🙋‍♂️😊 Interview with Billa 🚗🏄‍♂️

Interview with @Billa 08.03.2025

Thank you very much François that I can interview you!! 😊😊🙏🙏 I have made 20 questions and I hope that you like them. 🙂 If you dont want to answer a question that is of course not a problem!!! Merci beaucoup!! 🌈🌞🌞

⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ ⠀⠀ ⠀ PART I

1: How long have you been a member of PPG and is it what you expected? What are the things that you like the most?

I'm a member of Ppg for more than 5 years : I used to write my personal profile in german because I wanted to meet german people and I met many nice people from the whole world and one of them even became my new wife ! ( she's german ).

2: It says on your profile that you live in Bordeaux and that you used to live in San Francisco. What do you think is the nicest of these two cities? And if you would live a third city, what would you choose?

Concerning the places I'm living now and where I used to live , well Bordeaux is my birth city and it is often considered by many french people as the most beautiful town in France after Paris because of its old monuments ( it is a 2 thousands years old lady and a unesco one since 2008 ! ). I used to live in San Francisco Bay Area in 1993 and San Francisco is also a very beautiful City but on a different way and I really loved the spirit of tolerance that I used to know there at that time.

If I had to live in a third City, I would like to live again in Berlin : I used to live there in 1990 before the german reunification and I really loved the village spirit of every borough of this giant city.

3: What kind of work do you do and do you like it? Did you also have other jobs earlier?

I'm selling new cars and cars of the year from the Renault and Dacia trademarks to privates, corporate societies and local administrations and I m working directly for the car maker, I mean Renault Group.

I'm selling cars since 1998 and I like my job which really knows a very strong and very fast evolution at the present time with the electrifycation move.

4: What kind of penpals do you like to write with? And what topics do you like to talk about?

Concerning the kind of penpals I like to write with, well I like to write to all sorts of people wherever they come from; whoever they are and whatever they think even about me because I m very curious, tolerant and I accept very much being criticized ! Concerning the topics, I like to talk about on Penpal, well it's very wide : languages, tourism, food, economics, cars, history and politics and surfing.

5: What are your hobbies? Do you have a lot of time for your hobbies or not enough? And what were your hobbies when you were in high school?

Concerning my hobbies : well my favourite hobby when I got time and when weather gives me the opportunity to practise it is bodyboarding and I'm doing it since I'm 8 ! I also like going for a walk in the forest, running, biking. learning foreign languages on Duo Linguo app ( german and polish languages ), chatting with foreign friends on Whattsapp and reading.

When I was an high school student, I had exactly the same hobbies as now except that internet and smartphones did not still exist at that time and I used to like very much writing real letters to foreign people.

Thank you very much for the first part of this interview @Billa!! If anybody wants to ask a question or post a comment you can do that below! ⬇️⬇️ More interviews of PPG members are on this page: overview of interviews. ✨🌸🌻

Thank you very much again @Billa for the first part of the interview!! Later i will add pictures that are nice for part I.

I wanted to mention two things to @Etienne about the interview:

1️⃣ If i can remember it from your interview you have also lived in San Francisco right like @Billa? Was it for you the same like how François describes it in 2? 😇😇

2️⃣ And MUCHHH more important!!!! If i understand 1 correctly: François got to know his wife on PPG!!! 🥰🥰💍👰‍♀️ Did you already know that very nice news? ❤️😊 So @Etienne is a SUPER matchmaker!! 😃

A question for François: is she still on PPG? 🙂

These are pictures that are about the first part of the interview above!!

Bordeaux:

San Francisco:

Other things from the interview:

1️⃣ If i can remember it from your interview you have also lived in San Francisco right like @Billa? Was it for you the same like how François describes it in 2? 😇😇

I was there 2009 through 2011 so I'm sure it was quite different from 1993. And today being 2025 it's changed even more. I like it then but I definitely wouldn't want to settle there. It's become a dumpster of a city where drug addicts wandering the streets like zombies and city officials refuse to do anything about it, thus worsening the situation even more. They have completely destroyed the city, what a shame.

