The time I found Jesus... in a cake! (a.k.a Rosca de Reyes Part II)

As some of you might remember, last year I wrote about my fruitless search for Jesus in rosca de reyes. This year, though, with January and Kings' Day approaching, I got another shot at finding this elusive son of God.

Okay, so, if you're now wondering what the heck I'm on about, you haven't heard about this rosca de reyes tradition before, and you didn't read my post last year (shame on you!), here's the Reader's Digest version of what you need to know:

Rosca de reyes is a cake (or sweet bread) that's eaten here in Mexico and throughout the Hispanic world on January 6th, which is known as Día de Reyes (Kings' Day). In addition to that, rosca de reyes is, as it happens, baby Jesus's hideout 😲. Your sole mission - should you choose to accept it - is to find Jesus in the cake. And, if you are graced enough to be the one to find him, you get to (are forced to?) throw a tamale party on February 2nd, Día de Candelaria (Candlemas Day). Yay!

With me so far? Okay.

So, to find Jesus, you only need two things: a) a rosca de reyes cake and b) a healthy appetite. Your first order of business is, of course, to buy yourself the cake. Fortunately (or unfortunately), you don't need to travel to a small convent where a 100-year-old blind nun produces a single cake every ten years - or something similar - because you can actually find rosca de reyes in any supermarket near you (is it just me or is this news a bit of a letdown 🤔?).

There are many kinds of rosca de reyes cakes, different sizes, and even a chocolate option to rival the traditional one. The figurines in each cake look different and I've heard that there are even cakes which not only contain one baby Jesus, but two or three baby Jesuses 😲. Although this triplet Jesus thing could seem like some weird take on "Holy Trinity," I guess it's intended for parents who don't want their children to fight over who found baby Jesus. There's also a Star Wars rosca de reyes where, instead of baby Jesus, you try to find baby Yoda. But as cool as that cake sounds, this year I decided to go traditional.

Well... traditional with a twist, as my rosca de reyes was one that came with "a whimsical set of nativity figurines."

🎵 Nativity Figurines! Gotta catch 'em aaalll! 🎵

To be honest, buying this type of rosca de reyes was not so much an informed decision as it was my last resort because the store was closing and there were no other kinds of cakes available. The danger of a rosca reyes cake like this is of course that you don't know which whimsical figurines you'll end up with. For all you know, you could end up completely Jesusless [cue the sad 🎻].

Needless to say, this brought back all kinds of childhood trauma and felt alarmingly like the Kinder turtle fiasco of 1991 (if you were born in the 80's, you might feel my pain), when you would use your allowance Saturday after Saturday to buy a new Kinder egg in the hopes of finally getting that diver turtle only to get the pan flute turtle that you already had seven of! But, as I said, I was out of options. Also, I was somewhat encouraged by the fact that when the nice lady at the supermarket gave me a piece of the cake to sample, I suddenly bit my teeth into a nativity figurine. Holy cow (it was a cow)! What were the odds? With luck like this, I felt a bit more optimistic about my purchase.

The cow present at Jesus's birth

As I wasn't sure what you're supposed to do when you find a nativity figurine in your mouth at a supermarket, I decided to take the cow home with me to complete my future figurine collection (also, I figured the chances of the supermarket wanting to keep a nativity figurine that had just been in my mouth were probably pretty low). The cow also taught me the first rule of eating rosca de reyes cake: Chew carefully. If you bite too hard, you might chip a tooth!

Looking for Jesus

The second rule of eating rosca de reyes revealed itself pretty soon after I'd taken the cake home: You might as well just forget about enjoying the cake, since all your energy will go into finding Jesus!

Trying to find Jesus in rosca de reyes is actually more stressful than thrilling as you become paranoid about any tougher piece of fruit that you're chewing, worried that you might have just accidentally decapitated poor baby Jesus.

May contain Jesus

And then there are the other figurines.

When I was just a couple of bites into my very first piece, I felt my teeth sink into something hard and I thought, Oh dear baby Jesus! Could it be that I already found thee on my first try? Well, the answer was... no. What I actually had found was one of the Wise Men (at least I think it was a Wise Man - if not, it was either Joseph or just some random dude). 

Here's the evolution of finding this wiseguy:

Wiseguy flat on his face in cake

Wiseguy still not looking very dignified with more than half of his body covered in cake

Wiseguy numero uno all cleaned up!

