The last 10 metres

Tomorrow is my last school day at the master's degree. After that, we have two weeks of examinations and three months of internship (stage) including my thesis before graduation in July. Needless to be said, I have already resigned myself to not sleeping much (if at all), especially since besides exams we need to deliver quite a few projects.

God, this year's going fast!

Al menos aún no llego al grado Mafaldesco de "Párenle al mundo que me quiero bajar"... ;-)

Sunny!

Sunny!, originally uploaded by Chiva Congelado.

Since last weekend we have had only sunny days here in Brussels. I had almost forgotten how that looked.

Pity it is so close to our exam period, so there is not really so much time to go out and enjoy it.

Today was a good day

Thanks to all my friends that made this a birthday to remember.

Gracias.
Dankuwel.
Obrigado.

Now, let's get all the projects and exams done. Yatta!

Sweet 16 (+10)!

Today's my 26th birthday. How am I going to celebrate? I frankly don't know.

Funnily enough, it seems it will be a sunny day, which might be a first since usually my birthday is cloudy.

What do you do to celebrate your birthday?

Sé que debería dejarlo pasar...

Y por eso lo escribo. El primer fin de semana de diciembre salí con un par de amigos a tomarnos un par de cervezas. En el bar escuché a un grupo de hispanoparlantes, uno de los cuales estaba absolutamente seguro de que era del sur de la Ciudad de México. Como se veían más o menos jóvenes (treintañeros), decidí acercármeles, y con ellos pasamos juntos la velada hablando de política y cosas peores de una manera amena.

Pueden imaginarse mi sorpresa cuando me voy encontrando el blog de uno de ellos, en el cual echaba pestes de mí y de mis acompañantes. Aunque la indignación fue momentánea (al fin y al cabo, qué importa), francamente no me esperaba ese tipo de actitudes infantiles de una persona adulta y supuestamente de amplios horizontes.

Uno no es monedita de oro para caerle bien a todo mundo, pero me voy dando cuenta que en todos lados se cuecen habas. Qué lástima.

I hate the flu...

And I can't get rid of it. And just at the time of the year when I just cannot rest.

Men wearing suits

We attended a gala cocktail party at school last friday, so we had to look smart. My fiancée commented that many men don't know how to wear a suit properly and how to bear it (standing upright and so on), so instead of looking smart they look like lacking confidence.

So guys, my piece of advice today is to pay attention to how you walk and stand when wearing a suit. It might help you get the girl ;-).

Living history

We never notice it, but one way or another we live thorugh history, we are making history ourselves. I started thinking about it when, in a class about Political Environment of Business, I sat next to a Polish exchange student. We talked a little bit about his childhood experiences "behind the iron curtain" and it all was a little eery. I've had that discussion before with friends from Latvia, Germany and Estonia.

Then we come to family history. My family has witnessed first hand such events in Mexican history such as the Revolution, the Cristero War, hyperinflation and devaluations and the 2000 and 2006 presidential elections.

We don't truly notice what is going on until it is past behind us.

Attached to people, not places

My fiancée commented once that I was probably more "international" than she was (if there is such a thing) even though she has lived in 3 other countries besides her own, and in my case it's one less. I wouldn't mind moving from country to country that much, as long as the job is interesting, the pay and the quality of life are good and we are together (which of course entails her filling her requirements list as well). However, she referred to a valid point: I'm not attached to the places themselves anymore, but to the people in them. A place is just nature, buildings and maybe a nice view or two, but the people I know (and the people I love) are really what is important.

One example are my feelings to the place where I was born. Even though I consider myself to be healthily nationalistic I don't have an urge to go back and settle there, but just to see my family and friends. The same is the case with Finland. I'm very grateful for my experiences there, but it's a place as good as any, what is important are the friends and family there. Belgium is the same story: if it fills the criteria detailed in the first paragraph I'd stay after my studies are finished, otherwise I'm willing to search for something somewhere else.

The problem with freedom, as a friend says is that "you don't know what to do with it". I hope that's not my case.

Reinventing myself

The first time I had to reinvent myself was when I entered high school. After a junior high of mostly pretty lousy experiences I had decided that it was time for something else. There I became much more social, and formed many friendships I still preserve to this day.

Later on, I moved to Finland to study engineering. That was reinvention number two: from a upper middle class hijo de papi to an immigrant student in a country far away, with different people and a new language. That went quite well, I'd say. During my studies I was fortunate enough to get a job.

While working, and especially after I graduated, I had to become a business person. That was my third reinvention, as at work I usually was working with people with whom probably initially I didn't share very much, as they were in a different stage in life than I was. However, that went very well and I still keep in contact with many of them, even after my latest reivention.

This last one was coming back to study again, again in a different country (Belgium this time). After 3 years, I came back to writing papers, student parties and being with people my age. So far, so good, I am learning a lot, get along with everybody and have found some new interests and things I didn't know.

After this, I don't know what will happen. I know I need to get a new job (there are some clues on that one) and I will get married. That will be the next reinvention.