I was there 2009 through 2011 so I'm sure it was quite different from 1993. And today being 2025 it's changed even more. I like it then but I definitely wouldn't want to settle there. It's become a dumpster of a city where drug addicts wandering the streets like zombies and city officials refuse to do anything about it, thus worsening the situation even more. They have completely destroyed the city, what a shame.

That is really sad if it is now a super criminal city. How was it in your time in 2009-2011? It looks super beautiful the city on google images!! 😛 Did you study?

And François @Billa did you work or study in San Francisco?

That is really sad if it is now a super criminal city. How was it in your time in 2009-2011? It looks super beautiful the city on google images!! 😛 Did you study?

It was a beautiful city, sort of reminiscent of a European one. Yes I studied then did an internship there. The one thing that struck me is the lack of seasons there: it's more or less always 15°C, except around September/October when it's a little warmer. It's nice to have warmer temperatures in the winter but it eventually feels like you're stuck in limbo when it's always the same thing. All in all California is one of the most beautiful places on the planet

Good afternoon to everyone here ! So as to answer to this nice Yue : well my beloved Judith is still on Penpal but she is not very active and she is only looking for Italian and Latin speaking Penpal members and I thank very much Penpal and the persons who built this App and gave me the opportunity to meet such a lovely person for me !

I used to have a tourism visa when I lived in San Franscisco down town and in Half Moon Bay ( San Francisco Bay Area 19 kms south down town ) and I used to be welcomed by family and locals there and well I used to study and work a little bit and I made also a lot of tourism and bodyboarding in the same time ( I even bought a Morey Boogie mach 10 10 Mike Stewart bodyboard that I still have ! )

I

Merci beaucoup François @Billa!! 🙏🙏 That you found your wife Judith on PPG is maybe one of the most romantic things EVER on PPG!!! I also know of one other PPG couple! 🥰🥰❤️ But now I am super curious because I think maybe there are more!! 😊😊😊 In any case you and Judith are PROOF that sometimes it can really work online ❤️ even if it does not happen often. That is very romantic and super nice i think!! 🙂

"Sunday Funday" - Pierre-Louis Costes à Hossegor (Landes) | Surf-Report / Surf Report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIW8wwy2fNU

"Sunday Funday" - Pierre-Louis Costes à Hossegor (Landes) | Surf-Report / Surf Report

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIW8wwy2fNU

Wowww that goes super fast!! Are you not very afraid of sharks?? 🦈🦈 Because there are sharks in America in the oceans even if it happens not often but sometimes still they can attack you!! I think i would NOTTT be comfortable bc they will just look up and only see the surfboard as a dinner plate and you on it as food!! 😳😳

And do you do bodyboarding also in France? 🏄🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️🌞🌞

@Billa very nice intervieuw

Wowww that goes super fast!! Are you not very afraid of sharks?? 🦈🦈 Because there are sharks in America in the oceans even if it happens not often but sometimes still they can attack you!! I think i would NOTTT be comfortable bc they will just look up and only see the surfboard as a dinner plate and you on it as food!! 😳😳

And do you do bodyboarding also in France? 🏄🏄‍♀️🏄‍♂️🌞🌞

Good night Yue ! Well, I never met or saw any shark when I was bodyboarding in Central California : there are big white sharks there and they can come close from the shore but surfers and swimmers are not their favorite food which ist not the case of seals and sea lions which are very present there, so the main security rule you absolutely have to follow if you don t want to be mistaken by those fishes ist not surfing or swimming close from their favorite food even if seals can be very lovely to get seen at close range

Anyway, I m practising my favorite hobby in France on the Atlantic Coast which is one of the Meccas of Surfing in Europe and there are some sharks there but they are not dangerous for most of them and they live very deep in the ocean ( 200 meters ) : I only heard about an attack against a fisherman ten years ago who used to be biten by a mako shark on one of his hands and in december 2013 a 2 50m mako shark used to be found on the shore of the beach of Cap de l homy in Landes county

Good night Yue ! Well, I never met or saw any shark when I was bodyboarding in Central California : there are big white sharks there and they can come close from the shore but surfers and swimmers are not their favorite food which ist not the case of seals and sea lions which are very present there, so the main security rule you absolutely have to follow if you don t want to be mistaken by those fishes ist not surfing or swimming close from their favorite food even if seals can be very lovely to get seen at close range

