  Maté or Yerba maté is a warm beverage drunk in Argentina, Uruguay and adjacent areas in southern Brazil, which contains caffeine. It is consumed in large quantities by the people of these areas and most of the duration of the day.

Given that it is a caffeine habit or vice, unlike other caffeine vices, maté consumption is a mobile beverage, which the consumer can take with them wherever they go. What makes this possible is by filling the receptacle full of the leaves, it doesn’t leave much room for water, and so it doesn’t easily spill. It is then continually topped up once the liquid inside has been consumed.

Yerba mate growing in the wild. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Addiction

You can say that some people consume up to 6 coffees a day, or the same with tea, but consumers of these vices, don’t have withdrawal symptoms once the drinking vessel leaves their hands. Maté

The Ritual

As Europeans often meet at a coffee shop, drinking mate is the impetus for gathering with friends in Argentina, southern Brazil and Uruguay. Sharing mate is ritualistic and has its own set of rules. Usually, one person, the host or whoever brought the mate, prepares the drink and refills the gourd with water. In these three countries, the hot water can be contained in a vacuum flask, termo (appropriate for drinking mate outside) or garrafa térmica (Brazil), or in a pava (kettle), which only can be done at home.

The gourd is passed around, often in a circle, and each person finishes the gourd before giving it back to the brewer. The gourd (also called a mate) is passed in a clockwise order. Since mate can be rebrewed many times, the gourd is passed until the water runs out. When persons no longer want to take mate, they say gracias (thank you) to the brewer when returning the gourd to signify they do not want any more.

Click here to view the entire article

Ever tried maté? Everybody has their own palate, but to the first time consumers, it can taste a bit like horse chaff mixed with water. But many things have an acquired taste, and many people still love the taste of them. What might they be? Well, your first taste of alcohol, coffee, and tea, all didn’t taste too good the first few times. Then all the sudden you loved it. Same with maté. Argentinians, and nearby neighbours mix it with other things like sugar, to make it taste nice for themselves.

Mate drinking, Plaza Cagancha, Montevideo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Compulsion

Maté

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French the language of love. Or was that Spanish? Or Italian? French of course, the others are impostors! Who doesn’t love the sexy sound of a French man or woman speaking their language or even yours. The sound of them talk is like a “coup de foudre-love at first site”, and they make you melt like butter in the sun. If your interested in a French speaking person, then you’ll need some pick-up lines. So here is Street Talk Savvy’s choice of our 10 Best French Pick Up Lines.

10 Ton père est un photographe? Car tu es vachement bien développée
Is your father a photographer? Because are really well-developed

9 Tu es comme un bijou de la mer. Embrasse-moi maintenant ma cherie/mon cheri
You are like a jewel of the sea. Kiss me now my darling

8 Que-est-ce que tu fais en hiver d’avoir des beaux yeux de même?
What do you do in winter to have such beautiful eyes?-
This is a good saying from Quebec, just to vary the origin of our French pick up lines

7 Est-ce que tu crois au coup de foudre au premier regard ou est-ce que je dois repasser ?
Do you believe in love at first sight? Or should I walk by again?

6 Excuse-moi. On dirait que j’ai perdu mon numéro de téléphone… Est-ce que je pourrais emprunter le tien ?
Excuse me, I lost my phone number…could I borrow yours?

5 Est-ce que tu as un plan ? Je me suis perdu dans tes yeux.
Do you have a map? I’m lost in your eyes

4 Tu as du feu?
Do you have a light?
Not exactly a chat up line but a good way to get a conversation started, a meet an interesting person

The original French temptress Brigitte Bardot (Image via RottenTomatoes.com)

3 Tu as un beau sourire
You have a nice smile-
A compliment goes a long way, and it’s up to the reciever to see how far they want to go with it

2  Ton père est un voleur ? Il a volé les étoiles du ciel pour les mettre dans tes yeux
Is your father a thief? He stole the stars from the sky to put them in your eyes ♥♥♥.
I challenge anyone to say that this is a bad line. Even if the arrow misses at least they’ll think it was nice.

1 Ma petite fleur de champs
My little field flower.
Another cute pick up line, one of Street Talk Savvy’s  favourites

Once you have your petit/e ami/e or copain/copine- boyfriend or girlfriend, you’ll need some terms of endearment to call him/her your “chaton“-kitten. The French also have a strange but cute way or addressing your loved ones like:-

ma petite puce- my little flea
ma petite biche- my little doe
ma petite poule- my little hen
mon petit minou- my little kitten

and from there you can be inventive and call someone “ton petit chameau”- your little camel. This will give them a good laugh.

