Eight things about me

A lot of blabbering nonsense from a half-Mexican / half-American gal living in Paris London and married to a half-French / half-Romanian monsieur..... 

To get to know me better, here are eight random things about myself. You've been warned. Here goes nothing:

1/ I consider myself a walking UNO (the organization, not the playing cards). I was born in Mexico City to an American mother and a Mexican Father. I had a Spanish grandfather on my dad's side and Russian and Polish roots on my Mother's side. My first name is Italian and my second French. My first last name is Catalan and sometimes I'm even told arab and my second last name is Jewish. Oh! and I'm married to a man that is half French and half Romanian. I speak three languages and want to learn a fourth (German - but not working out so far). I have two nationalities (Mexican and American) but could potentially ask for three others (Spanish, French and Israeli).

2/ I have a certain weird thing going on when it comes to eating meat. I'm not a vegetarian and it definitely doesn't have anything to do with the whole "poor animals" thing (sorry Mexico Way).... but I just never crave eating meat and actually avoid it as much as I can. And it's not really the taste that bothers me (I find I actually like the way beef and pork taste)... it's just the idea of putting "flesh" inside my mouth that blocks me completely (???). I had a hard time adjusting to eating meat in France where they tend to cook it between rosy pink, bloody red or simply raw (urgh! shivering!). When I do have to eat meat it has to be drowned in any kind of sauce or else I have to ask that it be extremely cooked, like charcoal-burned cooked (I can't touch a piece of anything if it's still pink/red or worse yet, it bleeds when you put a fork in it). So I just usually avoid eating it, any kind of it, rabbit, duck, beef, pork, veal, even turkey or chicken.... On the other hand, I love cold cuts, bacon, chorizo, etc (????) and have absolutely no problem eating tacos al pastor or arabes and even cemitas (wink at Cancuncanuck). 

3/ I can't and wont walk over air grids... you know the kind I mean? Those holes in the sidewalk that are covered by an iron grid and hot air comes out of? Remember? Marilyn Monroe? White dress? Showing panties? Atta go! THOSE air grids. I can't walk over them. I'll cross over to the other sidewalk or steer around them but I wont set foot on them. Cuz I'm weird like that. 

4/ I collect Disney major motion pictures on DVDs. I think it started when I was a kid and my mom bought us our first Disney movie on VHS: Aladdin. I just loved that movie so much and I loved the idea of being able to watch it as many times as I wanted. The first time I saw it on DVD I just had to buy it and it snowballed from there. I now have a pretty decent collection (over 80 out of the official 100 or so titles that have come out so far) and I just love watching my collection grow. I don't watch the movies themselves that often anymore but my favorite are still The Little Mermaid, Bed-knobs and Broomsticks, Hercules and the timeless Aladdin. I wont buy any other cartoon movies that aren't Disney ("The Nightmare before Christmas" and "Who framed Roger Rabbit?" being my only exceptions and technically they're not cartoons) ... and every time I walk into a DVD shop I just have to stop by the kids section to take a look....

5/ I love to people watch. Hubby calls it "mariposeando" (butterfly-ing)... We'll be walking on the street and without knowing it I'll suddenly tune out of whatever we're talking about and start saying simple "uh-uh's" or "yeah" or "hmmm-hmmm".... and he'll know I'm gone. I like to look at people mainly, the way they're dressed, their shoes, the way they walk, how they carry their back pack or purse, their hairstyle, if they're talking on their cell and try and guess what language they're speaking. I imagine if they are sons or husbands, if they are french or foreigners, if they're in love or not, if they're students or, artists or employees and sometimes event invent a short story about them..... I also love to watch buildings and imagine how the apartments are decorated on the inside, what kind of lighting they must have or if they have carpet or wooden floors... antique furniture or IKEA/Habitat stuff, how the rooms are spread out.... I love looking into shops too... shops of anything and everything... of course clothes shops really get my juices going but basically anything will catch my attention and make me imagine what it would be like to own it or give it as a present to (...), or use it to finally get rid of (...), or how it would look on (....) .....

6/ I LOVE CHILE!! (the spice, not the country... actually I love the country too....). It's one of the things I miss most of Mexico. El picante!! I miss all those sauces and all those chiles (chile verde, chile de arbol, chipotle, guajillo, serrano, jalapeno, piquin, habanero, poblano...... ) I often compare the mexican chile to the french cheese so that I can better explain how important it is to our diet, for us mexicans. They are so many types and each has a very specific flavor and a specific use. You can't for example put chile jalapeno in your tacos al pastor or sprinkle chile piquin in your quesadilla or pour chipotle sauce in your popcorn... there's a code, an unspoken rule and an unexplainable flavor standard that will make you return to a certain taco stand on the other side of town only because of their salsa. Living in France, paprika is considered hot and I suffered many a bland meal where a little pico de gallo or a few bits of fresh habanero would have made all the difference. I found a little place that sells Salsa Valentina here in London (hurray!) but at an exorbitant price that no self-respecting mexican would pay (7 GBP a bottle!) ... but I'm so desperate I've discovered I'm not so self-respecting after all...

7/ It probably comes from my "nomad blood" mixed in with my "people watching" habit but I feel an uncontrollable urge to travel. All the time. Thanks to my parents we traveled a lot in Mexico when I was growing up: Right from the beginning when they took me to Canada for the "apple picking season" when I was 2.... and it hasn't stopped since. By the time I was 20 I'd been to most of the southern, central states and north eastern states in the country and in college I traveled a bit too, both in the US and Guatemala. Since I've been living in Europe, I've been able to travel even more, sometimes on my own but mostly with Hubby (over 45 countries and counting....) We've been fortunate enough to be able to go all around Europe, South America, Asia and the Middle East - though it feels like there is still 99.9% of the world we have yet to explore... 

8/ I don't do colors. I love pink (have you noticed?) but when it comes to wearing clothes, my closet is mainly restricted to the four basics: Black, Grey, White or else jeans. I can't explain what it is that blocks me from wearing anything else, but whenever I step into a clothes shop my feet automatically tend to head to the "funeral wear" section.  

Fned.