SEPTEMBER 11 - TURNED 32 SEP. 3rd, TWO YEARS IN CANADA TODAY

884 days ago

So, since August 29, when I wrote last, I celebrated my 32nd birthday (3 times!)

1 Camping in the Québec Charlevoix amazing region, on the bank of St. Laurent river, a group of eight great friends (all nations again: French, Norwegian, Lebanese, Swedish, Canadian and Swiss Anglo-Irish mix or Chinese born in Africa, raised in Portugal).

Walked slowly through Baie St. Paul, cooked on the camp site Saturday. Went hiking on my very B-Day, on Hautes Gorges de la Malbaie - a deep narrow valley surrounded by majestic mountains covered by alpine flora, coloured yellow, red, silver, green, with a blue river running through. The best part was the dinner, cooked in the laundromat, as it was raining and this was the only space we were allowed in by the merciful camp site employees. I found a cake that read "Ti Amo" (my old incurable Italy obsession) and we celebrated with Australian wine in the big empty social room, all in wood. We ended up playing charades and laughing a lot. I was very impressed to have each one of my friends singing Happy Birthday in their own language and even to mumble it in Romanian. One of my best and most unusual birthdays.

Monday was a shitty rainy day and we ended up spending it on the road to Montréal. The highlight was to see a MOOSE crossing a secondary road, a few meters ahead of us!

2 Last Thursday I cooked dinner for my Spanish speaking friends, including a Romanian chicken and peas stew and tiramisù (candles again)

3 Saturday the 9th I had a big party at my place, with a bowl full of guacamole(had to visit 4 places to find ripe avocado and it was pouring!), mozzarella/basil/tomato toothpicks , a huge tiramisù with 32 candles and around 30 people. We danced salsa, samba, disco, we laughed, we drank, we partied. A few of them told me they felt like they were at the United Nations I had a fantastic time. I can't even remember such a successful party for my bday. Great adventurous or romantic moments "only".

So, Anto is happy, with school, job, her celebration, the great gifts (especially amazing friends) she got. I'm super busy, with my job, the master, the gypsy festival, but I feel I'm at the right time in the right place.

What's next? God only knows.