Liebe macht blind- Love is blind

German pick up lines can help you attract that special man or woman that you are looking at across the room. You are in a German speaking country and you don’t know whether they can speak English or not. In any case you want to make a good impression. In that case make sure you don’t have perfect pronunciation so that he/she picks you for a foreigner. So here are our 10 best that we can think of.

Heidi Klum the supermodel an example of German beauty, modeling at The Heart Truth Fashion Show 2008. New York, 1 February 2008. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

10 Ich würde gerne der Grund für Deine schlaflose Nacht sein.
I’d love to be the reason for your sleepless night.

9 Du siehst nett aus. Lohnt es sich dich kennenzulernen?
You look nice. Is it worth getting to know you?

8 Du bist die schönste frau unter der sonne
You are the most beautiful woman under the sun

7 Wenn ich Dich sehe, geht für mich die Sonne auf.
When I see you, the sun rises for me

6 Ich finde dich atemberaubend
I find you breathtaking

5 “Ist dein Vater ein Dieb?”
“Warum?”
“Weil er die Sterne vom Himmel gestohlen und sie dir in die Augen gesetzt hat!”

Is your father a thief?
Why?
Because he stole the stars from the sky and put them in your eyes!

4 Du hast wünderschöne Augen
You have beautiful eyes

3 Deine Augen strahlen wie die Diamanten, die Dich bei unserer Verlobung schmücken werden.
Your eyes shine like diamonds, which will decorate you with our engagement.

2 Willst du meine briefmarkensammlung sehen?
Do you want to see my stamp collection? (It doesn’t seem like a pick up line, but given you are saying it to a German, they will get the picture. It isn’t that uncommon to hear it as you would think)

Another beautiful German woman: Eva Padberg (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1 Hat es dir weh getan als du vom Himmel gefallen bist?
Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?

If you liked this and want some more words to say click here for German Slang- Romance and Pick Up Lines from Street Talk Savvy

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Want to get a hangover? We here at Street Talk Savvy are dedicated to helping you achieve that result. Just follow our list of 10 Best Alcoholic Drinks for a Guaranteed Hangover and you can even write to us and tell us about your experience in achieving something that people normally try to avoid

10 Cheap champagne- Just reach for a $5 bottle of your favourite variety René Pogel (this is leg opener spelled backwards) and you will have a nice little ache in your head the next day.

9 Moscatel. Mmmm! Sweet wine, can I have some please? Watch out for your little present the next day

8 Pear/Butterscotch Schnapps- not all schnapps will give you a hangover, but the best ones are the sweet syrup type varieties like pear and butterscotch

7 Jäger bombs- a great mixture of the famous and disgusting tasting German hern liquor (tastes like medicine), with red bull, and you’ve got yourself a hangover with the added red bull effect. Good luck trying to sleep on this one

6 Southern Comfort- an acquired taste for the sweet tooth, and an acquired hangover for those who suffer from lack of knowing when to stop

5 Passion Pop- is a cheap passionfruit flavoured sparkling wine. Popular with younger drinkers who are not flush with cash, it has given many a youngster a lesson of great experiences that will follow in their life

4 White Russian- the sweetness factor yet again. Vodka with coffee liqueur, tasty but dangerous

3 Midori- this sweet tasting melon liqueur when drunk in excess cn give you a good hangover

HANGOVER (Photo credit: mariotto52)

2 Sangria- the cheaper the wine and the sweeter the ingredients the greater the hangover. A good sangria made thoughtfully unfortunately doesn’t always give you a hangover when not drunk in excessive amounts

1 Fruity Alexia- In Australia at least this wine is a mixture of cheap white wine and cheap red wine and comes in a cask. Finish the 4l cask and you have the added bonus of a pillow to lie on if you are still in a state to blow it up

Hope you enjoyed our suggestions, for you worst possible hangover experience. You are always welcome to send any info, suggestions and like this post if you want. So don’t hesitate to participate

In Street Talk Savvy‘s international slang dictionaries you can find the word hangover as Kater in German Slang, j’ai la guele du bois- French Slang, je suis megané en osti- Quebecois Slang, rescaca- Spanish Slang, guayabo- Colombian Slang

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I don’t know why but Colombian Spanish has some funny sounding words. Even more than some varieties of Spanish. So I thought I would share some of them with you. So what are the 10 of the funniest Colombian Spanish words?

