You've just been Philled in

And on other news, I want to share Philip DeFranco's video blog. I've become addicted to his posts. Here's the latest, I hope you enjoy it... you're about to get Philled in...

I do not own this video. Property of Philip DeFranco

Qué friki...

Vaya noche; de música, drama y un poco de freakshow, o sea, lo mejor de lo mejor de las noches bruselenses.

Comencemos; por si no lo había comentado antes, la australiana de mi kot es un personaje raro, ya catalogada así por otra de mis compañeras de casa. Y yo creo que tienen que darnos razón. Si yo pensaba que podía ser un fantasma en mi casa, Milie me gana con creces - sobretodo porque es un fantasma que no limpia y que de vez en cuando deje sorpresas en el WC, aunque ya se le haya dicho algo al respecto - un asco, madre mía! Pero bueno, ella vive su vida y parece que no está mala aunque a veces nos diga lo contrario.

Luego, Rocco, nuestro compañero de kot milanese nos abandona este domingo, regresa a Italia a hacer un doctorado en la Universidad de Bologna y realmente todos estamos muy tristes porque se va. Sin embargo, ayer me enteré - en realidad confirmé - que había tenido una que otra aventurilla con otras chicas - porque tiene novia - y bueno, quién soy para juzgarlo... si lo hace debe ser por algo... te extrañaremos Rocco!

Pero la guinda del pastel llegó más tarde, en la fiesta de despedida de una amiga de la casa. Cuando ocurrió el beso, luego prometo que lo cuento mejor, por ahora sólo debe quedar en eso, no quiero interferir en lo que podría pasar en las próximas dos semanas. En serio que vivo en un culebrón belga, wow.

En realidad ocurrieron muchas cosas, mejor las enlisto:

• A la australiana le importamos un pelo.
• Rocco se va y dejará unos cuantos corazones rotos.
• Ale Alejandro, un ex-compañero de kot vino a Bruselas por el fin de semana.
• Buscamos nuevo flat-mate.
• Conocí a un Miguel murciano.
• Llegó el beso.
• Conocí a Lorenzo, el hijo del embajador italiano en Bruselas - una historia de David.
• Descubrí que vivo en The Real World Brussels.
• Y, si quieren escuchar música italiana de los 80´s pueden ir a The Gentleman's, cerca a La Bourse.

"Je ne parle pas néerlandais"

"Mis días sin ti son como un cielo, sin lunas plateadas ni rastros de sol." Creo que Shakira debió estar en Bruselas cuando escribió esta canción, muy deprimida y esforzándose por levantarse cada mañana, o simplemente vio que el clima bruselense es una mierda y decidió ponerla en una de sus canciones. Sea como sea, cada día para mí sigue siendo un martirio.

Hoy me levanté con dolor de cabeza y esa fue mi gran excusa para no levantarme de la cama. Pero para mi desgracia como a las 09h00 me llaman por teléfono y obvio me comienzan a hablar con holandés. Con mi voz de medio dormido y pocos amigos contesto: "Madame, je ne parle pas néerlandais". Entonces me dice que espere un momento que buscan a alguien que lo hable. como 10 minutos al teléfono para explicarles que a la persona que buscaban no la conozco y que el número al que llaman es mi número personal. Se rindieron y al fin colgaron.

Pero en fin, otro día gris y frío... ¡Gracias Bruselas! Sarcasm Alert, sarcasm alert...

Es mi queja de la semana - muy belga.

Antitapas, Bruxelles' gay life & tipsy tips

Y bueno, el nuevo año ya se hizo notar, y mucho.

Aunque también debería decir que en parte por mis acciones. Si recuerdan una de mis resoluciones para el nuevo año era volver a ciertos antiguos hábitos: y uno de ellos es salir y disfrutar por lo menos una vez cada semana - es que de qué vale ser joven si no lo aprovechamos, no?

Y ya hay cola, van apenas dos semanas y ya hay nuevas historias y creo que más o menos conozco a la mitad de la comunidad gay bruselense - que no es tan bueno en realidad, porque podría parecer que es muy poca, y al parecer no lo es.

Al final resultó que Boy's Boudoir está divertido para ir de vez en cuando. No está mala la música, los tragos no están tan caros tampoco pero parece que el público es prácticamente el mismo de una semana a la otra, o sea, no muy bueno si quieres ligar cada semana.

Mi retorno a las bebidas alcohólicas ha ido bien hasta ahora. No resacas, no pérdidas de memoria y sobretodo no actuaciones embarazosas. Muy bien todo felizmente. Mi único problema con todo esto es que termino gastando un poco más de la cuenta y entro en el modo de sin alcohol no hay diversión, el cual es una chorrada ya que no es cierto pero es lo que termina ocurriendo; es precisamente eso lo que tengo que controlar.

Nunca pensé que sería más fácil dejar de tomar alcohol en absoluto que tratar de tomarlo en pequeñas dosis, es que es de locos eso.

Ahora lo que necesito es algún noviecito o algo parecido. ¡En serio que necesito algo ahora! Espero que alguillo venga pronto para parar con las putas pajas mentales. En estos momentos quisiera ser hueco para no pensar sin pensarlo - he ahí mi frase del mes.

Por ciertos:

• Antitapas; muy bueno, he aquí el link www.antitapas.org
• Los raros siempre serán raros.
• Es imposible huir de la gente en Bruselas.
• El Manneken Pis realmente ha influenciado el comportamiento de los bruselenses.
• Los europeos no saben que es un "screwdriver".
• Y, being tipsy does help when speaking in a foreign language.

