Leí en las noticias que en México se organizó un Parlamento de Migrantes, en donde los líderes de los mexicanos que viven en Estados Unidos plantearon sus problemas. Me gustaría que se modelara sobre las líneas del Parlamento Finlandés de Expatriados, aunque es obvio que sus desafíos y los nuestros son muy diferentes.
¿Y el resto de nosotros, los que no vivimos en EU, qué?
Recibí una invitación de la embajada mexicana para participar en el Segundo Concurso de Historias de Migrantes. El primero, como suele ser el problema de los mexicanos en general, se enfocaba únicamente a la manifestación del fenómeno en Estados Unidos, ignorando al resto del mundo.
He pensado en participar tomando algunos apuntes de este blog, pero no creo que les agraden demasiado mis posiciones críticas sobre muchas cosas que pasan en México.
La cabañita a la derecha de la estatua de los Tres Herreros ha sido mi fuente de castañas en Navidad desde el año 2000 (exceptuando el año pasado que tuve que comprarlas en Bruselas).
Hay pocas cosas que me hagan sentir que ahí viene la Navidad que una bolsita llena de castañas calientes.
Quesadillas with Jaffa. The best of both worlds.
Finally at the local supermarket in Finland they have proper Mexican brands for their Mexican food like La Costeña and San Marcos, not only producers who are unknown and given the flavour of their offering would probably fail in Mexico. This means I can finally have quesadillas with a tortilla that tastes of wheat, not of cardboard.
Jaffa, well, that's just the best Finnish invention since rye bread.
Read a review of it on Blanca’s blog and decided to check it out. The author discusses the book below.
Said it before and will keep on saying it, Finland has an amazing colour palette.
Seth Godin has a post on his blog about the mythical Wesvleteren beer. And to think that I was never able to get it when I was living in Brussels…
You EU citizens have no idea how easy you have it to move around.
I'm going to switch planes in the US on my way to Mexico for Christmas, so I had to renew my American visa. The amount of papers required is astonishing, as not only do you have to fill 3 different forms, but they also ask for bank statements, pay slips, letters from your workplace, a copy of your contract, and some other things. You also have to e.g. detail what do you do at work, who is in your family and list the countries you have visited in the last ten years with the years when you have been there.
I ended up with a file that measured a couple of centimetres, which could almost mean that now Uncle Sam knows more about me than my wife and my mother, and it truly shows how afraid they are of illegal immigrants and terrorists. Went to the interview and a few days later received my visa, so all's well that ends well. I understand that being Mexican in their view increases the chances of me overstaying my welcome, but I really have no intention nor motive for doing so. Frankly, the least I go there, the better, which is a pity as I would like to visit New York and Boston again, for example. Comparing this with the UK IRIS scheme, which took me ten minutes to get enrolled in the last time I was in London, shows the difference between tough talk accompanied with cumbersome procedures and an implementation of border control that combines security with business friendliness.
This whole ordeal made me wonder (again) about this whole Finnish citizenship story, since Finns don't need a visa for short trips to the United States. Called the guys at ulkomaalaisvirasto since according to their new web questionnaire I would fulfill the requirements for citizenship, as I have lived here long enough (pretty much all of my adult life), speak Finnish fluently (still waiting for my diploma on that one), and have no criminal record. However, they told me that I can't get it since I have lived abroad in the past two years, meaning that if I hadn't gone to Belgium I could be a Finn. The law was changed this autumn, so I had no way of knowing, and there is another catch: all male Finnish citizens under 30 have to serve in the army. If I were 18 I wouldn't mind doing that, and furthermore if push came to shove I would probably volunteer anyway, but currently I'm at a stage of my life where putting everything (family, career, finances) on hold for six months to a year is not an option.
We'll see what happens, but it's definitely getting interesting.
Edit: And, oh boy, in March I have to renew my Finnish residence permit. Ugh….
Como he mencionado antes, me la he pasado escuchando el último disco de Café Tacuba. Después de chutarme la colección completa y poner el disco en su contexto, el sonido es un poco más 70’s, un poco más pop, pero las letras son francamente el punto fuerte del álbum. El primer sencillo, que según tengo entendido ya tiene tiempo sonando en la radio en México, se llama “Volver a Comenzar”, y francamente me gusta bastante.
Si hiciera una lista de mis errores
de los menores hasta los peores
que expusiera todas las heridas,
los fracasos, desamores y las mentiras
Ofreceré el aroma del ámbar
ofreceré el cedro y mis lágrimas
con la paciencia del mar esperaré toda una vida
a que sane la confianza
si volviera a comenzar
no tendría tiempo de reparar
Si hiciera un viaje a mis adentros
y sobreviviera a los lamentos
pediría fuerzas para decir cuánto lo siento
si volviera de un viaje a mis adentros
si volviera a comenzar
no tendría tiempo de reparar
el agua derramada está
la sed que siento no saciará
¿Cuántas cosas mas puedo guardar?
¿Cuántas cosas puedo atesorar?
dulce tentación
de dejarlo todo
¿Cuántas espacio mas quiero ocupar?
(hasta los recuerdos ya no caben en este lugar)
¿Cuántas cosas más puedo llevar?
(la última mudanza debe ser la más ligera)
dulce tentación
de dejarlo todo
dulce tentación
regalarlo todo
Si volviera a comenzar
no tendría tiempo de reparar
El agua derramada está
la sed que siento me sanará
El agua derramada está
la sed que siento me sanará