10 Pecueca (pekweka)- this is foot odour-this word even sounds funny

9 Conchudo-is something who takes advantage of someone, an opportunist

Fruit seller in Cartagena, Colombia These brightly coloured women are called Negras Palenqueras- (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

8 Cuchi-Barbie- this word is a combination of the word “cucho” meaning old, and “barbie” doll. A cuchi-barbie is not exactly a cougar, but a beautiful looking middle aged women, sort of like a MILF without the notion of having children, or being on the hunt for men.

7 Tirar- this is a common Spanish word, but careful about your use of it in Colombian. It means to bonk there, so unlike in Spain where yo might see it on a door, meaning to pull, a Colombian in Spain might feel like they are being prompted to have sex. Therefore, a bonk in Colombia is called a “tirada”.

6 Amanacer- this means to wake up, or sleep in Colombia, but for other Spanish speakers it has them a little bit perplexed. If you don’t know the word, you would think “Como ameneció (usted)?- how did you see the dawn/sunrise? To which the only plausible answer would be “Pues, en la cama- well I saw it in bed” when really you should be saying that you slept well.

5 Tufo- this is alcoholic breath:- Tienes tufo! You have grog breath!

4 Cucos- these are knickers, or women’s underwear. It has a funny sound, even becoming catchy with other Spanish speakers, when they are speaking with Colombians, all for a good joke. You might see the store on Chapinero “Todo cucos”

3 Gasolinera- a woman interested in rich men for their money, literally translates as gasoline women.

2 Chucha- this is underarm or body odour. It is a good work to drop into a conversation, particularly if you want to get someone to keep their distance

1 Tuqui- tuqui lulu- this word is the winner for sounding funny. It means something like bad luck, and is sometimes accompanied by a cutting action to the neck

"Pibe" Valderrama a great Colombian footballer has a funny nickname- Image depicting Carlos "el pibe" Valderrama. Taken by user:f3rn4nd0 for wikipedia and sister projects use only. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

But wait there is still more slang from Street Talk Savvy. If you liked our 10 Funniest Colombian Spanish Words, then check out the rest of our Colombian Slang or Spanish Slang

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As the 60′s ended and the 70′s started the Australian music scene was burgeoning.  The beach scene was becoming more popular and there was a change in the style of music that the surfers liked to listen to. They still liked the acoustic sounds of the Deltones and other surfer sounds but, the harder guitar sound of electric guitar was more popular with the surfer set.

Many local pubs had young local bands play on the weekend, and as a result many new bands sprang up during this era.The Sunday afternoon live band in the beergarden, in beachside areas had become a national institution. In particular there were more pubs by the beach that had live music than further inland, especially in the cities.

Because in this era Australia was at the forefront of surfing, many surf makers and associated promotions, came from Australia. As a result it was also interesting for me to note that it had a knock on effect to the surfer population of Brazil. A few of Australian surf bands like Australian Crawl, Gangajang, Spy vs Spy and Hoodoo Gurus were popular there.

Australian Crawl at the time were the epitome of the Australian surf band. Blonde, tanned and surfers, from beachside Melbourne. They sang about beachside themes, themes close to their heart. Saving money to go to Surfers Paradise, Daughters of the Northern Coast- one of their most beach lifestyle inspired songs, or “let me tell you bout 2 young lovers that lived down the coast- “Oh No Not You Again”. Richard Clapton sang about jewels of sunlight shimmering on ocean, and wishing the citysiders would go away from the Palm Beach Road- Sydney’s northern beaches, and return to town. Gangajang sang about canefields in the north, northern humidty, the arrival of the evening swell, and the Australian suburban dream, with their 80′s Australian anthem “Sounds of Then-This is Australia”

Surf rock can be  distinguished from the sound associated with Dick Dale, the Atalantics and the Deltones, as music that surfers like to listen to rather than music people associate with a day on the beach. Surf music or the music listened to by surfers was also becoming popular by the choices for songs made by surf film makers. How many of us can remember the songs of Gangajang in the movie “Mad Wax” or aboriginal band “Yothu Yindi” in “Bunyip Dreaming”.