The good news was that there were supposed to be 3-4 figurines per cake, so it was still possible to find Jesus. But just as I was about to continue my search, Fiancé told me he had found something in his piece. I felt my heart rate rise. Could he have found Jesus?

(Well, I'll leave you on a cliffhanger for a while.)

Here's a play-by-play of his discovery:

The first sighting

Behold wiseguy numero dos!

When it turned out Fiancé had in fact found wiseguy numero dos, the feeling was bittersweet: On one hand, I was happy that he hadn't found Jesus (also, he's Jewish, so that would have been quite the oxymoron), but on the other hand, my initial fear that there would not be a Jesus at all in this particular cake was beginning to re-emerge. If there were 3-4 figurines per cake, then that meant we were either halfway or two thirds of the way through and still no Jesus!

Seek And You Shall Find

The next day I got home, I was determined to find Jesus. Remembering one of his catchphrases "Seeketh and you shall findeth" (or something to that effect), I was ready to put his theory to the test, and polish off whatever was left of the cake.

I kept eating my way through it, risking death by gluttony, and yet... no Jesus. But just as it started to look alarmingly like there would be no baby Jesus at the end of this rainbow, suddenly, when I was on my very last piece of the cake, something miraculous happened: there, tucked inside the cake under an almond and between two figs lay no other than...

..plastic baby Jesus himself!

TADAAA!

Overjoyed, I sent a message to Fiancé: "Jesus found!"

"Good for you," he replied with a little (a lot) less enthusiasm, but I didn't care. I had completed my mission - I had found Jesus.

I celebrated my victory for a full five minutes until I suddenly remembered what finding Jesus actually meant: I would have to throw a tamale party (sigh).

Now, this might come as a shock to you, but I'm not a huge fan of throwing tamale parties. Apparently, though, I'm not alone with this sentiment. In fact, according to a Mexican friend of mine, this whole tamale party rule is the reason a lot of people avoid finding baby Jesus like the plague.

But I am nothing if not a woman of my word, so on the 2nd of February I got myself and my fiancé some tamales.

Tamales

If you've never heard of tamales, here's a what you need to know: Basically, tamales are a traditional Mexican dish made of corn-based dough that is steamed inside a corn husk or a banana leaf. There are many different types, some sweet and some savory. They look great, but to be honest with you (and in my humble opinion), they're a little meh.

Several different types of tamales and chocolate atole

For my tamale party (and I use the word "party" loosely here), I got several different types of tamales; one contained green salsa, one chicken mole, one chocolate, and so on. I also got atole, which is a corn-based hot beverage traditionally enjoyed with tamales.

But - you may ask - why does the baby-Jesus-finder have to throw a tamale party i.e. what do tamales have to do with baby Jesus? Well, the answer is...

...I've no clue.

However, according to one theory, it's because tamales sort of look like a swaddled baby Jesus.

The resemblance is uncanny, eh?

Whether that's true or not, I have no idea (if you actually know what the real reason is, please do comment below).

However, for me, the tamale party was just a necessary evil and finding Jesus was the main event. And, as so often happens, by looking for Jesus, I ended up not only finding him but also myself....

...not.

But I did find the whole nativity figurine set 👪. Well (*cough*) minus Mary and Joseph (and a camel and a sheep?) but maybe that's a goal for next year 😊.

Happy February, everyone!

Happy New Year! Feliz Año Nuevo! Hyvää Uutta Vuotta!

It's been quite the year! Just 12 short months ago our little family of two packed our bags and moved from Liège, Belgium (a little town with a population of less than 200,000) to Mexico City (a little town with population of 21,000,000 and counting). We found a new apartment, new jobs (more about that later), and had lots of fun adventures (you can read about some of them here). In addition, my blog was chosen as Expat.com's blog of the month and my short story was published by Drunken Pen Writing (hurray!!).

As tomorrow also marks the beginning of a new decade, I want to now take a quick look at how my life has changed in the past ten years. Ten years ago this time I was getting ready for my internship in Luxembourg as a translator trainee. Little did I know then that about two years later I would be moving to Portugal only to move to Belgium three years after that, and to Mexico three years after that. In these past ten years I've graduated from university (with a master's degree in English Translation), found the love of my life and gotten engaged, met a bunch of new people, made some great friends, had a gazillion different jobs, started this blog, published a couple of stories, learned a few new languages and brushed up a couple of old ones.