Anyway, I m practising my favorite hobby in France on the Atlantic Coast which is one of the Meccas of Surfing in Europe and there are some sharks there but they are not dangerous for most of them and they live very deep in the ocean ( 200 meters ) : I only heard about an attack against a fisherman ten years ago who used to be biten by a mako shark on one of his hands and in december 2013 a 2 50m mako shark used to be found on the shore of the beach of Cap de l homy in Landes county

Big white sharks?? 😬😬😳😳 I think they can hear in the water in California my heart beating faster when I am still in The Netherlands and only THINK of sharks!!!! ❤️❤️🦈🦈🦈🦈🦈 I have not a bigger fear than sharks and also speaking for a group but it is not the same fear!!!

Even if they dont go to you often i think it is still super brave that you go in the water. 💪🏄🦈

PS: I will make the questions for Part 2 of the interview before dinner! 😃 And if anybody else has a question for François you can of course post it below!! ⬇️⬇️

PART II

6: What kind of food and drinks do you like? And where was the most special place where you ever had dinner?

Well, concerning my tastes for food and drinks, I like very much french cooking and I m very lucky to still have a mother who likes cooking for giving pleasure to his son ! I also like very much chinese cooking that I find very diverse and fine and at last, I love the way the basques cook fish. More generally, I m very curious about foreign cooking specially when I m travelling. About drinks, I m a wine lover and I like drinking french as german and spanish wines and I m not very keen on strong alcohols excepted Whisky and polish wodka ( I find the one with hazelnut from Soplica mar really tasty ! )

Well so as to try to answer to all your questions which can be sometimes very private, I would say first that each time I come back to the part of Germany where my beloved Judith lives, we like very much having dinner in a local wine pub and restaurant called Weinstube Uebel which sits on the South german wine road ( Suddeutsche Weinstrasse ) in the Boschingen s village : in this place, you can eat all local dishes and drink all local wines and you can meet local people speaking local german Dialekt and when there are no free tables in this place, clients are always very glad to welcome you on their own table so as to talk and exchange with you !

7: It says on your profile that you have a son. Is he a lot like you or super different? What kind of things do you like to do together (for example in the weekend)? And are you already a granddad? 🙂

Concerning my son Axel, well he will be 21 on the second of next may ' s month but unfortunately , I did not see him again since the beginning of 2023 ! Concerning the way he looks and behaves, he s really a mixing of his both parents and I really hope that he will know the same happiness that I used to know being a father when he was born !

8: What books do you normally like to read? And which 3 books that you read were the most beautiful and best of all?

Concerning my reading tastes, well I always liked very much history, politics, archeology, art, religious and economics books. Concerning the 3 most beautiful and best of all books I've ever read, I would say the holy bible, the Coran and the one thousand nights fairy tales.

9: If the President of France asks you for advice and you can mention two things that he must change. What do you choose?

If President Macron asked me for advice, I would ask him to do 2 things for my country : first reducing the number of rules which regulate and sometimes poison every day life and last making work again all the worst criminals in my country in our overseas colonies like Guyana and Mayotte.

10: Do you have a nice memory from your time with your grandparents or parents that you would like to share?

Concerning my grandparents, I have a very few memories from them because I was very young when they died and concerning my parents, my father already gone and I m caring of my very old mum at the moment for her last days.

Thank you very much François for answering the questions of Part II of the interview!!! You SURVIVED already the first half of the interview!! 😛 😛 Later I will try to find nice pictures that are about your answers above. If anybody has questions or wants to comment in the meantime, you can share it below!! ⬇️⬇️

Merci beaucoup!!! 🙏🙏🌈🌈🥰🥰🥰

These pictures belong to Part II of the interview. I did not discuss first with François @Billa but i googled some of the answers and hope that they can give an image of the answers!! 🙂

Soplica Mar Hazelnut:

Suddeutsche Weinstrasse:

Guyana and Mayotte are French islands:

I was there 2009 through 2011 so I'm sure it was quite different from 1993. And today being 2025 it's changed even more. I like it then but I definitely wouldn't want to settle there. It's become a dumpster of a city where drug addicts wandering the streets like zombies and city officials refuse to do anything about it, thus worsening the situation even more. They have completely destroyed the city, what a shame.

