The Great Move is accomplished! The New York apartment is empty (except for the piano, which is about to go, and the new Toronto apartment has become a warehouse for furniture and about 150 boxes.
What to tell of this huge project? First, it is noteworthy that I chose an unconventional approach to this move. Instead of just hiring an international firm, I rented a truck and hired a driver/packer to come down from Toronto and bring the stuff back, taking me and my excellent inventory list -- stamped and approved by Canadian customs -- over the border. That way, no hassle at the border with third-party agents, etc., according to other immigrants who have brought their stuff themselves, and no 2-3 week wait while your goods rattle around in corporate limbo before arriving at your curb. On the other hand, there are worries about liability, trust, the unpredictability of humans, etc. What if the truck crashed, or my packer didn't know how to pack and I ended up with furniture soup? After some agonizing along these lines, I realized that I preferred the flawed-human kind of worry to the corporate-monolith kind of worry, not to mention that the DIY approach is a lot cheaper.
So, I found a woman in Toronto to do the job (on Craigslist) and I reserved a 24' moving truck from Penske in Toronto. Then I went down to NYC and spent the last ten days of July packing and getting rid of things. We had had a purge in October when we de-accessioned a lot of stuff, but I did some more this time around, mostly large pieces of furniture. Of course, there was still a lot left. Fumiko came down during this period for four days and also did a lot of packing. This was her first trip to New York since we arrived in Toronto, and her impression was that Toronto is a pleasanter place to live!
Then I went back to Toronto for a week, and on Aug. 7 went to New York for the final push. The load-in was scheduled for Aug. 14, so I had six days to get everything else boxed or otherwise ready. I was able to do this. On the evening of the 13th, the truck arrived and the mover and her helper slept on mattresses in the guest room. (My tenant had left that day.) I hired a couple of extra helpers from Craigslist in New York, so four of them loaded the truck in about five hours on Thursday, working hard and fast.
Then the driver and friend went sightseeing in New York City, not getting back until 2 in the morning. I was alone in the echoing apartment and my task was to un-install the old wall-to-wall carpet in the hallway and living room. (Apartment has to be "broom-clean" or penalty money will be taken.) This turned out to be a bigger job than I had counted on. The lathing around the edges had to be pried up with a crowbar, nails pulled, rotten carpet wrestled out, etc. But it was accomplished, with the help of a porter at the end.
On Friday morning, more last-minute boxes than anyone had counted on were a challenge to stuff in, so the truck was filled to the brim and the mover was exasperated. Then all that was left was the piano; a buyer was dragging his feet, so I left it there for later removal. We pulled out, me riding in the truck, about noon on Friday and got in to Toronto at about 10:30 that night. The border crossing was not a problem and traffic wasn't too bad, so it was a pretty smooth trip.
Saturday morning about noon they started the unloading -- the driver and friend and another helper she brought along. It went pretty quickly, so in three hours everything was inside the new apartment. (I had been afraid it might not all fit...) The driver returned the truck, I paid everybody off, and we were done.
It went well, all things considered, and is now behind us! There were a few scratches on some furniture, and a few temper tantrums (by the mover, who in the final 24 hours developed Attitude like I would not have believed), but pretty much everything got delivered well, and the cost was considerably less than a corporate move would have cost.
The piano negotiations continued by email, and it now seems that the buyer will pay us a small amount of money (but at least not giving it away) and remove the piano tomorrow. Then the apartment can be released (by my son, who is kindly acting as my agent in New York). All that will be left is an old broom and the towel hooks in the bathroom, which I never got around to taking out. Perhaps strangely, I didn't feel much emotion about this leaving process -- actually, I was sadder about giving up my mother's apartment when we did that. After forty years, I guess I'm ready for something new.
The new apartment now looks more like a furniture warehouse than a home. I counted 152 boxes, and I may have missed a few. We are very slowly digging out, trying to decide how to use the old familiar pieces in this new space. Fortunately, we have a couple of weeks for this before we need to start living in it. The new rooms are large, but there are not as many large closets as in New York, and we got rid of the five black cabinets from the dining room, so we have nowhere to put china, glass, etc. for the time being. We must say that ten times a day -- "let's put that here, for the time being"!
I have contracted for cable TV and Internet service, and sent out a couple of beloved rugs for a very expensive cleaning. When those are all in place, and the chaos has been tamed to some degree, then we can start actually living in the new apartment, in early September.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Monday, December 8, 2008
12/08/08: The end of transition
It's been almost a year since we landed in Canada. Just another month to go and we will have been around the calendar in Toronto. The purpose of this blog -- to document our transition -- is pretty much complete. So, I'll try to briefly bring the story up to the present and then say good-bye.
We are all settled in our third and permanent apartment. We started sleeping there in early September, and the unpacking and rearranging continued for another couple of months. We acquired a couple of new pieces of furniture -- a dining room dish cabinet, several bookcases (some free at curbside), and a table to use as a kitchen work island. We had our first dinner party in October, and then we hosted an Election Night (U.S.) party for other bi-national queer couples in Toronto. We like the apartment pretty well, certainly well enough to not contemplate moving all of this stuff again for a long time!
Recently, we managed to find a family doctor who was accepting new patients, and so we began a relationship with the Canadian health system, and have been pleased. No money changes hands, all records are computerized nationally, and we have not encountered any sloppy care or long waits, so far.
