One year ago to the day, almost to the hour as I write this, I was waking up in Portugal for the very last time. So today we are celebrating one year since we left Portugal!

But the real celebration is living here, we absolutely love it. Nevertheless the first three months were quite tough. No furniture, no friends, no house. But we had our dreams to follow and we fought so fiercely for them. Then, slowly, we got our lives back. We love our jobs, we live in a cosy apartment and most of all, have some few but amazing good friends.
Here is a summary of some striking moments:

• Miguel got his job as Head of SPSS and Predictive Solutions at Cubewise
• I got my accreditation as a Teacher and I do love my job!
• We moved to our apartment at Willoughby in June and we love the neigbourhood.
• We went to Bondi Beach, Manly Beach, Dee Why Beach, and so many other beautiful beaches.
• We did some awesome kayak excursions exploring the Sydney’s Lakes.
• We did amazing bike rides in natural parks and around the city CBD.
• We played awesome music and I am back to oil painting
• We did countless barbies with our friends Paolo Malafaia, Nathalia Araújo, Dmitry Fomichev and Anna Fomichev. :D Love you so much guys!
• We had some lovely dinners and crazy talks with our belgian friends Sophie and Stéphane.
• We had an amazing bush walk experience with Raquel Grammat and Ross Vman to the Blue Mountains.
• We went to Blacksmiths Beach for some awesome 4 wheel drive and fishing at Port Macquarie Lake with Josh Geller and Winnie Ng! Thank you guys!
• We went to Byron Bay with the Cubewise team and we loved each single moment of relaxed and cheerful mateship.
• We celebrated Christmas with a traditional Christmas aussie barbie with our wonderful friends Paolo Malafaia and Nathalia Araújo. We had such a sweet happy Christmas thanks to you guys :*
• We went to the Janola Caves. It was so amazing!
• We had some amazing portuguese friends visiting us. Nuno Gonçalves (Gift), Vasco, Paulo Almeida, Nela Almeida e Paula Rosa. It meant the world to us. Truly!
• We saw wallies, dolphins, koalas, wombats, butterflies, possums, beautiful birds, cockatoos, some scary spiders and snakes and lots and lots of cockroachs.
• We meet Valerie Guthknecht who is such a sweetheart and good friend and that takes care of my hair while we share delicious tea and treats. Thanks hun, you are adorable! 
• We celebrated Birthdays with our good friends Suzete Toledo Luís, Marco Pereira, Raquel Grammat, Ross Vman, Christina Knorr and Johann. It meant so much to us!
• We had to come to the other side of the world to meet some amazing friends like Paulo Oliveira. Cheers mate!

Looking back, we came a long way through this frantic first year. I heard somewhere that everyone encounters a big change every decade or so of their lives. Whatever it is, I'm glad I do not walk this path alone. With you around, I have courage.

Happy anniversary my dear! May we have many good ones in the years to come.
Life is good mate! :D

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Mei and Arawn