La multi ani!

Today is Romania's birthday. I remember last year when I watched the fireworks from Piata Unirii. I completely forgot the significance of December 1 until my mom picked me up from work.

"Look at this!" she cried.

I squinted in the streetlight. A Romanian party tonight? Where!? When!?

It was already 5:00 pm and the festivities started at 5:30.

We rushed home and I found sufficiently dressy casual clothes. I printed off a few copies of my CV and I was out the door.

I went to the conference room in the city hall building. Upstairs were about 30 people, drinking wine and laughing. I heard mostly French with some English snippets thrown in.

I didn't know anyone. I was the youngest person there and one of the few females wearing pants. All the men were wearing suits and ties, while the women wore dresses.

I milled around for a bit, hoping someone would take pity on the poor, alone, young girl. Soon, my luck paid off and I was introduced to the son of our city's Romanian ambassadore. I can't remember his name, but he had also done an internship in Romania. We spent a few pleasant minutes discussing the merits of Timisoara over Brasov and then we the presentation started.

Some of it was in English, French and Romanian, but the majority was in French. They played the Romanian national anthem, and then the Canadian one. I had a few tears in my ears when the ambassador raised a glass to a healthy and happy Romania and wished "la multi ani". Or maybe it was because I understood everything he said. I was one of the only ones who sang along to the birthday song.

I'm proud that I still remember the lyrics!

Afterwards was the meet and greet. I met our minister of culture and international affairs. We discussed possible intercultural projects we could create for Romania and Canada, which got my mind working a mile a minute. I gave his assistant a few CVs and she said she would take a look at them and hand them out.

I also got to speak with the ambassador. I tried to reach him numerous times last year without luck. I left voice mails and emails with no luck. Come to find out tonight, he was in Timisoara during that time. He also knew about me and tried to contact me when he returned, but I had already left for Romania. In fact, a lot of the people there had been to Timisoara, whether for work or visiting friends.

Later on, I got to speak to a wonderful gentleman from Bucharest. I can't remember his name, but I told him I wanted to practice my Romanian, so he patiently listened to me stumble through an account of my time abroad and my reminiscing about the various foods I missed.

- zacusca cu ciuperci
- pepene
- rosii din Timisoara sau Arad
- mici cu mustar
- cascaval (but not really)

I told a man I had just met about Cristi and Nelu and Fabi and Calin and everyone at the Institute and the crazy cat ladies at my apartment and everyone I missed and how I missed Romanians so much. I babbled on, happy to be given the chance to practice my Romanian, but also a chance to pour my heart out.

It was a bittersweet evening. It was great to remember everything I loved about Romania, but also everything I missed. And I miss a lot.