What exactly do the surfers listen to? Soft acoustic guitar like that of Dick Dale, that flowed on to current acts like Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter, and Australian acts like the Beautiful Girls and Pete Murray are popular with the oldstyle crew. Sitting in the middle are bands like Gangajang, Australian Crawl, Hoodoo Gurus, and newer stuff like Eskimo Joe. And the harder edge from punk  bands like Radio Birdman, Celibate Rifles, Cosmic Psychos, the Meanies and  Tumbleweed.

While some of the bands weren’t exactly from beachside areas, some were effected by the common trends in music in that time, others like INXS were from nearby and had crossover music styles and then drifted into other musical genres.

List of Australian Surf Rock Bands

• Gangajang
• Australian Crawl
• Hoodoo Gurus
• Mondo Rock- Come Said the Boy
• INXS
• Midnight Oil- Surfing with a Spoon, Weddingcake Island

• Sunnyboys
• Richard Clapton
• Mental as Anything
• Cruel Sea
• Spiderbait
• Ammonia
• You Am I
• Radio Birdman
• Tumbleweed
• Eskimo Joe
• The Beautiful Girls
• The Meanies
• Cosmic Psychos
• Celibate Rifles

Got any further suggestions? Feel free to send us some Australian Surf Rock Bands

To brush up on your Australian Slang click here

or check out our various blog posts from Street Talk Savvy

If you’re doing a surf  trip of the entire north coast of Spain, Asturias would be your third stop. As you cross over from Cantabria, you will start to notice more apple trees, which are mostly used for the local alcoholic cider. The water is Asturias starts to be getting a bit colder the closer you drive toward Galicia.

Llanes- Image via Wikipedia

Not long after crossing the border you’ll be getting close to the beautiful town of Llanes, head to the beach of Playa de la Andrin. What a beautiful beach it is, one of the most beautiful in Spain, with a green island set slightly out to sea. Not a bad wave even on the small summers days. If you happen to be in the town of Llanes for a Saturday night, it can really rock. There are many bars but you might want to start your night, sharing amongst your friends a case of cider (una bottela de sidra) at €2 a large bottle. The locals pretend that they can pour it from shoulder height with the glass at waist height while held on a slight angle without spilling any. Most don’t achieve a perfect pour. The reason it is done like this is to aerate it, because it is a non-carbonated type of  cider.

Playa de Ballota, near Andrin, Llanes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On of the next stops is the village of Villaviciosa. As you wind down the street to the beach you will see apple trees, which are used for such things as cider and wine most. The beach is line with eucalyptus trees and at one end of the beach you can catch a perfect left hand wave, that brakes in mechanical fashion, and as you see them reel off down the line the set of waves all look identical. This wave can really make your trip.

Asturias biggest city Gijon on the beach is a good place to stop. The main beach can have a fun wave every now and then. The best fun to have in Gijon is at night-time where the party starts in the old part of town called Cimadavella.When there buy yourself a case of cider and share it with your friends and some of the locals. You’re sure to have a great time, as the Spanish really know how to party.

Tapia de Casaregio is another  great stop with consistent surf.

It’s now time to hit Galicia. Galicia can be a hard place to get around. It has a heavily indented coastline, so when you’ve finished surfing one peninsula, you have to drive back down the road you came in on, till you reach the crossroad to head west. Galicia is Spain’s wild or rugged coastline. It is windy, rainy, colder water and in winter hard to find small waves. It is however a really beautiful and green place to visit. The best part of having a rugged coastline, you can find many uncrowded beaches.

Rodiles Beach at Villaviciosa, Principado de Asturias, Spain Español: Playa de Rodiles, Villaviciosa, Principado de Asturias, España (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Playa de Pantin near Valdaviño, is one of Galicia’s great waves, and home of many Galician surf competitions. Playa de San Jorge (São Xorxe in local dialect) is also a good place to get a good wave which can sometimes give you a good ride.

Want some Spanish Slang to accompany you on your surf trip click here.

For some of our other great stories visit Street Talk Savvy home page.

here's how the expert does it

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With globalisation and the spread of English due to it, some European languages are under more and more pressure to maintain their own language. There is often a push for example in countries like France, where L’academie Francaise to try to keep the language pure. In Germany apart from an official academie to protect the language they have developed an award “Deutsche Sprachpanscher des Jahres- German Language Diluter of the Year Award” to highlight those people abusing the German language.

In Germany the “Verein Deutsche Sprache – German Language Association”  has a huge responsibility, trying to keep the invasion of English words entering the language. Germans learn English in school, and despite all English language television being dubbed over with German voices, German speakers are quite proficient at speaking English.

