I'm now almost 7 weeks into my year in Toronto. It's scary how fast time goes. While I've certainly struggled to find a job, I'm starting to enjoy not having one now. Our days are filled with meandering activities, long walks here and there to do one or 2 tasks a day. A whole day can be filled with a trip to the supermarket or a faraway shop with stops here and there for delicious home made meals. We've been taking it in turns to cook and my mothers worries that I wasn't eating properly are certainly unfounded. We've had shepherds pie, chicken casserole, chicken curry (all thanks to Sarah), fish, roasted potatoes and carrots thanks to Nigel and tonight we had Thai red curry made by my fine self followed by a somewhat disastrous fruit ice cream dessert combo. Lunch varies between scrambled eggs or gourmet sausage hot dogs, eating has really become the day's highlight while breakfast is coffee, juice and cereal from the hugely varied cereal shelf. We are living the high life!
Apart from eating though, Toronto has so much to offer that it's easy to fill your days. Today we went swimming in an outdoor public pool in High Park, a huge park about 20 minutes on the subway from our house. While we paid 25c for a locker, everything else was free, the pool was really clean and we could have stayed for hours. We've also been frequenting the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) which is free for 1 hour on Wednesday afternoons. This usually involves us running around the musuem for the hour trying to absorb everything, and not really seeing anything but it was nice to see some textiles from areas we visited recently in Bolivia, and the creepy dinosaurs are always a highlight.
Nigel and I have both bought bikes now and cycling is so easy here, despite the fact its on the other side of the road and I'm constantly terrified due to my poor cycling skills. It's so nice to cycle in the warmth though and not worry about your pants getting caught in the spokes or puddles splashing you.
I never thought I'd say it but I'm really enjoying this unemployment lark! Tomorrow is Skyping and cupcake baking day. Thursday is bed frame staining 2nd layer day. Who knows what excitement Friday will hold?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, June 20, 2010
A week and a half in...
So I finally made it to Toronto and I've been here for just over a week now. It's so strange to be back here where I spent an amazing summer 5 years ago and to see all the changes, both good and bad. I can honestly say though that being back feels incredible. The air smells the same, the subway and streetcar smell the exact same. Every so often I stumble upon a certain shop or area that I have vague memories of and its quite a nice feeling. When we were leaving La Paz, I did start to feel really uneasy about coming here and whether I had made the right choice. Our flight flew to Miami where we had a four hour stopover and my fear only worsened here. Coming from Bolivia which is such a rural country with little in the way of food outlets or shops in it's bus stations and airports, Miami was quite the shock. Starbucks sat beside Pizza Express and all around us were over sized people drinking over sized drinks and eating over sized portions of food. I really began to fear that Toronto would be just like this and that I had romanticised it too much in my head. It was quite the culture shock being in a such a buzzing airport after the simplicity of Bolivia which I suddenly began to miss. However, when we flew into Toronto, my fears began to abate and when we got to the hostel, the same one I'd stayed in five years ago, I felt like I had made the right choice. Just the smell of the air brought so many memories back. Typically, two guys from my class in school were standing at reception but it worked out well and it was nice to have some familiar faces around for the first few days. We've already found a place to live although we can't move in until July 1st which means life in a hostel until then, something that gets annoying very quickly! The job hunt is well under way, although is as yet unsuccessful. I can't wait to get one as doing nothing all day is starting to drive me nuts! However, I am very happy to be back here and already dreading having to leave next June!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
T-(oronto) minus 11 days
Since my last post, obviously a lot has happened. I finished work, I moved home. The volcano erupted. I almost cried. But I did finally make it to South America. I'm not gonna go into detail as there's just too much to talk about but I'm almost at the end of my trip now and I must admit that I'm getting very excited about Toronto. We've been in South America just over 5 weeks now and it's been fantastic but I'm so ready now for the next leg of the journey, Toronto! Only 11 more days and I'll be there. Now to start hunting for an apartment and jobs! Wish me luck!
Thursday, February 25, 2010
I am going crazy
As per the title of this post, I have begun to go crazy! I leave the country in 7 and a half weeks and I'm sure I'll look back and think 'wow, those last 7 weeks really flew' but right now, it feels like time is going backwards. It seems like I have been about to leave the country for ages now, although that is technically true. I've been saving non stop for the last year and a bit to be able to go travelling and now that the time has finally come, the last few weeks are really going slowly. I've been counting down my time left in work for about 6 months now, and I'm down to 24 days but it really feels like the end is never going to come. I'm trying to sort out all the stuff I wanna do, read all the books and magazines that are building up in my room, and watch all the programmes on my hard drive but even this is driving me to despair and it all seems like more of a chore than something I look forward to doing. I really want to start packing up all my stuff but its too early to even do that. So instead I continue to sit on the couch in my pyjamas reading my Google reader items, and drinking endless hot beverages and basically sitting here doing nothing. And now its time for some chai tea.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
tick tock
In roughly two months, I plan to look like these people, floating in a mud volcano outside Cartagena, Colombia.
