Feels Like Home

Only a day after coming back to Finland, I had to get my act together for moving all my stuff to the new apartment. Physically exhausting but emotionally not too much, in fact, I really felt like coming home after a long time. This area and this apartment seem to have some special quality that always reminds me of home. Is it because it really was my first own place "back then" or because the area really is amazing, I don't know. But in any case, I'm just exhilarated to be back! The apartment even smells like it used to! There is one added bonus though - the bathroom has been renovated since I moved out and is now a million times better than before. Just loving it.

Moving and putting stuff to place second time in the last 5 months has also left me quite confident in my skills as a handyman. I may not be exactly housewife material (cooking, cleaning, sewing etc.) but I do take some pride in putting together some furniture and lifting heavy boxes... All about finding a man who'd fill in the female role then :P

Best of the Best

The past six weeks have felt like forever, and at the same time, flown past in an instant. It's been amazing, and since everyone's going to ask anyway, I'll jot down a couple of highlights, the very best of all the good things.

- speaking English
- cheap coffee
- bagels
- martinis
- sangria
- living the Toronto life for a little while and meeting new people
- catching up on 5 months worth of Life (yes, with capital L) with M

That being said, I'm ready to go home, at least for a little while... ;)

Cultural politics

As our road trip continued to Québec City, the sensation of being in Europe got even stronger. This pretty little town could almost anywhere in Central Europe. Reminds me of old Tallinn, for instance. As for the language barrier, we've still managed with English, especially when we've been careful to demonstrate that we're not English by mother tongue. It's kind of a weird thing, how the French-speakers sometimes look nastily at those who speak English with each other. Like you could help it, if it happens to be your first language!? I do think, though, that we have a bit of the same thing going on in Finland in terms of Swedish and Finnish. And I think it goes both ways, too.

Another thing I've noticed here is that the Quebecois are keen on presenting their "Native" heritage. I don't think I've seen this many "Native art" shops anywhere else in North America. Most of the shops or "galleries" advertise being distinctly Quebecois but seem to offer just as much West Coast "artefacts"...

What continent was this, exactly?

Some 200 km further to the east, and it almost feels like being shipped back to the old continent. Montreal is very European, and very French to be exact, especially in comparison with the multiethnic (though culturally quite North American) Toronto. Thanks (?) to the scores of tourists, one can still get by with English. We've had some nasty looks, though, for not being able to speak French. We'll see how it is in the countryside.

Overall, I'm finding this Canadian mixture of North America and Europe slightly confusing. Time is usually expressed in the 12-hour format (except in French signs, where they use the 24-hour format); distances are in kilometres but heights in feet; weight sometimes in kilos and sometimes in pounds. And so on. Crazy people :P

Roadtrip begins!

(Too) early this morning we got up to begin our tour of eastern Canada. First, though, we had to empty M's room because we won't be returning to the same house in Toronto. Although it wasn't too much fun carrying heaps of luggage down to the street from the third floor, it was by far the easiest move I've seen ;)

The 5-hour bus trip to Ottawa was reasonably comfy. I've heard interesting stories about Greyhound (busdrivers who realize halfway through the journey that they're going in the wrong direction; luggage disappearing during the trip etc.) but at least this one was all good. More space for legs than in your average airplane and no creepy people aboard.

Along the way we passed some cute farmhouses and beautiful villas. Also the greenness of the early June landscape was a welcome change after Toronto. We also crossed a Mississippi River! First I thought I was hallucinating, but turns out it's a tributary of the Ottawa River... ;)

Our hostel in Ottawa is a former jailhouse, and it's quite a sight in itself. Our room is converted from two tiny cells, and now houses beds for 6 people - and nothing else really. The location is very central though, and we already did a bit of sightseeing around the Parliament Hill. All's looking well :)

Getting ready to hit the road...

Tomorrow we'll leave Toronto for a while to explore the rest of eastern Canada. First stops Ottawa and Montreal by Greyhound, further plans to be made... :) In anticipation of the grand tour, we rented a cool PT Cruiser (sweet cream color, too!) last week and drove to the Niagara Falls. We were lucky to get a beautiful weather, blue skies and a good 20 degrees.

The Niagara area as such was even tackier than I'd expected, I must say. Huge hotels overlooking the falls, a casino, and an entire little city built to attract tourists. It was rather surreal, really. The falls as such were beautiful, of course, and I'm happy I finally got to see them. Also enjoyed going down behind the falls. Still kind of thinking about driving to the US side of the border too...

The best thing about the trip was probably just driving around the countryside, seeing all the amazing houses around Niagara-on-the-Lake (will return when I'm 70...), and dropping by a few vineyeards. We had a local "tour guide," which definitely made the trip more fun.

Otherwise, we've just been enjoying our freedom - sleeping late, going for coffee, coming to M's place to do our nails and things like that. This week I've also met several of her friends (and new ones, too) for a little dinner party (the BBQ without a grill...) and Saturday-night sangria.

To sum up the first two weeks in Toronto, it's been great! It's been good to be able to just go about without any stress and hurry, which is so typical of your average city holidays. The next two weeks are sure to be more hectic!

On the other hand, this all feels unreal somehow. It doesn't quite seem that I have a "normal" life at all. Maybe it's because I don't have a job waiting for me back home, and because I won't be returning to the apartment I left. In any case, it feels a bit weird every now and then. Not necessarily in a bad way, even. Just like "is this really happening to me." Continuation of my thoughts throughout the spring, really.