It is also quite fashionable these days to drop English words into everyday conversation. There are even English words that have no equivalent word in German. To give an example I translated “Shit happens- Scheisse passiert” into German. I was told that they don’t use that word like that in German. When asked what do they use they simply said “Shit happens”. I continued to use “scheisse passiert” until it became recognised and fashionable to use it by German speakers. Germans also use the word “cool” and a lot of English-American slang.

Since 1997 the German Language Association has given out the award for the German Language Diluter of the Year for the offender of the year. One of the best examples was the first award ever given in 1997 to a fashion designer called Jil Sander

Ich habe vielleicht etwas Weltverbesserndes. Mein Leben ist eine giving-story. Ich habe verstanden, dass man contemporary sein muss, das future-Denken haben muss. Meine Idee war, die hand-tailored-Geschichte mit neuen Technologien zu verbinden. Und für den Erfolg war mein coordinated concept entscheidend, die Idee, dass man viele Teile einer collection miteinander combinen kann. Aber die audience hat das alles von Anfang an auch supported. Der problembewusste Mensch von heute kann diese Sachen, diese refined Qualitäten mit spirit eben auch appreciaten. Allerdings geht unser voice auch auf bestimmte Zielgruppen. Wer Ladyisches will, searcht nicht bei Jil Sander. Man muß Sinn haben für das effortless, das magic meines Stils. – Interview in der Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung vom 22. März 1996; zitiert im SPIEGEL vom 1. April 1996

It’s not hard to tell some of the English words dropped in this conversation but she has also germanised some common Englis verbs. The English words are all highlighted. This is one the best examples of corruption of the German language you can find.

In 2002 another great example from a German state institution Deutsche (German) Post from Klaus Zumwinkel

One stop shopping, Global mail, Mailing Factory, Fulfillment, Stampit, Postage point, Freeway, Easytrade, Funcard mailing, Travel service, Speed booking

For a German national service imagine not being able to speak English and having to use one of the services advertised by Deutsche Post.

To view whole article and the year by year award recipients click here for Wikipedia’s Deutsche Sprachpanscher des Jahres

A warning is that is written in German and there are no visible translations for this post.

To this day German is under attack from the English language, but it is not the only threat. The language is also trying to simplfy itself. So stay tuned here to Street Talk Savvy as we give an account on the comedy book the “Dative will be the death of the Genitive”, the funny story about German grammar’s archaic rules, being its own undoing.

Of course for a brush up on your German Slang click here

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Often we can find online translation tools to translate between official languages, but how many times have you been on the street  and found it hard to decipher the complex dialect or street talk, that you are hearing? Well some Fun British English Dialect Translators have arrived in Da Hood.

Some of Britains most common street dialects have been translated for you, so you can reach a greater understanding of the typical bird or geezer in the streets in Britain. Whoohoo.co have a series of translators for Irish English, Brummie, Geordie, Scouse, Cockney (a rhyming slang from East London), Ali G (the fictional comedy character of Sasha Baron Cohen), Yorshire Chicken Run, Scottish, and rich people talk called Jolly Well Spoken (these people speak with well pronounced words like they have a plum in your mouth).

It is a new concept so they ask of you to help to add more vocabulary, so they can improve their translation service.

To prove it’s translation Street Talk Savvy tested a few of it’s words. As “mingin” is one of our favourite English slang words we started a search through their various translators to see the result.

The sentence used was “She is really ugly”. In Brummie we added another of our favourite English Slang words “innit?”, which translates as “isn’t it?”.

Given that Cockney is based on rhyming slang I have no idea which word that means ugly has been used to translate “Heaven and Hell Butters”.

And the last one the well spoken dialect “Old Chap”

Here’s a good video to explain Cockney pronunciation

Do what?  Jolly well goh ahead, try out your english slang and be understoohd ohn the streets in suburban england. Absolutely top hole, I have to say. (Jolly well spoken)

What are some of the Best Belgian Beers? Belguim along with Germany are the most prolific beeer brewers in Europe and possibly the world. While Germany is better known for their quality beers, do as many people really know the quality of belgian beer? It is just as good as German and some of Street Talk Savvy’s favourite beers come from Belguim.

anyone think that this Brussels statue has had a little too much Stella Artois?