My life can be a lot of things, but uneventful it is not, and by the looks of it, next year is not going to be an exception.

I want to wish all my readers a fantastic new year! Bring on 2020 - I'm ready 😎!!

Día de Muertos

Happy November 😊! These past couple of weeks have been all kinds of fun for me! Halloween, Día de Muertos, the beginning of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and, to top it off, my story got published in Drunken Pen Writing (more about that later)!!

But now, let's talk a little bit more about Día de Muertos ("Day of the Dead") that took place last weekend. This was my first time experiencing the 2-day fiesta in Mexico, and I have to say that it was quite impressive! And fun. Actually, I can honestly say that that's the most fun I've ever had with death 😜!

Día de Muertos - What Is It?

So, what is Día de Muertos exactly? Well, in a nutshell, it's a Mexican festival celebrated between the 1st and 2nd of November, and its purpose is to remember the loved ones that have passed away and encourage visits by their souls. However, these visits - it should be noted - do not entail dead people being resurrected Pet Sematary style and turning into monsters. Nope. Unlike Halloween, the Day of the Dead is not a spooky celebration because in Mexican culture, death is considered a natural part of life and something to be celebrated rather than feared (go figure 😉).

Death has never looked more fun!

A central part of Día de Muertos are the ofrendas. Ofrendas are types of altars built by a family to honor their dearly departed. They are composed of a picture of the deceased along with their favorite foods, drinks, and other memorabilia. In Coyoacán, you can find several ofrendas made by different cities during the Day of the Dead festivities. Here are a few of them:

Typically, ofrendas incorporate the four elements: water, fire, wind, and earth. While beverages usually symbolize water and candles fire, earth is often represented by marigolds, orange flowers, which are also called "flowers of the dead" as they represent the fragility of life and are believed to guide the spirits to their altars. Wind, on the other hand, is represented by papel picado, colorful tissue paper cut into different designs. 

Papel picado

Obviously, I wanted to take part in this tradition, too, so Fiancé and I made an ofrenda of our own. This one (below) represents two of our major food groups - sugar and chocolate 😜 

Death by chocolate

What to Do on the Day of the Dead?

Día de Muertos offers different sights and activities depending on which Mexican city you are celebrating it in. A lot of the people I talked to actually opted to celebrate the Day of the Dead in some of the smaller cities as they were told the festivities would be more authentic (or less touristy) there.

However, that is not to say that you can't enjoy Día de Muertos in CDMX as well. First of all, there is the parade. (Fun fact: Do you remember that opening scene of the 2015 James Bond movie where 007 strolls through the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City? Well, you might be interested to know that in 2015, there was no such thing as the Day of the Dead parade in Mexico City. In fact, the first parade that was held in 2016 in CDMX was inspired by this very James Bond movie - not the other way around.) 

However, as neither myself nor Fiancé are big fans of crowded places, we boldly decided to skip the parade, and instead got up early on Saturday and went to Coyoacán (the south of the city) to marvel at the ofrendas and check out the market where I got a couple more decorated skulls for my skull collection (okay now, kids, it's important that you not take this sentence out of context).

After that, we walked down Reforma street, which was decorated with tall, beautifully crafted alebrijes.

Alebrijes are fantastical colorful creatures that are normally made of papier-mâché or wood. They were originally the product of an artist's feverish dream in the 1930's and that's exactly what they look like - or what do you think about this guy, for example: 

Now, here's a fella I would like to have a beer with!

Interestingly enough, however, although alebrijes were incorporated in the Day of the Dead festivities, their only connection with the tradition seems to be the fact that they were featured in the 2017 Disney movie Coco as spirit animals. Do you remember how at the end of the movie (SPOILER ALERT!! If you haven't seen Coco, stop reading now) Miguel's dog (Mexican hairless dog, which, according to legend, is every newly dead's guide through the underworld) is promoted to an alebrije? It was definitely a visually impressive move (and alebrijes are part of Mexican culture for sure), but what these papier-mâché works of art were doing in the realm of the dead in the first place is beyond me (if you know the answer to this, please educate me).

There are the scary, nightmarish alebrijes, and then there's...well... this.

But whether or not they have a connection with the Day of the Dead, alebrijes are truly something unique and impressive to see!

The Highlight

After seeing the alebrijes, we were just about to leave when something magical - the highlight of the day - happened:

We saw a gentleman with a little bird and a bunch of folded pieces of paper, who asked me if I wanted to know my fortune. Naturally, I said yes!

