HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, CANADA!!!

These days Quebec City celebrates its 400th anniversary. Impressing age that deserves a grand celebration; even I, a declared opponent of Quebec's policies and lifestyle, I went, together with my husband, to the beautiful city (why not admit it?), hoping this would be my last trip there for a loooong time. Newspapers were fighting for the most beautiful pictures and touching articles, people were eating poutine (a specific dish consisting of french fries topped with cheese and some kind of sauce) and getting drunk, politicians were giving speeches praising Quebec's heritage... all in all, the atmosphere was pretty festive.

And then came July 1, Canada's day. This year Canada turned 141. You would think that this is an even greater reason to celbrate; after all, this IS your COUNTRY'S anniversary. Well, not quite. July 1 is declared moving day in Quebec. The only province that has a moving day decided to pick Canada's day for people to move. Why should they be happy and remember that they too are a part of Canada? No, let them carry heavy pieces of furniture and get stressed over moving prices! On top of that, if you picked up next day's paper you would discover huge front page articles about the whole process of moving your precious belongings from one dwelling to the other. Not even a single word about Canada Day. Not on the first page, not on the second... and not on the last. And yet, the Prime Minister went today to Quebec City to honour its existence.










Have I ever told you that you suck? Stop remembering and start having an honourable life!

2 Things













1. La muţi, mulţi, mulţi, mulţi ani, Mi! Nici n-are sens să-ţi repet că-ţi trimit cele mai bune gânduri. E distanţa, e diferenţa de fus orar, e perioadele care ţine mult şi bine, e unele, e altele, dar tu rămâi in sufletul meu ca un prieten "cu distincţie" :-).

2. Speaking of "distinction", I'm happy to be able to write that in a few hours I will have officially graduated with distinction from Concordia University, Montreal. I've waited for this moment for 9 years, since I was accepted at Ovidius University, Constanta, and I'm now finally able to live it. For one day I refuse to think of what the future holds, of the lack of certainty a diploma carries within itself, of the long and difficult road I have ahead. I need to enjoy this moment, and I'm so ready to do it. I can't even sleep because of how anxious and happy I am... and because I don't want for my hairdo to get ruined, as well :-P.
Am reuşit, mămăiţă!

My June 16 Odyssey



Here I am, at the language lab again, on my first Saturday shift. This is the downtown lab, as I requested, since last year I got completely bored with the lack of activity from the other campus. Anyway, while I was waiting for people to show up (this surely is one busy place, and it's only the beginning), I checked all the graduation info I could find. Including the date... But first:

June 16, 2000 - I left for the United States

June 16, 2002 - I arrived to Canada (no, I hadn't planned it to match the date)

June 16, 2006 - this year I found out that June 16 is the birthday of someone who was bound to become a very good friend

- I was accepted by a Spanish University for the Student Exchange Program

June 16, 2007 - I went to London - I had only certain days available for this trip and June 16 was the only one when the Ryanair ticket cost 0.01 cents

Going back to my Graduation, it looks like it will take place on... of course, June 16, 2008!!!

I always use number 16 when I play the lottery; I haven't used 6 that much, it's true. Too bad this year June 16 is a Monday, so there's no game to try out. I guess I'll go to the Casino after the ceremony :-)).

¡Feliz cumpleaños, Gianluca!

Eh, tenía que hacer un "video" para ti también, no quería que te enojaras :-). Otra vez, he cambiado la hora, porque en Italia ya es tu cumpleaños y no quise esperar demasiado. ¡Que coincidencia, son exactamente las 12:00 en Italia :-D! Lo divertido es que no yo escogí la foto que se ve cuando no estés mirando la "peliculita". ¿Que raro, no :-D?
No necesito decir nada más, ya lo sabes todo, como siempre :-).

¡Atención! Para visionar este "video" se necesita tener mucha indulgencia, leer muy rapidamente y usar un poco de imaginación, que ya sé que tienes :P.

Si no funciona muy bien aquí, lo puedes ver en este sitio:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-198505465057803408&hl=en-CA

Buon compleanno, Alessia!