The tradition of brewing beer in Belguim came from the monks who brewed the beer in their abbey, and no doubt were competing with other abbeys to see who could make the best beers. They would often sneak of to quiet corners of the abbey and cwoff down a beer when no one was looking. In Belguim you can often find higher alcohol levels in their beers a d is dubbels 6%, and a tripel is usually around 9%. Quadruples also exist.

Also according to news on the grapevine, wheat beers were first developed in Belguim. Wheat beers sometimes called white beer or blondes are a smooth easy to knock down type of beer and called good summer beers, although the wheat content makes it more fattening than other beers. The difference in taste comes mainly from replacing malt barley with wheat

10 Jupiler while Pilseners are the biggest selling beers, according to inside information, the pilseners in Belguim are not world renowned quality, although Jupiler Pils is the 2nd biggest seller

9 Stella Artois Pilsener- also a pilsener, this is well renowned and commonly found, although far from the best in Belguim

8 Affligem A traditional popular Trappist monk beer

7 Grimbergen – another popular brand of beer

6 Duvel a smooth blonde type beer, usually found as a double

5 Leffe- the blonde from Leffe is a good smooth drink with a slightly orange flavour

Image via Wikipedia

4 Westvleteren 12- often voted the best beer in the world, the 10.2% beer is said to have a long shelf life

3 Saison Dupont -voted the best beer in the world in 2005 by Men’s Journal, this is a pale ale style beer

2 Hoegaarden- this smooth wheat beer is as popular in Belguim as it is around the world. A wheat smooth wheat beer it is often served in a chalice style glass with a slice of lemon. Not bad, but it tastes better without the lemon

1 Wickse Witte Tripel This we discovered in Holland. It is a smooth wheat beer, and comes in triple, but be careful because of it’s alcohol content, it can get you drunker quicker. Street Talk Savvy’s favourite Belgian beer

To enjoy some great Belgian beers, the Belgians celebrate beerfests at these locations

The BAB-bierfestival, held every year in November in Bruges
The festival held every spring in Leuven (previously in Sint Niklaas and Antwerp) organized by the consumer group Zythos.
The Belgian Beer Weekend held in Grand Place, Brussels, organized by the Brewer’s association.
Karakterbieren Festival in Poperinge, Belgium’s hop-growing capital.
The Beer Passion weekend held each July in Antwerp, organized by Beer passion magazine,
The Christmas beer festival Essen
Alvinne Craft Beer Festival, at Picobrouwerij Alvinne, Zwevegem (Moen)

For in depth informationon Belgian Beers we found a great authoritative website, just click the link

Mate, these videos are good! The Aussie catchword described again ad again in video.

Since the British English word arrived in Australia, Aussies have really added a lot of new  meanings for the one word. It it’s no wonder they have 17 videos explaining the one word. If you are in contact with speakers of British English it can be a word you’ll often hear, especially amongst men. Australian and Kiwi English are the heaviest users of  the word mate, but it can also be heard being used by English and Irish people. So what is the meaning of mate?

Mate is both a noun and a verb. To sort the easy part out first, mate means to pair, to join, to pair for the purpose of sexual reproduction (mating). She’s so hot I want to mate with her.

As a noun, it means a colleague, fellow or associate, or offsider. Work mate-work colleague, ships mate- someone assigned to a sailor to be the assistant, house mate- co-inhabitant of your house, and the list goes on. Or a married couple which is rarely used (you may as well talk about your spouse as a science experiment if you use that word in this situation).

In Aussie Slang many people are addressed as mate, especially as a polite way to get the attention of someone you don’t know, or talk about someone you don’t know their name. “What’s old mate, doing over there- What’s that guy over there doing?

Quintessential Australian

Mate: no other word can let you know that you’re talking to an Australian than ‘mate’. Even though it is used also by the Brits specifically English, and forms a great part of New Zealand speak, it is the frequency that it is used in Australia. As found on Street Talk Savvy- Australian Slang page.

Well by now you’ve got the picture. You can see all the videos of The meaning of mate.com or check out some more Australian Slang at Street Talk Savvy

Until the next post, “See you later Mate”

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This story starts in the south of France, near the Pyrenees. What’s Ricard you might ask? It is a French aniseed flavoured alcoholic spirit, often consumed mixed with water in France. Yuck! It’s better on the rocks.

It’s Saturday morning in May in the little village of Arreau, France near the Pyrenees in southern France. Most Saturday mornings Farmer Jacques goes hunting. Recently on one of his Saturday’s Farmer Jacques went into his favourite forest for hunting with some bags of corn, and spread them round for the sanglier (wild boar) to eat and fatten up, so that he takes home a fat little piggy.

