Birthday in Denmark / Three months!!

Halløj!!

It's been a while since I last posted something here, but now I have not only one, but two reasons to do it!!

Recado logo de manhã :)

Yesterday was my three month mark of living in this amazing country!! It's unbeliavable how time flies when you're having fun, and thinking that so many great things happened since I got here and that many others will happen in the next 8 months :D

Also, last friday (November 6th), it was my 17th birthday, and I can't put into words how much it was great to have the chance to enjoy it on the Danish way both on Friday and Saturday, and I'll tell why!

On Friday, I woke up early and went to school, like always (but not quite like in Brazil, where I normally skip school on my birthday), and I missed 1st class to buy some flødeboller, as it is part of the tradition to buy some, take them to school and give them to your classmates! At night, there was a dinner with my current and next host families (also my counsellor, which is also my next host dad), and we ate frikadeller, and it was my choice :)  And of course there were some gifts! My current h.f. gave me two boxes of Lego and two keychains with something Danish, together with a hoodie, a t-shirt and a pair of gloves from my next parents and the Rotary Club, and I'm very glad for those!!

On Saturday, there was a party, offered to me by Lone and Erik (my host parents), and I got to invite some friends, mostly other exchange students!! Not everyone made it but I was very happy for the ones who came! There were also two past exchange students from the Rotary club and Lone's sister, Dorte, with her little son!

On the party we ate (lots of) cake, like the kagemand, which is a cake shaped as a person and decorated with lots of candy, and according to the tradition, the birthday boy/girl cuts the cake's "head" while everyone screams, because the cake is being "killed"! After, we had some chocolate cake with a Brazilian flag made with M&M's on the top, and later some lagkage (layer cake), filled with chocolate and pineapples; it's not necessary to say that we ate a lot that night!! We also had some games and other stuff, and some even stayed over as they came from a little far :)

Some other Danish traditions followed over the course of the two days were, per example, eating little buns called "fødselsdagsboller" with hot cocoa on Friday afternoon and keeping a flag hoisted on the garden while the fest was going! And here (as it may be possible to see on the pictures), the national flag is largely used for celebrations, as it also means that! There are flags for cakes, spreading on the floor, holding, and many other situations!!

It was wonderful to be able to celebrate it here, and I'm really glad to have so many people here making it all feel even more like home :)

Brazil, USA, Denmark, Canada, Chile and Italy all in the same picture

And last but not less, the video of the kagemand ceremony:

Tak for at læse den og hej hej!

*a candy made of marshmallow covered by a fine layer of chocolate