Porque si no fuera por ustedes no estaríamos aquí.
A la mía le aprendí el valor del trabajo, de la fuerza y del amor. Y ah cómo se lo agradezco.
Tag Archives: mexico
Clausura 2007 Quarterfinals 1st leg: Tigres 1-3 Chivas
The holy flock had a very important victory away at the University Stadium of Monterrey, beating Tigres 1-3 for the first leg of the Mexican League quarterfinals (yes, the league is rather strange). Especially noteworthy is Omar Esparza’s excellent goal (the 3rd), since the kid is 19 years old.
If the team doesn’t screw up this weekend, we’ll be up in the semis, where we shall meet the winner of the América-Atlas playoff series.
Family
Family means different things to different people. To some, it is only their parents and siblings. To others, it might mean several generations of people including aunts, uncles and cousins relatively removed from them.
That is the case in Mexico. Even though I don’t meet them very often, on my dad’s side I know around a hundred people who fall into the category of “family”, even though I don’t always remember how exactly am I related to them. On my mom’s side it’s easier, and I probably know less than fifty.
In family reunions, since I never knew who was who, I usually called people around my age “cousins” and adults “uncles” and “aunts”. Even though there were some exceptions to the rule, it did work.
All this because I was chatting on MSN about the family with a cousin who is the granddaugher of a cousin of my grandmother on my father’s side. And yes, she’s still family, and we still know about each other, even though she lives in a part of Mexico I seldom visit.
These days, keeping in touch is not so hard
I was reading Batz's Journal, where she comments her views on leaving Barcelona after being there two years, and going away from those friendships she has formed during her time there.
I started thinking that in fact these days it's not so difficult to keep in touch with those you care about. With e-mail, messenger, skype, blogging and of course text messaging and voice telephony you can still keep in touch. These days video conferencing is not so difficult either, as many chatting programs have integrated it.
Around a year ago, I was in a very particular situation. My parents were living in Brazil, my sister in Mexico, my fiancée in Japan and I was in Finland, so there was a minimum of 8,000 km between one member of the family and the next. Keeping in mind the time differences, these utilities were a godsend, and now that I'm in Belgium I use them to keep in touch, as my friends and family are scattered all over the place.
This is much better than the situation in the Middle Ages, or even 30 years ago. In that sense I'm glad I was born at a time when this is possible.
In the news
- Sarkozy won in France. Now the question is: Is it a good or a bad thing?
- 20,000 people posed naked in Mexico City. The previous record was 7,000 in Barcelona. Who would have thought?
México es con equis, no con jota
Uno de esos pequeños detalles que detesto es cuando alguien (generalmente españoles o del Cono Sur) escribe México con jota: Méjico, dada que tal es su pronunciación.
Aunque hasta hace poco la Real Academia de la Lengua Española aceptaba ambas grafías, en el 2005 por fin decidieron recomendar que se empezara a disminuir el uso de las grafías con jota (digo, ya era hora si el 25% de los hispanoparlantes en el mundo son mexicanos, con equis).
Lo que sí es impresentable es que hablando en español lo pronuncien como /ks/ o hablen de "Mexico City" cuando es la Ciudad de México.
Todo esto, porque en un evento de la Unión Europea se los comenté en un programa que tenían y por poco y ponen el grito en el cielo.
The RBD phenomenon
There is a pop band that is famous all over the American continent. It has filled venues in Brazil, Argentina, the United States, Colombia and Mexico.
Their name is RBD, and they're a marketing offshoot of a very popular opera by Televisa, "Rebelde".
Their music is rather plastic (as is the "band"), but they are a money-making machine. They have been involved in a series of scandals, such as when 3 people died in an autograph-signing session in Sao Paulo in 2005, and when one of their singers confessed to being gay a few months ago.
Why do I talk about them, if their music (and the overall concept) seems to me rather bad? Because, firstly, I believe they're a perfect example of the power of telenovelas and the marketing around them as a mostly Latin American phenomenon with an expanding reach. Furthermore, I wouldn't be surprised they would cross-over to the English-language worldwide market, as was the case with Shakira and Ricky Martin.
17th Matchday: Jaguares 1-0 Chivas
Chivas lost against Jaguares in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Chiapas in the last game of the regular season, but qualified to the playoffs as 1st in its group and second in the general standings.
Omar Bravo made history as the first Mexican top goalscorer in the league since 2001, and also broke a long-standing curse, since the last Chivas top scorer was Salvador Reyes in 1961.
In other league news, Santos avoided relegation, but Querétaro went down (the team with the lowest ratio of points won vs. matches played during the last 3 years goes to Primera A). The playoffs will start as soon as the wildcard matches are played this week.
Liberal en lo económico, liberal en lo social
Cada vez que leo las noticias mexicanas y los comentarios que de éstas hacen los editorialistas y los actores políticos, no puedo dejar de sentirme en desacuerdo con uno y otro bando.
Mi problema es el siguiente: al PRI le tengo mucha desconfianza, el PAN es liberal en lo económico pero conservador hasta decir basta en lo social, y el PRD es liberal en lo social, pero absolutamente retrógrada en lo económico. Así, simplemente no puedo estar de acuerdo con ninguno.
Tal vez suene a sueño guajiro, pero a mí me gustaría votar por una opción política que entendiera que, por desgracia, no hay otro sistema para generar riqueza mejor que el capitalismo, que el socialismo clásico no sirve y el estatismo nos ha llevado a la ruina, pero por otro lado, también entendiera que tiene que haber una separación entre iglesia y estado (soy católico practicante, pero al César lo que es del César, y a Dios lo que es de Dios), que los homosexuales no son gente enferma y que suficiente castigo tiene la gente que desea abortar con hacerlo para que todavía las metan a la cárcel.
El problema también es cultural: con un sistema tan corrupto del que todos forman parte, con tanto clientelismo y cacicazgos, con leyes que cuando no son anticuadas simplemente nadie las respeta, y con una recaudación de impuestos tan abismalmente baja porque los que son "ricos" no pagan porque son ricos y los "pobres" no pagan porque son pobres, simplemente no vamos a llegar a ningún lado. Si a eso le añadimos el clima de crispación reinante en el país después de las elecciones más reñidas de su historia, es una receta para no llegar a ningún lado.
No hay capacidad ni intención de diálogo. Viéndolo desde fuera me da mucha, pero mucha pena.
Doing business in Mexico
A French friend of mine who worked for Air France Cargo in Mexico told me the following anecdote.
"When I started working, my boss told me: "Boy, there is a phrase that summarises what it is like to do business here: "Seguro mañana te pago" (loosely translated to "I'll pay you tomorrow for sure"). Once you understand these four words separately and what they mean together, you'll understand what it is like to work here"."
I couldn't stop laughing, not only at the phrase, but at the fact that it's actually very true and shows quite a few things of the typical Mexican psyque.