Essential for the trip, his 3 Dachshund for chasing the pigs, his trusty rifle and one bottle of Ricard, to keep his body fluids up. Farmer Jacques sometimes goes hunting later, this means he can visit the Relais Michel before he goes and drink a Ricard with water, before the hunt. He meets his hunting friends at the Relais; Gaston and Robert.  He has 2 drinks, which have stripped the tastes buds off his tongue as only a Ricard with water can. This means that he can hardly taste the 2 Gitanes that he has smoked while drinking. Jean Luc the patron wishes them luck on his hunting trip, and the 3 hunts finally leave after their heartstarters. Ricard and cigarettes.

Today it is Robert’s turn to drive, so Gaston and Farmer Jacques, can drink and not have to worry about driving home. It is still morning time so the 3 cross  the stream for a short walk through the forest to see, if there has been any signs of boar activity, near the small ridge line. When they get there are no signs of the corn, but no recent marks of activity, so they walk back to the car for lunch.

On the way back Farmer Jacques sees a pigeon and tries to use it for target practice. Perfect shot. He let’s it fall, the Dachshund find it, but he doesn’t take it with him.

At the car for lunch, they have a baguette, some local cheeses and some Spanish ham they got from just over the border. This is washed down with a nice red wine, from near Aix-en Provence, and they finish it with a cigarette.

After lunch Gaston and Farmer Jacques, bring their hunting companion, the bottle of Ricard. They are off to the site where they think the boar are most likely to be, the lower oak forest. The Dachshunds are happy with their exercise. Farmer Jacques takes aim at another pigeon but, just misses. His aims starting to waiver. The boys stop for a rest and decide for practice to take aim at a rock. Robert gets the closest to the mark, but Gaston has really missed his aim. He’s not the best shot out of the 3, but with a bit of Ricard, he does get worse.

Soon they are getting tipsy and the action happens. Jacques is good on his feet but as the Dachsunds start getting excited they start running and Jacques is sometimes loosing his balance, while Gaston just takes it slower and steadier, but starts to fall behind.

Pretty soon they see a boar, and while Robert is in the best form, the best opportunity presents itself for Jacques, he shoots and misses a shoot that he could normally get. The action is keeping them on their toes. Robert gets a sight but too many trees are in the way and he misses his shots. Jacques won’t get a better chance.

The boars disappeared and the 3 men went back to the car. Jacques and Gaston taking swigs of the Ricard and not walking the straightest, and their sight getting fuzzy. Robert and Jacques, talking about the thrill of the chase they had. They like the thrill of the hunt, but they could not relax without their trusty bottle of Ricard. They finish their day with a relaxing pastis at the Relais when Jean Luc greets them again.

If you are listening to the local radio 2LM it’s Australia’s best address. But with such a large country and so many beautiful places it’s a bold statement. But if you’ve ever spent a bit of time there you’ll start believing them. Byron Bay is a country town, so close to 2 of Australia’s largest cities, but so relaxed in mind-set, that only the summer crowds could put you off the place.

the Tweed River with Mt. Warning seen in the background

Byron Bay is unlike so many Australian towns. It’s not large, and it’s in the country. It’s also a former capital of hippy relaxation. But Byron is an international town. Hippies, mix with surfers, bohemians, amazing artists, farmers, backpackers, and the international residents from around the world that never returned from their holiday.

It has so much to see and do. But if you don’t want to do anything, the amazing bayside beaches, with jaw dropping views get better the further from town you walk. Byron Bay has the great advantage also, that from the centre of town you can take a nature walk past 4 beaches to the lighthouse, and it won’t make you absolutely tired. The Byron Bay Lighthouse is one of the main attractions of the town, and what better way to visit it than a leisurely walk, past great surfing beaches, with amazing views, rainforest, surfers at the game, and the pick of the crop of the most attractive backpackers in Australia at that time.

On a beautiful day in summer and autumn, Clarkes Beach can look as if you were in the Caribbean. The surfing is well, one of the best spots on the east coast of Australia, with a wave for every wind on the compass. I could name, names but the locals wouldn’t be happy. You could say that it is the real “Surfers Paradise“.

Byron Bay’s CBD area also has some great places to eat. The Balcony, Buddha Bar and St.Elmos are some great places to eat that have a great outlook and ambience. The Buddha Bar also brews its own beers.