The man urged me to tell Pedrito the Bird my name (I was at "T for tango" when I realized I was actually spelling my name to none other than a bird), after which Pedrito picked out one of the papers for me with his beak.

I took the paper and, with held breath, unfolded it.

This is what it said:

How about that typing, huh? Not too bad for a bird, eh?

I was enjoying this fortune until I got to the "you will arrive ambulances" part. Excuse me, but what does that mean? Will I live? will I die? Should I be worried about something? What?

Well, I guess only time will tell.

Pedrito the Bird works in mysterious ways. 

Closing words

As I mentioned at the beginning, the Day of the Dead wasn't the only great thing that happened to me last weekend, as my Halloween-inspired short story got published in Drunken Pen Writing (Woo-hooooo!!). The story is actually a (slightly adapted) chapter of a novel I've been working on, so by reading it, you'll get a sneak peak of what's to come 😉. You can read the story here - I hope you enjoy it 😊!

And that's all, folks. All in all, things are good. As one wise bird once said, my life right now is "a chain of happiness" 😍!  

Until next time, friends!

Guest blogger: That Weekend at the Lake House

Hey y'all! Soooo, I've been really busy lately (more about that later) and, although a lot has happened, I've been kind of struggling to find the time to write a blog post this month. That is, of course, until my knight in shining armor (Fiancé) came to my rescue, and promised to be my very first guest blogger (yay)! 

His first blog post is a short story that might or might not be based on true events (spoiler alert: it totally is 😁!) and has the ominous title "That Weekend at the Lake House" (dunn dunn dunnnnn). 

So, without further ado, here's his story:

That Weekend at the Lake House

We arrived at the lake house. Now, before you get too excited for me, this was in Finland, the land of 10 million lakes… or something like that. Where it's easier to rent a lake house for the weekend than freeze to death in the winter when trying to run to the store next door very quickly to get a beer without your jacket on. Okay, okay, I’m exaggerating, so don’t go and try it, die, and then at the Pearly Gates tell Peter, your dog Fido, or that long lost relative of yours who is waiting for you that it was all my idea. But anyway, I have been rambling for too long now, so let's get back to the main story.

We arrived at the lake house, first time meeting Kata's family, well, almost all of them, anyway. I had met her mom before when she'd decided that she needed to meet the fortunate guy living with her daughter. And also she wanted to witness my legendary (or so she had heard) Mexican cooking skills and asked me to make some fajitas (I won’t tell her if you don’t). Good news, her mother speaks English, bad news, her father does not. How is a guy supposed to impress and be liked by his future father-in-law without being able to use his smarts to charm him? More on that later.

The objective of the weekend was to celebrate Kata's grandparents' 80th birthday (yep, both of them). They were having a party that night, but the close family was staying at the lake house for the weekend. Meaning, we had a room. We arrived and before saying our "hellos," we decided to go leave our bags in the room. While she was unpacking, I snuck out to the bathroom and came back just in time to quickly nod and smile at a man climbing up the stairs saying something in Finnish. After this encounter, I went back to the room, where Kata excitedly announced. “Hey, you met my dad!!”

🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

Frack me sideways! There goes my first impression, and those two weeks of practicing how to say hello, nice to meet you in Finnish (BTW, do not ask me how to say it, it was one of those "memorize and forget" kind of learning experiences). Strike one for me. 

After that, we went down to the party, but not before Kata once again reminded me of the same thing she had told me many times before: “Do not drink alcohol in front of my father, he has trust issues with anyone that drinks, even beer”. Given what I just mentioned, it's not hard to predict what happened next. We arrived at the party, I met the family, and - surprise surprise -, when I said "hi" to her mother, she offered me a beer.

Hm, conundrum moment here: to reject her mother's offering (which, if you hadn't guessed yet, was more of a “take this” and less of a “would you like this” kind of thing) or to dismiss the warning, get my second strike, and hope for a hit, a double, or, even better, a home-run with my next try? After all, this was not a game I would like to have lost - to get her father to dislike me -, as it would make for a really awkward family reunion in the future. But I had confidence in myself that I could recover from this, so bring on strike two.

The party continued, as usual, people arrived and people left, it was one of those “we will be here all day, come and go as you please” kind of parties. Mostly, I stayed with Kata while people chatted with each other, but I did spend some time talking to her mom and brother, who - luckily for me - speaks English. Also, there were some other relatives that spoke English, so I was able to have a few conversations here and there. 

