Author’s Note: “Águas de Março” is this blog post’s official soundtrack. Please press play and enjoy!

It may sound wrong to you, but in my mind, the year only starts after my birthday! I grew up in Brazil with the idea that everything starts after Carnival, which usually happen 40 days before Easter. School, new projects, jobs, all serious things are kept (unofficially) on hold from Christmas to March. Coincidentally, March is also when the rainy season starts in Rio de Janeiro, bringing with it the end of the Summer. My birthday falls in the second week of March, so it always made sense to me that the year starts after my personal solar revolution.

But, what if you are an immigrant in a country where Carnival is only a warm and intriguing BBC TV segment? What if your internal clock doesn’t make sense to your Canadian family and coworkers? Well… I am still going through some adaptation, although 2010 was the first year that I completely forgot about Carnival and summer in Brazil . The Olympics and an overwhelming start to 2010 kept me busy enough during this first quarter.

I still like the idea that the year starts after March 11th though. 2010 could have started without a stressful identity theft episode (blog post to come) and a really exhausting trip to Brazil and back (another blog post). I am sorry that I am taking a little bit longer to catch up, but you won’t regret it if you stay tuned. Happy 2010!