This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
A very refreshing beer with a slightly citric, acidic taste and an unremarkable aroma.
Monthly Archives: February 2007
Sobre las chachas
Una vez, estando en el club en México, estaba platicando con una chava que acababa de conocer. Cuando le comenté que entonces vivía en Finlandia, ella estaba encantadísima. Le dije que ahí hay poca corrupción y poca pobreza, y ella seguía super interesada. El problema fue cuando le expuse que como no hay desigualdad, tampoco hay personal doméstico de limpieza (y si lo hay, es extremadamente caro) a lo cual me contestó: “¡Ay no, es que yo sin chacha no vivo!”.
Me ha pasado varias veces encontrarme mexicanos y mexicanas (síguele Ox) que fuera de México no saben vivir sin sus chachas. No saben cocinar, limpiar, vaya, ni hacer la cama o de perdida unas quesadillas. A mí francamente me parece escandaloso que haya tanta gente que dependa tanto de tener ayuda doméstica y lo que refleja sobre la sociedad mexicana.
Vaya, a mí también me gustaría tener alguien que me ayudara en la casa (cuando vivía con mis padres, también había temporadas en la que teníamos “muchacha”), pero me enseñaron a limpiar mi tiradero de igual forma, con o sin ayuda.
Note to self
Mole poblano doesn’t always work with foreigners.
At least not the first time…
6th Matchday: Atlante 0-3 Chivas
They played at Azteca Stadium as if they had actually read the complaints in the press about their previous match: they scored 2 goals in the first 8 minutes and a last one at the end of the first half. According to mediotiempo.com, the team played very intelligent team football.
I was waiting for the goals to be posted in YouTube (especially the first, which to my understanding was an overhead kick from a defender), but they haven’t been yet.
Update: the second and the third goals linked, the first below.
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.
Belgian Beer Review: Belle-Vue Gueuze
This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
Another Belle-Vue beer, this is a Gueuze Lambic beer, with a very nice amber colour, and a sweet and sour taste. Even though Gueuze beers are originally from the Brussels region, the flavour reminded me of a Michelada (a Mexican beer prepared with lemon and salt).
Marketing viral de las galletas Gamesa
Los de Gamesa tomaron un video que se volvió famoso en internet y le dieron la vuelta a la historia. Una campaña francamente ingeniosa que está dando de qué hablar.
Belgian Beer Review: Leffe 9°
This is a post in the Belgian beer review series.
Another in the Leffe abbey beer family, this beer has the same nice amber colour and a very similar taste to its siblings, but more of a punch at 9% alcoholic content. Not a beer to be drunk if you’re going to be on a long drinking night, but more of a beer to sit down and taste.
Suomen eduskuntavaalit
Kokeilin Sanoman vaalikonetta niinkuin olisin Suomen kansalainen, ja asuisin vielä Helsingissä. Tulokset yllättivät minua vähän.
Ensimmäinen ehdokas jonka olisin valinnut oli Arto Bryggare (Sdp), toinen oli Ben Zyskowicz (Kok) ja kolmas oli Tuomas Nurmela (Kok). Suurin yllätys oli, että puolueiden ehdokkaiden keskimääräinen sopivuus -osassa löysin ehdokkaan nimeltä Marijan Basic, joka on itsenäinen ehdokas joka on syntynyt Kroatiassa mutta asunut Suomessa jo pitkään.
Katsotaan miten menee. Toivottavasti Perussuomalaiset eivät saa paljon äänestystä, en haluaa toista Tony Halmettä eduskuntaan. Joka tapauksessa, en voi äänestää koska en ole kansalainen.
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. 