Now. This is the part when we arrive at the crescendo of the story. As the party went on, I decided that since I was not going to be able to get that homer with her father, I could at least get her mother to like me (at least more than just as the fajitas cook). That's when I had the amazing idea (please read that last part again with a sarcastic tone) of asking her mom for advice on what kind of an engagement ring her daughter would like. 

Before I continue, let me backtrack just a little. There are three things you should know at this point: number one, Kata and I had already talked about getting married, so this was not just an impulse question. Number two, Kata does not wear any kind of jewelry, rings, necklaces, bracelets, not even earrings. And number three, Kata always says her mom knows her taste in things better than her, so I could honestly use her advice, considering point number two just mentioned. 

I waited for Kata to be out of the room before I asked her mom, because although we had talked about getting married, we had not talked about me buying her a ring. Here is when I made the mistake that inspired this whole story: her brother was still there and heard my question. 

Why is this such a bad thing? you may be asking yourself. Well, because brothers are trolls, independently of how much they love or not their little sisters.

“You are planning to ask my father for permission first, right?” he asked. 

 Now, Kata and I are a modern couple, so I really had not considered asking her father for her hand in marriage. But, of course, by this point I had no option but to comply with the request or I would have looked like a jackass. 

“Of course I was planning to do that,” I lied. “How about the next time Kata leaves to go to the bathroom, I go ask your father and you translate for me?” Although I was not too happy with the current events, I also thought this could be the chance for that elusive home-run I had been hoping for ever since my strike two a couple of hours ago. So, when I had a chance to talk to Kata again, I told her what had happened and we agreed that in a while, she would go for a long break in the bathroom. And so she did, and I asked for her brother to help me out.

Her brother and I walked up to her father who was already in the corner of the room, sat down, and I said, “I just wanted to let you know I love your daughter and I was hoping to get your permission to marry her.” Or so I think I said, but given how nervous I was, maybe I just babbled something along those lines. 

The next couple of minutes were what could be described as a surreal dream: Brother turns and says something to her father, to which her father gives a 5-minute answer. All this time I have no idea what is happening, so I just smile very awkwardly. 

“He said it's not his decision, but Kata’s, but thanks for asking,” was the impressive translation after those very embarrassing and long long long minutes. 

“Congratulations, that’s amazing!” That was one of Kata’s mother's cousins, who'd heard the conversation. “We need to celebrate!” he says while bringing a bottle of some hard liquor and serving me a glass, right in front of Kata’s father. Okay, this will be strike 3, 4, 5, and 10. All at once, but who cares. After that, I definitely need some alcohol.

The weekend continued, but that is the end of this little trip down the memory lane. Before that, though, I would like to finish my story by letting you know that yes, I did propose sometime later (as the photo evidence below will show), and Kata and I are still very happy together. 

Epilogue:

Two days after we arrived back home, Kata received a text from her father saying that he feels like Toni did not translate all he said (which, without knowing any Finnish, I would have to agree with) and that he hoped that his answer did not scare me. Kata being the great daughter that she is forgot to reply to the message, until 3 days later her mom texted her also asking her to please reply to her father. 

Even if I struck out with him, poor man, he was worried for much longer than my 5 minutes for an answer. At least I think these days he likes me, or so my own Finnish Fiancée and translator says.

Random Things to Do in Mexico City: Trick Eye Museum

Panic in a Painting

Okay, friends, time for my trimonthly confessional (here it comes): Every since my visit to Virtual Room in Brussels a year and some months ago (you can read all about that experience here), I've been slightly obsessed with virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D, and all that good stuff. I mean, is it just me or is this stuff completely out of this world? Don't you just look at the tech we have today and think, "Yo, we're actually living in Back to the Future II! Marty McFly, where art thou?"

To answer my own question, yes, I think it is, in fact, just me. You know how in the 19th century they showed the first ever film featuring a train, and, allegedly, the audience got so afraid thinking "the little engine that could" would burst off the screen that they ran panic-stricken to the back of the theater? Well, I'm kind of like the modern version of that (although I'm not afraid the train is going to leave the screen - even I'm not that stupid), as my past experiences with AR have had me over-using phrases such as "But all this AR stuff looks so damn real!" or "It's like... I'm inside the video! How can it be?" while my fiancé next to me goes, "I know, honey. I know" (with a condescending tone, which, by the way, he has no business having considering he's an older fart than I am and thus even less exposed to the wonders of AR and VR than Yours Truly).

