January News:
Toronto News:
Wild Winter, Niagara and downtown Toronto:
Adam and I arrived to find ourselves in a weather obsessed country full of people who continued to tell us that these minus 40 freezing days were not usual. “Polar vortexes”, “Ice quakes” “ice storms”…. We have had the lot and more than once. No consolation that this is not normal. Second day of school and buses were cancelled, so I was told to stay at home instead of going to the nearest school, cos who knew where that was anyway. When everything is covered in ice or snow and we haven’t found the GPS, getting lost is the norm. And pretty dangerous in this frozen climate apparently. We thought it was fun when we went to check out the Lake Simcoe ice fishing and found a frozen beach instead. You could tell the Aussies – running around outside when anyone with sense was indoors. We learnt our lesson pretty quickly. We also did the water vapour trick. Adam went out on the balcony to check what happened if you threw hot water out - yep, it turned to vapour before it had a chance to drown the people below. Lucky. It was actually amazing to watch - it really does happen.
Our second weekend and we headed to Niagara Falls to see them frozen. We had the GPS now, although were not able to program it as it took as way too long to get there. We also decided to travel the whole Niagara Parkway from the beginning… if you come this way, this is really worthwhile doing in winter. Driving the shores of a frozen Lake Ontario is really pretty whilst isolated. By the time we arrived, the falls had started melting. Duh. It was still great to see the river totally iced over and half the falls falling whilst the rest was still frozen in time. The town around the Falls is so kitch… it’s called Clifton Hill and is a cross between a mini Las Vegas [think BrisVegas] and a theme world. We look forward to coming and seeing the Falls every season as it only took just over an hour to come home. If only we could remember the route taken!
Of course, we had to stop at the ice wine festival which we eventually found at Jordan Village. Ice wine is made from frozen grapes – a very niche market with a very specialised production process, hence VERY expensive wine. And it tastes horrid – so sickly sweet. People tell us you need to drink it like shots or pour it over ice-cream or have it with Baileys… now you’re talking.
We’ve also been downtown. Had to get there for our Orientation conference. No GPS helped as we got lost. Surprise. Getting lost in downtown Toronto is not a good idea. Peak hour, narrow roads, no turning left, transit system and snow ploughs, and we had to make several u-turns to get to the hotel we decided to book despite only being about 30 minutes away from where we live. It took an hour and a half to arrive!! Adam did make the most of not having to drive home in very messy conditions – I’m talking about the roads. The orientation was good – told us how to cope with the ‘unusual cold they haven’t had for years’!
School – kids are the same the world over. I am getting my head around the Canadian Ontario curriculum. Lots of good stuff and lots more to read. I teach EVERYTHING… Arts, Phys. Ed, Science, Social Studies, Religion, Health, Family Life, as well as Maths and Language Arts. The only thing I don’t teach is French, which is 40 minutes daily. After 10 years in educational admin, being back in the classroom has been interesting. Has anything changed?? I do yard duty 4 times a week for 20 minutes… that’s fun walking around on the snow in very, very, very, very cold weather. 10 minutes to get the coat, scarf, muffs, gloves, boots on, 10 minutes to get them off… there goes lunch break.
Shopping – Adam and I have found we speak a different language here… clothes pegs [pins], textas [markers], baking paper [parchment], poster paper [Bristol], just to name a few. Prices are similar, although several things as dear as home. Adam is frustrated as there’s no real bread! We can’t find chicken schnitzel, garlic bread, although we DID find Tim Tams. And friends posted us vegemite to tide us over until the family post our parcel J. We make sure we get out of our very tiny apartment every weekend to a Mall or drive to learn about our town of Richmond Hill. I have more thermals, a great coat, some ‘ugg’ lookalike ghastly boots, and awful shell things to put on over the thermals and trousers so I can go outside!
Living: We live on the 8th floor of a condo apartment building called “Royal Gardens”. I am sure we are just about the only non-Asians, with a predominantly Chinese population all around us. This makes for great eating out. I am about to get my hair done on Sunday by “Fusion” hair salon. I went in and asked if they could cut curly hair and what products they used. Should be an interesting experience. Google Earth our area…. Our postcode is L4B 0C4. The 6 lane highway out the front is a new living experience for us compared to the serene village life of Healesville.
Until the next instalment,
Cheers
Mary and Adam
"Keep smiling.... the world needs more happy people!".
