No more below-zero temperatures, the sun is shining, the grass is becoming green, birds are singing and it’s patio and t-shirt weather again. I rode my bike with my ridiculously white legs exposed and saw few people wearing t-shirts and tank tops. We were all smiling, even the dogs are smiling. Time to get a sun tan.

This is Björk lazily tanning on the bed

My chai latte, and Mike’s something and cookie. At Bulldog, the masters of Torontonian Latte Art.

Don’t forget today’s Yuri Gagarin’s 50th first human orbital flight anniversary and watch First Orbit (shot at the ISS, how cool is that?) when you arrive home. A great way to end such a beautiful day!

Along with Daylight Savings, finally we’re having a sunny day – I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen it sunny outside after a couple of weeks of boring snain. It’s even above freezing and I rode my bike today. The bike certainly needs some tuning after such a long time parked inside, and I myself need some tuning too. I put on some weight – my scale tells me I need to lose 3kg (that’s 6.6 pounds for you imperialists!) – after all those mochas and I’m really not surprised. A few weeks of cycling and not having mocha must solve all my problems.

This summer I really want to do an outdoor barbecue and a picnic in Toronto Island. Not in Hanlan’s Point please. Maybe a trip to P.E.I. or Nova Scotia to eat all their seafood? YUM.

According to the Groundhog, winter was supposed to be shorter this year, and I almost believed it because last Friday was 10 C and sunny outside, I even went for a bike ride, despite the heavy winds. Silly me, today I woke up to minus something and snow showers again.

I have some nice pictures of the so called Snowpocalypse, and the days after. And me properly dressed for cold days, for your pleasure, the day we moved to our new home under HEAVY HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS.

We moved during a snowstorm. But the boxes arrived safe!

It’s cold, but it’s beautiful.

You know you’re REALLY in Canada when the forecast is -17 C (I love the “feels like” minus 21) and there’s a crazy headline about a cop who was killed by a snowplow (story of the week!). THIS is the real thing! I moved to my new place under heavy snow showers and Fabio lost his snow shoveling virginity. WELCOME TO THE NORTH!

(Note: the title is a quote from the amazing movie “Les poupées russes“, the sequel to “L’Auberge Espagnole“. You should watch them. Really. )

When I arrived here, six months ago, I thought my accent was really bad and people would recognize me as a brazilian instantly. Silly me. Toronto is full of immigrants from everywhere in the world and people have no idea where I come from. And it seems my accent is not as bad as the tiger from Creature Comforts, or at least I look, I don’t know, more european, because people try to guess I’m from the craziest countries, but never, ever, from Brazil.

At first I was unemployed and bored, so I decided to take some English classes. The teacher, a polish lady, asked me a few questions, asked my name, and came to the obvious conclusion I was also from Poland, and thought I was kidding when I said I came from the warm south american paradise. Another eastern-european moment happened at Starbucks, when the barista for some reason decided I was a fellow russian and even tried to speak russian to me.

I have also been mistaken for italian (well, at least I’m half-italian) in Little Italy, and, the most common one, I’d say it happens almost all the times, for some weird mystic reason, people here believe I’M FRENCH. MAIS OUI. Mon Français est horrible and even thought people just say “but you’re French, right?” at least two times per week. I’m going to change my name to Renée De La Roche, buy a black hat and a red scarf, a baguette and make a sad face, and claim my Frenchness. Parce que j’aime omelette du fromage!