Wishing you the snuggliest of birthdays :)

Dearest wren,

Popping in briefly to wish you a fabulous birthday (a bit belated). I hope it was wonderful with much piano-playing and much snuggling.

Best wishes and much love,
Luna

See more progress on: wish wren a piano-playin', Becca and Elbee rompin', Mr. wren snugglin' happy wonderful birthday on August 24!

2010.07.11

credit rtve.es

• SPAIN WON THE WORLD CUP!!!! WE’RE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!
• ♪ Oéeeee, oé, oé, oéeeee!!! Oooéee, ooooéee!!! ♫
  I’m beyond myself, beyond ecstasy. A very joyful day indeed. I don’t know what got into me over this past month, but football (soccer) definitely gets in your bloodstream!! It’ll take a while for this feeling to wane…
• The new moon happened in the middle of the game, while a sun eclipse was happening on the other side of the world. How cool would it have been had it happened in South Africa instead of the South Pacific?
• After the game —and still in full euphoria—, I called a few family members, but the funniest was my brother in Toronto. He evidently saw the caller ID, and before I said anything, he screamed “Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!” to which I simultaneously replied “Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!” LOL

See more progress on: enjoy life

2010.07.09

• Going for a midday walk during a break from the constant rain. My neighbors’ dogs joined us as usual, and they jumped over me to greet me in their excitement. Of course, my raincoat got all muddy with their paws. In the flower fields, I spotted a bird I hadn’t seen before. I love its bright-red patches.
• I’m doing a photo gig for my dad. I’m photographing some furniture and will include them in a catalog. This sort of photography is not my preferred kind, but it will bring me some extra money for my upcoming trip.
• Watching Le Tour de France and drooling over its beautiful country. I am already getting excited to go there :)

See more progress on: enjoy life

A world citizen

This year, I acquired the Spanish nationality besides the Mexican one. Since I’m now a dual citizen, I was pondering whether to call myself a Mexpanish or a Spanexican -lol ;) But ever since I was seven, I’ve been calling myself a world citizen.

Although I can’t officially acquire every nationality, I can say that a little or a lot of each country’s culture stays with me after living in it, or visiting it shortly, or just reading about it. Even though we have to belong to a country for political, economical, and social reasons, the possibility of having two citizenships make the borders somewhat blurrier.

I find it a bit ironical —although it is a happy coincidence— that I’m becoming a dual citizen of these countries in particular exactly in the year of the 200th commemoration of one’s independence from the other. This is just another proof of better world relationships in spite of many unresolved issues amongst many other nations. Who knows? Perhaps in 200 years the great-grandchildren of these nations will also be having dual citizenships of one another. I know I’m an optimist for a friendlier world, but my case validates that it can happen :)

See more progress on: become a dual citizen

Spanish and European

credit rockcohen

Being now a Spanish citizen, I have thus become a citizen of the European Union.

The first time I remember seeing the EU flag was at the Seville Universal Expo in 1992. It was all so exciting to see all the pavilions of so many countries, and this project of nations coming together caught my particular attention. And here I am now, years later, becoming part of it :)

See more progress on: Become a citizen of the EU

The final match

Spain vs Netherlands will face each other next Sunday, and a new world champion will come to light.

Spain played very good yesterday and came out victorious over Germany —who was not as great as anticipated. We can expect another good game from Spain on Sunday :)

¡¡¡Oéeee, oé, oé, oéeee!!! ¡España! ¡España! ¡¡¡España Campeón!!!

See more progress on: follow the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

Sanfermines 2010

Just a few minutes ago, I watched live the first encierro de los Sanfermines (aka running with the bulls in Pamplona, in English). A very good one-hour live coverage in Spanish on the Internet will be held by TVE every day until the 14th. The actual running of the bulls lasts a mere 3-5 minutes starting at exactly 8:00am (local GMT+2) (1:00am CT -GMT-5) with repetitions and analysis thereafter.

