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 :)

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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 :)

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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.

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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