Good night Etienne ! How are you ? Well, even in 1993, it made a very long time since San Francisco was no more the city of the hippies sung by Otis Redding , Scott Mackenzie and Maxime Leforestier : just after my arrival at the airport, my cousin was driving me in the Business District in his old VW Beetle Cabrio of 1979 made in Mexico when in the surroundings of the famous pyramid building of the Bank of America, we suddenly heard many machine gun shots very close from us. My cousin stopped driving and 5 minutes later an army of cops came to us like in Blues Brothers movie and we learnt a few time later that a client of an insurance company had just shot 17 people of this society with an

Ar 15 semi automatic machine gun because it broke his contract !

Merci beaucoup again @Billa for your nice answers in Part II of the interview!! I have 2 questions for François and Etienne:

1️⃣ If you could choose again to spend a year or longer in another country when you were in San Francisco, would you choose it again so you would not miss it? Or would you choose another place?

2️⃣ Were you afraid or nervous to spend a LONGG time in another country and not knowing it yet? I think it would be very nice for example in university but it would also be scary a little bit because it is different being alone in your own country or super far away in a country that you dont know.

Thank you very much if you want to answer my questions!!! 🙏🙏

PART II

6: What kind of food and drinks do you like? And where was the most special place where you ever had dinner?

Well, concerning my tastes for food and drinks, I like very much french cooking and I m very lucky to still have a mother who likes cooking for giving pleasure to his son ! I also like very much chinese cooking that I find very diverse and fine and at last, I love the way the basques cook fish. More generally, I m very curious about foreign cooking specially when I m travelling. About drinks, I m a wine lover and I like drinking french as german and spanish wines and I m not very keen on strong alcohols excepted Whisky and polish wodka ( I find the one with hazelnut from Soplica mar really tasty ! )

Well so as to try to answer to all your questions which can be sometimes very private, I would say first that each time I come back to the part of Germany where my beloved Judith lives, we like very much having dinner in a local wine pub and restaurant called Weinstube Uebel which sits on the South german wine road ( Suddeutsche Weinstrasse ) in the Boschingen s village : in this place, you can eat all local dishes and drink all local wines and you can meet local people speaking local german Dialekt and when there are no free tables in this place, clients are always very glad to welcome you on their own table so as to talk and exchange with you !

7: It says on your profile that you have a son. Is he a lot like you or super different? What kind of things do you like to do together (for example in the weekend)? And are you already a granddad? 🙂

Concerning my son Axel, well he will be 21 on the second of next may ' s month but unfortunately , I did not see him again since the beginning of 2023 ! Concerning the way he looks and behaves, he s really a mixing of his both parents and I really hope that he will know the same happiness that I used to know being a father when he was born !

8: What books do you normally like to read? And which 3 books that you read were the most beautiful and best of all?

Concerning my reading tastes, well I always liked very much history, politics, archeology, art, religious and economics books. Concerning the 3 most beautiful and best of all books I've ever read, I would say the holy bible, the Coran and the one thousand nights fairy tales.

9: If the President of France asks you for advice and you can mention two things that he must change. What do you choose?

If President Macron asked me for advice, I would ask him to do 2 things for my country : first reducing the number of rules which regulate and sometimes poison every day life and last making work again all the worst criminals in my country in our overseas colonies like Guyana and Mayotte.

10: Do you have a nice memory from your time with your grandparents or parents that you would like to share?

Concerning my grandparents, I have a very few memories from them because I was very young when they died and concerning my parents, my father already gone and I m caring of my very old mum at the moment for her last days.

Thank you very much François for answering the questions of Part II of the interview!!! You SURVIVED already the first half of the interview!! 😛 😛 Later I will try to find nice pictures that are about your answers above. If anybody has questions or wants to comment in the meantime, you can share it below!! ⬇️⬇️

Merci beaucoup!!! 🙏🙏🌈🌈🥰🥰🥰

Nice to read about you @Billa