Time cannot go fast enough.
Time cannot go fast enough.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
I will rise now
I feel quite creative at the moment, I really wanna do something musically or take some more photos or something, maybe its the improving weather, or more likely walking to work on a Sunday morning when everyone else is still in bed. The morning really is the best part of the day, this morning was particularly nice, my road was so quiet and empty and I really tend to notice certain details I've never seen before on mornings like this, everything seems so much better. Or maybe I was still a bit drunk from last night! But either way, early mornings really inspire me to be creative. My failing mp3 player has also meant that I've spent the last few days just listening to single albums as my forward button is tempermental and won't work most of the time. As a result, Two Suns has been on the go quite a bit, an album that I've absolutely loved since I first heard it and that I find insanely inspiring. Anyone who knows me knows my love for Natasha Khan is neverending so my plan is to try and watch the Two Suns documentary tonight and be inspired by it. I've also been reading Play, a book I got in Urban Outfitters a few months ago which lists the important musicians of our time and their influences and style. There are so many amazing bands and singers who started making music from the age of 14, something I find so inspiring and which simultaneously makes me so envious of their talent and drive. But back to work now, lets hope this creative spark goes somewhere good. Now where's my melodica?
Monday, January 18, 2010
Damn you public transport!
Now that I have finally started my travel plans and actually bought my Canadian visa, I'm really looking forward to going away. And one thing I will certainly not miss is my work commute courtesy of Dublin Bus and the Luas red line. I've tolerated the Luas red line since I started my current job in October 2007 but I have finally had enough and am counting down the days to when I no longer have to use it. The tipping point came this weekend with my eventful journeys on both the Luas and Dublin Bus. Enjoy!
Case study 1: It's Friday night. Two guys get on the Luas, one smoking a cigarette and one drinking from a pint glass. I try to avoid looking at them. They get off soon after, phew! Mostly uneventful journey.
Case study 2: It's Saturday night, I have just finished a long day at work and have survived the Luas trip home, despite some boys fighting and me fearing as usual for my life. I get a bus on O'Connell Street and as we go up Parnell Square, a car appears on the inside lane, apparently trying to make it up the hill as well. Naturally, the bus driver slows down and starts honking his horn incessantly, joined by the car driver who tries to get past the bus. This then turns into a shouting match between the bus driver and the car driver, the car driver apparently shouting racial slurs at the bus driver (although the car driver may not be Irish himself, hard to tell!). There may be some mention of someone getting stabbed but luckily the bus driver eventually moves on. We go a bit further and he honks his horn at a jeep trying to pull out. Someone is not in a good mood. So we reach the top of Dorset Street and the drama appears to be over. No, no. It is not. As we drive up Dorset Street, a car pulls in front to turn off the street but is going very slowly. And who is it but our old racist friend from Parnell Square. He eventually turns off Dorset Street, slows down, lowers his window and out comes his arm wielding a hammer. Now at this stage, I begin to really worry. The bus driver decides that this is now the time to turn off the engine and begin shouting at our friend with the hammer, taunting him to come over so they can engage in some sort of hammer fist fight. The girls behind me are pretty scared while the guy in front of me laughs. I can feel my heart pounding, really not wanting to see anyone get hammered (and not in the good sense!). Luckily, the car drives off and the bus driver restarts his engine and drives on. Thankfully, my stop is only a bit further. Note to self, never get on this bus again. I'm seriously considering lodging a complaint with Dublin Bus. Still shaky when I get home. Lovely.
Case study 3: It's Sunday morning. It's 7.40am. I have already passed two Gardai patting a guy down on the main road near my house on my walk to town that morning. 7.20am and people are getting searched. Lovely. Now I am on the Luas. I am still half asleep but decide to try and read some of 'A Heart of Darkness'. Fate has something else in mind. At Jervis, three guys who are sleazy as hell get on and have to sit next to me. They then proceed to talk really loudly in between singing along to the music playing loudly from their phone and popping bubblegum bubbles interspersed with spitting on the ground. This continues all the way to Kylemore until they move further down the tram. Urgh.