So, imagine my excitement when I heard about a museum dedicated to AR and other types of optical art right here smack-dab in the middle of Mexico City (CDMX for us "locals" 😛). The place is called Trick Eye Museum, and, after talking about it with Fiancé, last month I finally managed to drag him with me to this wondrous world of eye-trickery!

What is Trick Eye Museum?

Originally a Korean concept, Trick Eye Mexico City is the first Trick Eye Museum in Latin America. The way it works is that you take your smartphone or tablet with you, download the Trick Eye app, interact with the different installations implemented with the museum's very own Augmented Reality Technology - AR:T for short (cute, huh?) -, and take photos and/or short videos, making art where you yourself are the hero.

But since a picture is worth a thousand words (and I suspect a video is worth even more), why don't you just click on the video below to see what I mean?

So, what do you think? Pretty cool, eh? Well, I thought so, anyway.

By the way - for the sake of those of you who've never met me in person - that Pegasus-rider-extraordinaire in the video there is, in fact, Yours Truly. One thing I should warn you about, though, is that the Trick Eye app adds ten to fifteen kilos on the subject being photographed or filmed (hard facts!). They don't tell you that beforehand, though - you only find out after the damage has already been done (i.e. the pictures have already been taken) 😜!

Before you go

Here's a good tip: If you plan to visit Trick Eye Museum during school holidays, I've got one word for you:

Don't.

Or do, but know that the place will be so packed with kids that you're bound to get some serious Chuck E. Cheese flashbacks (unless, of course, you are one of us poor unfortunate souls who never had a Chuck E. Cheese in your country growing up, in which case you'll get Sara's-10th-birthday-party-at-McDonald's flashbacks). Not that I have anything personal against children, of course. It's just that they make me feel pathetic and old, and like they have more of a right to ride the Pegasus than I do.

Also, I happen to think that the museum is completely wasted on kids. I mean, come on now. You think the Pokemon Go generation will be even remotely impressed by some Pegasus flapping its AR wings? I think not. For them, all this new tech is pretty much the status quo, whereas we thirty-somethings (who should totally be the target demographic, by the way) are a much easier bunch to impress (Hello? The movie, the screen, the train?).

Despite this, it did seem to me that the museum was in fact intended for a younger audience. I came to this conclusion the hard way as the props at the place that were supposed support my Academy Award -worthy acting got me twisting my body into positions it was never intended to be twisted into. Let's inspect the picture below, for instance:

There I am as a ballerina. Don't I look serene?

Well, I can assure you that it's all smoke and mirrors (or, should I say, "eye-trickery?") as behind that fake brick wall I was quite the opposite of serene. The pedestal was just too high for me (the story of my life 😜), so I had to twist all 170+ centimeters of myself into a very awkward position while Fiancé took his sweet freaking time snapping the picture.

But I guess you just have to suffer for your art, don't you? And on the bright side, at least I got a pretty decent Facebook profile picture out of it 😉!

While there

Okay, let's get down to business i.e. the actual visit.

We arrived at the museum early in the morning (to avoid the crowds) and bought the tickets, after which it was time to gather downstairs with the other early birds. There we were given a demonstration on how everything worked, instructed on how to download the app (make sure your phone/tablet battery is full) and given a chance to test it.

Here's a quick demonstration:

Jaws without the app:

Jaws with the app:

This gathering downstairs was also when I experienced my mandatory "rage against the machine" phase. Helplessly I watched as one person after another announced that their app was working fine, while my phone was taking forever to download the data.

We did finally manage to make it work, though, but, unfortunately, the technical issues didn't stop there. We took the elevator upstairs to the museum, and when we tried the app again, it got super slow (we even decided to skip a few installations just because we really didn't need any additional white hairs, plus an old-age-beard is not exactly a good look for me). Finally one of the employees told us to hold a hand in front of the phone camera when we were walking from one room to another so that it wouldn't download all of the data at once. After that, things became a little easier.

Anyway, let's talk about the different installations. The museum is divided into five different rooms:

There's Aquarium,...

...Masterpiece,...

...Winter,...

...Halloween,...

 ...and Jungle.

(Okay, here's to hoping that you and your device survived that video overload!)