Here we go again

2011 has officially started and I'm still having some problems realizing that another whole year just said goodbye, a year that for me was more like 2 completely different periods in my life. 2010 not only took me across the Atlantic but it made me go through so many different emotions (and places) that they are still taking its toll on me.

I know I sound really dramatic but trust me, I'm not even trying.

First, let's have a quick recap:

• I'm still waiting for the permis de séjour - which I hope I get before February ends. This means I cannot leave Belgium until further notice.
• I haven't resolved my Master's Degree situation still - mainly because I haven't had the time but also because I've been afraid of not getting what I want.
• The photography course isn't going the way I thought it would go so my motivation hasn't been top-notch.
• And more than before I would really love to be in a serious relationship. It's already been a while since my last.

My mental blackout has left some reminisces that I still have to cope with so this should be an interesting start - or so I tell myself.

It's such a change from last year in which I spent the first days of 2010 trekking along the Colca Canyon in Arequipa, trying to find some inner strength and enlightenment to this year, clueless about my near future and in a Belgian city. A complete 180° turn.

I should clarify I'm not complaining though the contrast has overwhelmed me a little. I knew my Latin-American roots were strong and that I would have a hard time adjusting but Oh Boy they have some more power over me than I initially thought.

Mixed feelings, that's what I'm going through, big time.

Nevertheless, I decided that for 2011 I deserve a new start and as a matter of fact I know this year will be the start of my new life.

There are some things that happened last year that have changed my life forever, some for the better and some for the worse, just how life goes. I haven't really shared them here because they're too personal and life-changing. I will talk about them later for sure but first I have to come to terms with them and decide how I'm going to approach them in a written online post - there's so much I can share at this moment in my life.

I think it's time for some other news, some lighter news.

As my New Year resolutions go, one of them is to be more flirtatious and spontaneous. And to my grace or disgrace - I still don't know - I've already seen some results.

What I can share is that some days ago I ended up kissing like there's no tomorrow with a good friend of mine, but because of certain circumstances it would not be wise to go any further and besides we're only friends, or at least I think so. I have to stop pondering about this, really.

Still contradicting and dramatic, this year has a lot more in store for me, pretty much just how life goes. Only thing I can tell for sure is that 2011 will definitely be a year to remember.

Cambios [ visuales ] diecinueve

19. Gent, Oost-Vlaanderen, België

Photography by Miguel Ángel Ramírez

Crazy in crazy Bruxelles

It's been a long time since my last post and the main reason for it is because so many things have happened - expected and unexpected - that I've been out of sync... total madness to make it short.

It's been 4 months already since I moved to Bruxelles and so far it's been good, still a lot of complications, weird stuff, new people, new places, general craziness involved in this kind of over-starting. I'm now "settled", though the settled needs some adjustments still and tomorrow morning I find out how it will go - more explanations in later posts.

My first days in this city were full of contradicting emotions. I went through all of them I think, it was a little bit painful to watch - I even think I started going medically crazy for a couple days, and I'm not joking. My emotional stability isn't as strong as I thought it was, and at the moment I feel as if my mind just went on Emergency Mode and pretty much blocked some normal emotions.

What I mean if you really think I'm talking madness is that I'm going through shell-shock in a way. I've become really antisocial this time around, autistic to make it short. And the worst part is that I don't hate it, I seriously have embraced it and I guess I should worry about it but it's not that big of a deal on a personal level so far. I wonder what a psych would tell me after reading this post... maybe I'll go to one later because I need a lot of out-figuring.

But let's track down. The Victor Horta School wouldn't give me an answer about my admission procedure, even though classes were about to start, not even a NO. So I went with my plan B. I started looking for Photography Schools. You would think that can't be that hard, right? To find a school and go enroll yourself. Well, let me tell you it was hell. I got so many setbacks that I was about to throw in the towel and buy the first ticket back to Mexico City. I don't really know how I got over it and went to Le 75, a little Art School in Woluwe, Bruxelles. It's a really nice school, great teachers, just great. However, my autistic situation has built so many walls around me that I must be the weirdo at school - and big time. And the only reason why that bothers me is because I don't have a clear vision about my academic life next year... as I said before, I've embraced my having a distance with other people but I do know it's not a good idea to be like that around people I may be seeing for 3 more years at least - this is what I meant about my contradicting emotions.

I must be already crazy, mustn't I?

But anyway, after I started classes in Le 75, I got admitted to Architecture School, great news, right? Well, I got excited about it and went there to register and all, forget about Le 75 and come back to my roots. And the big wall came crashing to my face; there was a problem with my Equivalence, a really stupid problem that the Belgians should fix themselves but of course they will not. So, I couldn't attend to Architecture School and because of all of this I skipped classes at Le 75 also... I sort of started to dig a quite cozy grave to myself.

After the drama, introspection came and it really doesn't help me. That's why people say the worst punishment to bad people would be to look at themselves in the mirror, because if you really start looking you may see more than you bargained for. I think I didn't eat for two days, just slept through; it was insane. If I'm OK now it's because I'm not the type of person who just gives up on his life - I may have a lot of flaws and trust me I do know them but I wouldn't cut my fuse on life. I'd rather go stagnant.

By now I am fine, maybe a little bit more than fine actually. All these feelings have nothing to do with the people I've got to know and their feelings towards me. My mental blackout has nothing to do with them. To the contrary it's all about me.

I needed to let myself loose and share some thoughts. Thank you for reading and do not worry about me. This may have sounded really dramatic but trust me it's just life.