Case study 4: It's Sunday evening. Numerous girls sit at the back of the Luas screaming their heads off for half of the trip into town. A woman appears later on, can in hand calling for her friend Aaron, who she calls 'a fat bastard'. Rest of journey is uneventful thankfully.
So there you have it, these are only a sprinkling of the experiences I have had in the last 2 and a half years on Dublin's public transport. I've seen a drunken woman, baby in tow, picking fights with strangers, only to be held back by her young son. I've seen junkies doing headstands while claiming they 'only do coke now'. I sat on a bus one evening while kids threw stones, smashing in the back windows. RTE recently reported that incidents on the Luas have increased 100% and that security will now be present on the trams 7 nights a week. Conveniently, they never seem to be present when I want them to be. Then again, there must be incidents on nearly every tram.
I know that public transport is a problem worldwide and no doubt I will experience plenty of crazies and scary incidents when I get the hell out of here, but I have certainly had enough of the Luas. Only 36 more days in work, which means only 72 more Luas trips at the most. Roll on April...
Case study 1: It's Friday night. Two guys get on the Luas, one smoking a cigarette and one drinking from a pint glass. I try to avoid looking at them. They get off soon after, phew! Mostly uneventful journey.
Case study 2: It's Saturday night, I have just finished a long day at work and have survived the Luas trip home, despite some boys fighting and me fearing as usual for my life. I get a bus on O'Connell Street and as we go up Parnell Square, a car appears on the inside lane, apparently trying to make it up the hill as well. Naturally, the bus driver slows down and starts honking his horn incessantly, joined by the car driver who tries to get past the bus. This then turns into a shouting match between the bus driver and the car driver, the car driver apparently shouting racial slurs at the bus driver (although the car driver may not be Irish himself, hard to tell!). There may be some mention of someone getting stabbed but luckily the bus driver eventually moves on. We go a bit further and he honks his horn at a jeep trying to pull out. Someone is not in a good mood. So we reach the top of Dorset Street and the drama appears to be over. No, no. It is not. As we drive up Dorset Street, a car pulls in front to turn off the street but is going very slowly. And who is it but our old racist friend from Parnell Square. He eventually turns off Dorset Street, slows down, lowers his window and out comes his arm wielding a hammer. Now at this stage, I begin to really worry. The bus driver decides that this is now the time to turn off the engine and begin shouting at our friend with the hammer, taunting him to come over so they can engage in some sort of hammer fist fight. The girls behind me are pretty scared while the guy in front of me laughs. I can feel my heart pounding, really not wanting to see anyone get hammered (and not in the good sense!). Luckily, the car drives off and the bus driver restarts his engine and drives on. Thankfully, my stop is only a bit further. Note to self, never get on this bus again. I'm seriously considering lodging a complaint with Dublin Bus. Still shaky when I get home. Lovely.
Case study 3: It's Sunday morning. It's 7.40am. I have already passed two Gardai patting a guy down on the main road near my house on my walk to town that morning. 7.20am and people are getting searched. Lovely. Now I am on the Luas. I am still half asleep but decide to try and read some of 'A Heart of Darkness'. Fate has something else in mind. At Jervis, three guys who are sleazy as hell get on and have to sit next to me. They then proceed to talk really loudly in between singing along to the music playing loudly from their phone and popping bubblegum bubbles interspersed with spitting on the ground. This continues all the way to Kylemore until they move further down the tram. Urgh.
Case study 4: It's Sunday evening. Numerous girls sit at the back of the Luas screaming their heads off for half of the trip into town. A woman appears later on, can in hand calling for her friend Aaron, who she calls 'a fat bastard'. Rest of journey is uneventful thankfully.
So there you have it, these are only a sprinkling of the experiences I have had in the last 2 and a half years on Dublin's public transport. I've seen a drunken woman, baby in tow, picking fights with strangers, only to be held back by her young son. I've seen junkies doing headstands while claiming they 'only do coke now'. I sat on a bus one evening while kids threw stones, smashing in the back windows. RTE recently reported that incidents on the Luas have increased 100% and that security will now be present on the trams 7 nights a week. Conveniently, they never seem to be present when I want them to be. Then again, there must be incidents on nearly every tram.
I know that public transport is a problem worldwide and no doubt I will experience plenty of crazies and scary incidents when I get the hell out of here, but I have certainly had enough of the Luas. Only 36 more days in work, which means only 72 more Luas trips at the most. Roll on April...
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