Each room at Trick Eye Museum has a lot of stuff to film/photograph. Sometimes, though, you have to wait your turn for a while and then end up snapping a hasty, disappointing photo because you don't want to hold up the line. (Again, I can't emphasize enough the importance of choosing an off-peak time to avoid the crowds.)

My fiancé was my camera person, but if you want to go alone, I'm sure you can ask the museum employees to film you, too. You will have to be filmed, though, unless you want really generic and boring videos and pictures, so if you (like me) are camera-shy, well, then get over yourself! More than being filmed, however, you'll have to get comfortable feeling a little silly in front of the camera as you can't see the AR stuff your camera guy/gal sees (so, basically, when I was petting that polar bear, I was petting air). But that's the price you'll have to pay for these memories, and, at the end of the day, it's not only worth it, it's actually pretty fun 😊!

It took me and my fiancé 1.5 hours(ish) to see and experience all the installations, and the time just flew by (At least for me. Not so much for my fiancé, whom I heard muttering the word "Finally!" on the elevator ride back down)!

Closing words

Okay, so, should you visit Trick Eye Museum in CDMX if you get the chance? (BTW: I should mention that I'm not being paid to say anything about Trick Eye Museum, so whether you go or not is no skin off my nose 😊)

Let's recap:

I would recommend Trick Eye Museum to you if

• you are interested in augmented reality
• the word "interactive" doesn't make you gag
• you are not camera-shy (or you are, but you're willing to let it go for one afternoon)
• you don't mind making yourself look silly in front of a camera

If you check all these boxes and decide to go, make sure that

• you have your smartphone/tablet with you
• your smartphone/tablet battery is full
• you choose an off-peak time to go

And there you have it!

I hope you found this post helpful. If you have any questions or comments, please use the comment section below!

Next time we'll be talking about something else altogether, so, until then...

...hasta luego 😊!

Finnish Food - Threat or Possibility?

Moi, everyone 😊!

Last time in the blog I talked about what places to see in Helsinki, Finland, if you're only spending 24 hours in the capital city. This time, as promised, I'll delve into the fascinating world of Finnish food... well, sort of. Rather than actual dishes, I want to talk about the food items that I miss the most from my home country, and - lucky for you - they're all things that you can (and should) try if/when you visit Finland!

So, without further ado, let's get started!

Ruisleipä

O Brother. If there's one thing I miss from Finland besides family and friends, it's ruisleipä!

Ruisleipä translates to [advance announcement: this story will have a happy ending so just bear with me here] "rye bread!"

[cue the sad trombone]

Yes, I do realize that when you hear the words "rye bread," the first thing that springs to mind might not exactly be "Let's party like it's 1999," but ruisleipä is so much more than just bread: it's breakfast, lunch, and dinner all rolled into one, it's that rare combination of healthy and delicious, it's happiness in a bite... And, for us Finns living abroad, it's basically a religion.

Now, while you might have had something called "rye bread" in your country, I can assure you the Finnish ruisleipä is in a league of its own. The easy way you can tell it apart from its less worthy counterparts is by your post-first-bite reaction. If you go, "OMG! My whole life before this has been nothing but a lie! All the rest of the bread in the world is forever ruined for me!", you, my friend, have just sunk your teeth into the Muhammad Ali of all breads - ruisleipä.

If your reaction is anything less than that, either a) you are not eating ruisleipä but one of the wannabes (probably that weird wet bread with seeds), b) there's something seriously wrong with you, or c) you're my fiancé, who's reaction after his first bite of ruisleipä was a rather disappointing "It's nice." 🤦

Recently, though, his "It's nice" has been upgraded to "It's really nice," but I cannot completely rule out the possibility that my constant scowling at him while he's consuming this Finnish national treasure hasn't been partly responsible for that change of opinion.

Jälkiuunileipä - the best type of ruisleipä (no, I'm not being paid to say that)

Now, when you're a Finn living abroad and you're used to having to basically sell your kidney and sacrifice a virgin to get your hands on ruisleipä, it can feel a bit anticlimactic to come to Finland for a vacay and realize that you can just buy this Holy Grail of breads at any supermarket for less than two euros a bag 😲!

The supermarkets usually have a pretty good selection of different types of ruisleipä, and even though you cannot go wrong with any of them, the objectively best choice is the so-called jälkiuunileipä (see picture above), which is a tougher son of a b-word than the other types. That's very practical especially if you live abroad and someone sends you a care package from Finland (bless them!), because the bread doesn't go particularly bad - it just gets even tougher, just like a real Finn 💪!