Perché voglio che tu lega cuesto messaggio domani (o dicciamo oggi anche se non e ancora il tuo compleanno in Canada), ho cambiato l'ora del mio blog, perche non mi piacerebbe che i miei auguri sianno apparsi con la data del 23 agosto. Vedi la fatica che faccio per te? :-P
Mi dispiace essermi dimenticato scrivere alla fine del video "¡Feliz cumpleaños!", ma spero che abbia capito che quest'era l'essenza :-).
Ti voglio molto bene (possiamo dirlo con il "molto"?) e spero vederci molto pronto :-).

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-3367938352413757243&hl=en-CA

Buon compleanno, Cristina!

Anche se mi piacerebbe potere scriverti un messaggio in italiano (non detesto l'italiano, lo sai? :) ), non sono ancora capace di farlo, perciò ho fatto la cosa che so fare un po' meglio: ho guardato delle foto e t'ho fatto un piccolo video :). Spero que ti piaccia un po'.
Ti voglio benne, benne, benne! Oppure TVB :)!

P.S.Ho scritto tutto (c)questo da sola, con un po' d'aiuto del dizionario. Si vede che sonno molto orgogliosa, verro? Forse non dovrei... :P

P.S. 2 Si resulta difícil verlo aquí, usa este sitio, debería ser más fácil:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6945248121025338376&hl=en-CA

La multi ani, Nicole!

La multi ani, Arhi :) !

Sfantul Arhanghel Gavriil

La multi ani, tata, pentru ziua ta de nume. Seems silly, doesn't it? I don't know, I just need to do this for myself.

Astazi si mereu



La multi ani, mamica mea scumpa! Sunt cu gandul si sufletul langa tine si mamaita :) .

June 16... so many things...

First of all, "happy birthday!" to a good friend... I really hope he'll enjoy himself and feel much better.
Second of all... I received an e-mail from Spain, in which they were letting me know that I got accepted into the study exchange program :). I just need to send a few more forms and make sure they know I'm going there for only one semester... they kept on talking about September... I would be arriving in January, which was stated on my application. Eh... I always find reasons to worry, but I'm not going to do it this time. I'm way too happy about the news, I've been dreaming about going to Spain for about 15 years, give or take. It's incredible! I can already picture myself there, although it all seems surreal, at the same time... the only sad part is that micul meu won't be there with me... and I might not take that as well as I'm hoping. Besides, I'll be there, doing what I've always wanted to do, while he'll be here, working and thinking about me :(. I hope he knows how much I appreciate his encouragement and his lack of selfishness... if anything, I could be acused of being selfish. Uff... this is not a caprice... it's something very important for our future... yes, OUR future... maybe we'll eventually move to Spain :))). We shall see... let's stick to the facts, for now. To sum up... this is great news!
In the third place... it's been six years today since I left Romania. Memories.. lots of memories... I always look back, but on the 16th of June I have a stronger tendency to do that. I remember so many things... the way I said "good bye" to Constanta, to my friends, to Irina, my best friend, to my mom and grandma... to Romania. I was extremely happy that day... hey, I was leaving for the States! I was dreaming... Even though most of my dreams haven't (yet, maybe) come true, I can't say that I have many regrets. I would do the same, all over again, at least only for the fact that these steps lead me to micul meu. He wasn't part of my dream, but he made my reality a much sweeter one :). I didn't know I needed him, I wasn't even looking... I didn't think he existed... but micul meu was there... and now is here :). Ehh... I'm now listening to Vama veche... when I left, my friens gave me a tape with their songs... and they wrote very nice things inside the covers. Those were such nice times...! Unfortunately, I've lost contact with everyone, except for Raluca... I miss them... and I miss Irina a lot, too. Uff... now I'm going to start crying... I guess these are happy-sad tears... they comfort me :).
I've also talked to my mom... she was sooo happy about my good news! I reminded her about the "anniversary"... and she became sad... but didn't want to show me :). I know how much she misses me... that's one of the most important reasons for which I would like us to move to Spain. She said that she shouldn't have let me go... I know what she means... she always says that, and it has nothing to do with her not wanting me to have a nice life.
Ufff... I'm still happy about Spain, but now I'm swimming in my memories :)...