As for night life, Byron Bay is the party capital of the area. Even the larger surrounding towns have their residents party most often in Byron Bay. Some pubs like the Rails, have one band per night. Being Australia’s country town capital of bohemian culture, the international musical acts are oustanding and rival that of major cities. Where else can you see bands of 4 guitaring brothers, have one of their 17yr old member play Jimi Hendrix, behind his back, or see a local blues band Chris Aronsten, play such a tight act, that you can’t help but applaud even if you are not into jazz. After the Rails kicks off, people head to the Beach Hotel, where the young both male and female are so attractive that it features on the list of world beautiful people haunts. Keep your tongue in your mouth because the locals and tourists that visit are smoking.

As for the rest of the arts cultures, artisans abound, with former, known painters, sculptures and the like raising the bar of the local art scene so high that the artisans at the local markets, look like you are buying the art of someone before they become famous. You can see some of these arts displayed at the Byron markets 1st Sunday of every month or at Bangalow markets 4th Sunday of every month.

It’s not just about the main town, the whole area will amaze you. Brunswick Heads, Ballina, Nimbin region. There are many tours out to the hinterland. The Northern Rivers region has many rainforests, waterfalls, and nature walks to visit, with Mount Warning near the village of Uki being the jewel in the crown.

So what’s this about hype? Way too much publicity in general or bad publicity, don’t listen just visit. Byron Bay is truly a place to visit to believe. Many foreign expats can’t be wrong.

Main Beach, the place to relax after a serious nights partying

Are you are lover of French Cheeses? A lover of cheese in general. France is one of those countries that proliferate cheese. And probably have dabbled with more styles than any other country. From soft to hard cheeses, mouldy (blue) to fresh, garlic cheese, and goat, sheep and typical cow’s cheese the French have it all. The French genreally keep a few different styles of cheese in the fridge at all times. And one of the best experiences for cheese lovers, is being a guest to a dinner in France. After 4 previous plates of food, you are then presnted with a cheese platter and a fresh loaf of baguette. Whether you are full or not you can’t resist trying a few types with a bit of baguette. As Homer Simpson says aaaaagggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh(with the tongue hanging out)!

Cheese School 101 (Photo credit: niallkennedy)

Some of the more popular French cheeses are:-

10 Reblochon- a very popular soft  cheese in France, it can be used to melt over potatoes

Vente de reblochon (Photo credit: Patrick Mayon)

9 Roquefort- this is a strong blue cheese made from sheeps milk. It is great with salads and can also be used to make a good pasta sauce

French Roquefort, a famous blue cheese, which is required by European law to be made from raw sheep's milk. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

8 Boursin- this is a soft cream texture cheese, with a dash of garlic and a very popular brand name in France. It can be spread on a piece of baguette, but careful where you project your breath with the smell of garlic that you now have

Boursin - French cheese, this picture was made by myself (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

7 Tomme de Savoie- is also a popular French cheese with a similar consistency of Brie and Camembert

Tomme de Savoie (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

6 Comté- is a sweeter semi firm cheese from the Franche-Comté region. The law of production stipulates that it can’t be sold as grated cheese

Français : Vin Jaune du Jura en Franche Comté www.vindujura.com English: Vin Jaune ("yellow wine") of Jura, France and Franche Comté cheese (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

5 Chevre- usually a soft consistency like that of cream cheese or boursin, chevre or goat cheese is good spread on bread, or best of all in a french “Chevre” salad with with walnuts. Yum yum!

Goat's milk cheese (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4 Brebis- one of Street Talk savvy’s favourites this semi firm yellow sheeps cheese has a smooth taste and was a good discovery when in the south west of France. Brebis means sheeps cheese and can vary quite a bit, so anyone who can fill me in on a Brebis that fits this description, please tell

3 Brie de Meaux- one of the more famous of the French cheeses, from Meaux is one of the more popular Brie regions. It is a semi soft- creamy and smooth flavour

Brie de Meaux cheese (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2 Munster- a strong but not bitter tasting soft cheese from the Alsace region, good with baguette

Munster (cheese) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1 Camembert- A strong tasting soft cheese from Normandy, it is very popular, good to spread on baguette, and good with charcuterie. Some popular varieties are  Le Rustique, le Chatalain

Le Rustique, a Camembert Cheese form Normandy (France) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Got any favourite French cheeses, or some great stories about French cheese. Share your story with Street Talk Savvy

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