However, as any superhero, ruisleipä too has it's kryptonite; even though it can find its way to you by air, land, and/or sea, the one thing this tough son of a b-word cannot survive is the feared and revered Mexican postal service. Considering that I get Christmas cards sent to me from Finland to Mexico in March, any ruisleipä that's sent to you to Mexico will have died of old age by the time it reaches you 👴.

Karelian pie (karjalanpiirakka)

Karelian pie is another food item I really miss. It's a traditional pasty from the region of Karelia with a crispy rye crust and a rice filling (oh dear, I'm getting withdrawal symptoms just by describing it to you).

Karelian pies (obviously)

There are two ways you can get your hands on this delicacy: you can make it (I've heard an urban tale that someone in the world has actually successfully managed that) but when I visit Finland, I just buy mine at the supermarket (Go on, person in that glass house - cast the first stone! I dare you.)

Karelian pies go great with munavoi, "eggbutter," which is.. well... egg mixed with butter (hence the unoriginal name), but there are other options to suit different diets as well, which I'm sure are equally delicious.

Finnish candy

Let's begin with a little anecdote. Years ago I was living in Luxembourg, where I was doing an internship. One day I had a conversation with a colleague of mine from a Southern European country (let's call her "Judy" to protect the innocent) that went something like this:

Me: "Hey, Judy! Do you know if the supermarkets are still open? I need to buy some candy."

Judy: "Candy? For yourself?"

Me: "Yes, for myself."

Judy: "Ah. You know, I liked candy once, too. And then I turned 8."


Touché, Judy! Touché!

In one short conversation, Judy not only managed to mock me but also be completely unresponsive! However, what she didn't realize is that the sad lady in this story is not Yours Truly but, in fact, Judy herself (plot twist!).

In Finland, a lot of people eat candy all the way into adulthood and beyond for one simple reason:

Candy in Finland is freaking awesome!!! (←yes, three exclamation points were warranted here)

Every since we're children, we're indoctrinated to the idea of something called lauantaipussi, "Saturday bag," which is basically a bag of candy that we buy every Saturday (as you can see, we're not big on pushing the creative envelope when it comes to naming things). When you get older, you'd think that you'd start eating less candy but actually the opposite happens. The bag that was once called a "Saturday bag" miraculously multiplies into a Sunday bag (because, of course, the last day of the weekend needs to be celebrated with candy), as well as a Monday bag (the week just started, so obviously you need to console yourself with candy), a Tuesday bag (it's a commonly known fact that Tuesday is the hardest day of the week; consolation - i.e. candy - is needed), a Wednesday bag (Wednesday is "the little Saturday" - it's time to celebrate i.e. eat candy), a Thursday bag (repeat of the "week is long and hard" excuse), and a Friday bag (the long work week is over at last - you deserve some candy), until you finally stop pretending, drop any and all references to weekdays and just call it "my candy fix of the day."

Also, it's a (more or less) scientifically proven fact that Finnish chocolate is one of the best chocolates in the world! If you don't believe me, you can read my previous post about how Finnish chocolate fared against the allegedly best chocolate in the world - Belgian chocolate.

Warning!

If you're a non-Finn visiting a Finnish friend, one thing that will happen with 100 percent certainty is that your host will try to feed you a type of candy called salmiakki. Now, to be clear, I for one have nothing against salmiakki - au contraire, I love it! But it does require an acquired taste, and I'm sorry to tell you, my friend, that unless you're a Finn or a Dutch, you will not have acquired it yet.

The sad truth behind why your host is offering you salmiakki in the first place is not out of the goodness of their heart, but to satisfy their own sick pleasure of seeing you gag. Don't fall for it! If you see a Finn is approaching you with black candy, either start evasive maneuvers immediately or embrace your adventurous spirit and go for it - but don't say I didn't warn you!

Salmiakki comes in many forms, including alcohol and ice cream (as in the photo)

Closing words

And there you have it! If you're a Finn living abroad, I'd be interested to know which food items (if any) you miss from home.

Also, if you want to know more about these or other types of Finnish food, I'm more than happy to share my wisdom 😊.

Comic Relief of the Day: This picture was taken in Finland. I thought that I was finally going to go to a Starbucks where they would know how to spell my name.
I thought wrong 😜

So, until next time...

moi moi!