See more progress on: follow los Sanfermines

I am Spanish :)

After more than a year that I applied for the Spanish nationality, and after unsuccessfully trying to correct my name for over five months, I can now say that I have officially acquired the Spanish citizenship. It is a very surreal feeling but an ecstatic feeling, too :)

^{A 2010 resolution completed}

See more progress on: become a spanish citizen

Semifinals

Spain will be up against Germany tomorrow in what promises to be the best match of this World Cup 2010; some even say it is an “early final”. Spain advanced to this phase by winning the match against Paraguay last Saturday —a lousy first half but the second half was a heart-stopper! ::sigh:: ...still need to catch my breath!

Germany is a strong, worthy contender… but so is Spain. Go Spain!

¡Vamos, España!

See more progress on: follow the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

Door #6

Metallic red door with impossible basket. Tecuanipan, Puebla.

An otherwise uninteresting door had it not been for its challenging —if not impossible— hoop:

See more progress on: photograph another 43 doors

Door #5

Metallic blue double door in green slanted house. Cholula.

See more progress on: photograph another 43 doors

Door #4

Weathered wooden double door. Cholula.

See more progress on: photograph another 43 doors

Door #3

Beautiful wooden double door with metal rivets vandalized with graffiti. Cholula.

See more progress on: photograph another 43 doors

Election Day

Today was Election Day. For one reason or another, I haven’t been able to vote in many past elections. Actually, this is the third time I go to vote.

I had my voting card ready with all my info up to date, and I went to my corresponding casilla electoral (election booth?) a couple blocks away from home. There were only three or four of us in line to vote (plus Uma ;)), but there were at least 10-12 people that were either in charge of the ‘booth’ or representatives of the different parties.

I got three ballots: one for State Governor, one for Representative in Congress, and one for Town Major. I crossed the candidate of my choice in each with a black crayon, I folded each ballot twice, and I deposited each one in its corresponding transparent box. I got my voting card back with a small engraving of today’s election, and I got my right thumb inked —this is done to prevent fraud; it’ll take a few days to wear completely off.

I am grateful that we have peaceful and transparent elections as possible. Of course, people are always complaining about frauds made, and some regions are known to have violence, riots, and whatnot.

This one was all so peaceful and quick that I don’t feel I actually had my voting “fix”! LOL!! No lines, no controversy, nothing… So very different from the first time I went to vote. It was 1988, and the line rivaled the one at the Louvre in summer. I went ahead to ask to make sure that this one was my corresponding booth before getting into such a long line. It was indeed my booth. But the funny thing was that they had already run out of ballots!!! And it was barely mid-day. But they encouraged me to get in line, since they were giving blank sheets, and there was a notary sealing all the “emergency ballots” (for a lack of a better word). I was only 21 and very naive politically-wise (still am), but I was in an utter shock of incredulity of such unashamed display of “political maneuvering” (again, for a lack of a better word). I turned around and left. 1988 is well-known to be the biggest election fraud in recent history. It was an unfortunate coincidence that it was my first voting experience which turned to be very deceiving.

But I haven’t lost hope —yet. I witnessed that we have come a long way from those 1988 elections. I know many people who purposefully do not vote or go but nullify their vote because they don’t believe in the system. I’m not sure what purpose that serves or in what way that contributes to change the system. It is my belief, at least, that voting makes you part of the solution instead of the problem.

See more progress on: vote

2010.07.05

• Glorious sky and clouds today. The air was clear and the ride with my dad to meet AM & MC for dinner was enjoyable. We had sheep-barbecue tacos. They were good, but I enjoyed the avocado with fresh cheese even better. The tortillas were handmade, so, of course, they made the whole difference.
• Watching fireworks through my window as I write this, and Uma is sound asleep next to me in bed.
• Yesterday, Spain classified to semifinals for the first time in the World Cup. They will be contending Germany next Wednesday in what promises to be the best game of the tournament! Go Spain!

See more progress on: enjoy life

Thing #9 sewn

Blue apron with polka-dotted trim.

See more progress on: Sew 43 Things

Thing #8 sewn

Striped blouse in navy blue & white.

See more progress on: Sew 43 Things

Thing #7 sewn

White blouse with navy-blue polka-dots.

See more progress on: Sew 43 Things

Thing #6 sewn

Shoe repair.

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Thing #5 sewn

Navy-blue shorts.

See more progress on: Sew 43 Things