As the song goes: every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

Closing Time: High school memories

On a day like this when I'm meditating about life, the universe and everything, my iPod had the nerve to play Closing Time by Semisonic.




The lyrics are especially touching given what happened afterwards. Phrases such as "time for you to go out, go out into the world", "time for you to go back to the places you will be from" and "every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end" are as relevant to my life now as they were back then even though I have more experience now.

Every time I hear this song memories come back like a torrent. My high school friends, my feelings at the time, the Model United Nations we were involved in, the work that went into it and the closing ceremony of the last one I was part of, exams, classes, parties, crushes, relationships created, broken and repaired, trips, and the expectancy of entering university and the work that went into trying it in another country.

With this song and Time of your life by Green Day I can just sit down and replay all those moments in my mind.



I can't believe it's been 8 years since I graduated. A lot has happened since then. I reinvented myself and the experience gave me the wings I needed to try something else.

¡Un abrazo a todos ustedes, sin importar donde estén!

14 de Febrero

El Día de San Valentín es una fecha que odié por muchísimos años. En el tiempo que viví en México, exceptuando un plazo de 6 meses, nunca fui demasiado afortunado con el sexo opuesto, dado que normalmente las que me gustaban a mí no me correspondían o viceversa. Además, durante la mayor parte de mi adolescencia la verdad es que fui bastante torpe en mis relaciones con el sexo opuesto (estaba muy verde) así que naturalmente cada vez que llegaba este día estaba yo con unos nervios o una depresión de absoluto espanto. No fue hasta que tuve mi primera novia, a eso de los 16 años, que pude medio superarlo, aunque después de terminada la relación, volví a la misma tónica.

No fue hasta tiempo después, ya en una relación más formal, que pude pasar página y entender que es un día como cualquiera. El amor no es cosa de un día, el de verdad es de toda la vida.

Hoy ví un borracho en el metro

Y me dió mucha tristeza encontrarme con un tipo tan solo. El hombre se veía descuidado, despeinado, en chanclas (lo cual estando a 8 grados y lloviendo como ha llovido me parece una locura), y se veía francamente mal. Lo triste es que se le veía que trataba de hablar con la gente, de tener un poco de contacto, pero su apariencia y su estado etílico no lo dejaban. Cuando salí del vagón, después de tratar de hablar con varias personas, lo ví conversando con unos mochileros.

No debería de importarme, pero me da mucha tristeza ver a gente perdida en/por el alcohol.

Today I remembered a high school quote

Heard from one of my English writing teachers:

"Yes, but, and this is a big, big but..." at which point, given that his hand movements resembled a homonimous word with an extra t, everybody laughed.

The Rainbow

Heard from a friend, having a conversation with his little kid.

"Dad, what's that?"
"That's a rainbow."
"But what is it."
"It is something that God puts in the sky."
"God has to be a little girl then."
"Why?"
"Because only little girls would think about putting so many colours in the sky."

Cuando en la familia se empieza a hablar de política...

...prefiero nomás quedarme pensando.

Playing football

During a my childhood and most of my teenage years I had a love-hate relationship with football. On one hand, I really liked the sport, and I followed the Chivas de Guadalajara with the kind of passion that having most of your family following the same club can give you. On the other hand, I have always been a terrible player, to the extent that during most of my childhood I didn't know how to kick the ball in such a way that it would reach the intended player, let alone score a goal.

Later on, I became relatively tall and developed good reflexes from playing basketball, which made me a better than average goalkeeper in the school (and street) playground, so teams would select me, but I still would be lacking technique. I stopped playing football as I was part of the junior high and high school basketball teams.

Then I moved to Finland. Since football is not the national sport there, kids usually don't play it to such a high standard, and there are teams for all skill levels, so I found one according mine. I played there and enjoyed it immensely, as it was absolutely non-competitive and we could just have fun. Since I had been watching football for so long, I understood many things in the field that I didn't know when I was a kid, and finally got over my love-hate relationship with the sport.

Now there's only love left (mostly).

I don't watch much TV anymore

I just realised that it's true, I don't watch that much TV anymore. My media consumption is quite diversified these days: blogs, podcasts, a couple of newspapers, books, music, movies, but not that much TV (even though I still watch football matches, CSI Miami and Lost from time to time). If I'm representative of a trend, then there's no surprise the old media moguls are getting in the bandwagon.

Meme: video(s) of my place(s) of origin

Checking Ceronne's blog, I found this meme, the idea being of posting a video or videos representative of your place of origin. Given that some were already used, I decided to go for Ingrata, by Café Tacuba (which has the added bonus that the group and part of the shooting are very close to the places where I grew up).


In the case of Helsinki, even though it's not my place of origin, I was there quite a few years, so I guess it qualifies. Below "Sinä lähdit pois" (even though I was searching for a song about the airport called "Helsinki-Vantaa" that would bring me better memories but I guess it's not in YouTube just yet).

A mis maestros

A todos los que me enseñaron algo, ya sea en la escuela o fuera de ella, gracias.