Twenty-three

My birthday was awesome. The 20th fell on a Tuesday so as usual I went into my internship at Global Exchange... GX is such a fun office so it's no surprise that they're all about celebrating birthdays. I was treated to lunch at my favorite cafe... Later in the day Ashley surprised me with a coffee birthday cake as the department sang to me. They're so awesome. XX wished me happy birthday and I started blushing profusely... I hardly ever blush, so once I realized I was blushing it became worst. I wonder if he noticed...
Come late afternoon I went out to happy-hour drinks with some friends and then met my family and more friends at Mangarosa, a Brazilian/Italian restaurant in North Beach (the "Little Italy" neighborhood of SF). We toasted with caiparinhas to start the meal and then ordered a feast of Brazilian-infused Italian food including: pao de quijo, crab artichoke dip, steak, sea bass, lamb chops, ravioli, etc. It was so good to be completely surrounded by close family and friends... also the first birthday in years that didn't wake up completely hung over on the 21.
Since then I've finished my internship at GX. I absolutely loved interning there... Luckily I'll be starting a whole new chapter in my life, otherwise it would be much harder leaving that behind. I recently rented a documentary that GX helped create, "Life + Debt." Its focus is on Jamaica and ties together several themes concerning the political economy: the IMF, tourism, loans, life and struggles in a developing country, etc.... These are the issues we all should be well-informed on, especially because so many of the negotiations are made in our name, the USA. The movie is no King Kong, but it's very well done, informative and has an awesome reggae soundtrack. (It's also a little hard to find, but don't give up!)