Turning 30 in Timor Leste

I was born on my father’s 33 birthday.

Sharing birthdays with my dad have been some of my best memories. Double the cakes, double the fun, double the love, what’s not to like?! After my parents divorced it wasn’t always easy to be together on our day since we didn’t always live in the same country. I remember when the night before my 13^th birthday I woke up in the middle of the night and I saw my dad at my bedroom door, I was in the US at the time and he was supposed to be in Portugal, he came to surprise me. And when he was in Macau and I was in New York, we had 12 hours difference between us but he would always wait until it was both our birthdays to call – I could never wait to call him! I miss sharing my special day with him. Ever since he died, 7 years, 2 months and 2 days ago, enjoying my birthday has become hard, knowing that he isn’t here to celebrate with me, knowing that he will never again celebrate with me…

 The first time I really celebrated again was when I turned 26, on the 26. But the hardest, I would have to say, was turning 30 and knowing that he isn’t around to see me reach this milestone. He would have been 63.

But I still turned 30, in Dili ( I got the authorization to travel at the last minute!) And I still managed to have a wonderful birthday, thanks to the new friends I have made here in Timor! It’s always hard to spend your birthday away from your loved ones and good friends – for me anyways – but it was very well spent nonetheless! Dinner on Saturday with friends, old and new, finished with opening ‘champagne’ (it was Australian, unfortunately!!) on the beach at midnight – yes, we did check for crocodiles beforehand! Followed by a lot of dancing and quite a bit of drinking, as it should be! Did I mention I had spent the entire afternoon at the beach?? Well, the next day, my actual birthday started with lunch (I slept in, finally!) eating Cozido à Portuguesa (very traditional and delicious Portuguese dish) and then back to the glorious beach where I stayed for as long as I could, enjoying some great snorkelling – even saw a huge purple starfish! – finished off by dinner at a friends’ house. I even got presents! Although, and not to lessen my appreciation for the presents my friends gave me, I think one of the biggest presents was having a HOT shower on my birthday (ah, how it's easy to please when you don't have a lot!) 


Honestly, I couldn’t have asked for more considering where I am! My new friends here have truly made it a memorable weekend, Thank You! Now I just have to plan another party in Maliana to celebrate with the team here, shouldn’t be too difficult ;)