We finally did buy bikes. Fumiko got a one-speed with a basket through her Japanese electronic bulletin board for $40, and I traveled the hour and a half to Scarborough and got a nice folding bike for $95, three-speed with luggage rack and kickstand. I am very happy with mine, Fumiko less so, as hers has one hand brake plus foot brakes, which she has never used before and finds confusing. However, either or both is handy for quick trips here or there, together or separately; Fumiko rides hers to school once or twice a week.
Over the Canadian "Thanksgiving weekend" (I can't really take it seriously yet, being October 13 this year -- same day as U.S. Columbus Day), we got up very early one morning and biked to the nearby Humber River, which is reputed to have salmon swimming upstream in the fall. By patiently watching, we did indeed see several large fish attempting to leap up the several-foot-high "steps" in the river. None were successful, but it was thrilling to see them try repeatedly.
Fumiko continues her part-time job and ESL classes. This fall, she and two of her classmates entered a spelling bee contest for ESL students. They had a list of 300 words to learn (like irrelevant, secretaries, seize, and conscientious). I told her -- and her classmates, when I volunteered occasionally to help coach them -- that these are hard not just for immigrants, but for native speakers, too. That if you stopped a Canadian on the street at random, they could probably only get 50% of them right. Anyway, it was really good for Fumiko's English, even if she didn't win. She got her picture in the newspaper: http://www.thestar.com/article/520889
It is still being difficult to impossible for Fumiko to find a full-time job in her chosen field, which is very discouraging. She may have to shift fields, from caring for the developmentally disabled (what she did in Japan) to something in food preparation (a major interest and pleasure of hers). Also, winter is coming -- we've had a couple of snows already, though only one that "stuck" -- and Fumiko is still not used to the Canadian winters. So, for her this Canadian life is still a struggle.
For me, I am retired and I find a lot to amuse me -- Toronto is not so different from New York, just smaller and gentler. I attend academic meetings at the U of T from time to time, and I keep up with two women's book groups, go square dancing, and see some theatre and the odd art gallery. We went to the newly re-opened AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, and the fireworks at City Hall at the end of November were wonderful. The exchange rate is now in my favor, so my U.S. pension is worth more Canadian dollars than when we arrived.
Funny Canadian language: They use the term "the tax man" for the government tax authorities, where we would say "IRS." Looking it up in Google, apparently this is a term used in Britain (see the Beatles' song "Taxman"). This language oddity reached a peak for me in the following from a photo caption in the Globe and Mail, of a long line of men in business suits waiting in a drizzle "... to get into the Internal Revenue Service's career open house held Tuesday [10/28] in New York City. America's tax man planned the special event 'for professionals interested in moving over from the private sector,' and ...the timing couldn't have been better."
As I write this, I am in New York for ten days, staying with my daughter in Yonkers. She had a baby boy on November 6th, and I am now enjoying being a hands-on grandmother. He really is terminally cute and cuddly. In the same month, my mother died at age 97, peacefully in her sleep. We held a memorial service for her in New York during my visit here. Also, I had a dental crown replaced by my old dentist on West 94th St. -- I have great dental insurance in the States, and none in Canada (teeth aren't included in the health plan). So, between a new grandchild, an old dentist, and cheap vitamins, I may have to keep coming back to the Big Apple from time to time.
We are all settled in our third and permanent apartment. We started sleeping there in early September, and the unpacking and rearranging continued for another couple of months. We acquired a couple of new pieces of furniture -- a dining room dish cabinet, several bookcases (some free at curbside), and a table to use as a kitchen work island. We had our first dinner party in October, and then we hosted an Election Night (U.S.) party for other bi-national queer couples in Toronto. We like the apartment pretty well, certainly well enough to not contemplate moving all of this stuff again for a long time!
Recently, we managed to find a family doctor who was accepting new patients, and so we began a relationship with the Canadian health system, and have been pleased. No money changes hands, all records are computerized nationally, and we have not encountered any sloppy care or long waits, so far.
We finally did buy bikes. Fumiko got a one-speed with a basket through her Japanese electronic bulletin board for $40, and I traveled the hour and a half to Scarborough and got a nice folding bike for $95, three-speed with luggage rack and kickstand. I am very happy with mine, Fumiko less so, as hers has one hand brake plus foot brakes, which she has never used before and finds confusing. However, either or both is handy for quick trips here or there, together or separately; Fumiko rides hers to school once or twice a week.
Over the Canadian "Thanksgiving weekend" (I can't really take it seriously yet, being October 13 this year -- same day as U.S. Columbus Day), we got up very early one morning and biked to the nearby Humber River, which is reputed to have salmon swimming upstream in the fall. By patiently watching, we did indeed see several large fish attempting to leap up the several-foot-high "steps" in the river. None were successful, but it was thrilling to see them try repeatedly.
Fumiko continues her part-time job and ESL classes. This fall, she and two of her classmates entered a spelling bee contest for ESL students. They had a list of 300 words to learn (like irrelevant, secretaries, seize, and conscientious). I told her -- and her classmates, when I volunteered occasionally to help coach them -- that these are hard not just for immigrants, but for native speakers, too. That if you stopped a Canadian on the street at random, they could probably only get 50% of them right. Anyway, it was really good for Fumiko's English, even if she didn't win. She got her picture in the newspaper: http://www.thestar.com/article/520889
It is still being difficult to impossible for Fumiko to find a full-time job in her chosen field, which is very discouraging. She may have to shift fields, from caring for the developmentally disabled (what she did in Japan) to something in food preparation (a major interest and pleasure of hers). Also, winter is coming -- we've had a couple of snows already, though only one that "stuck" -- and Fumiko is still not used to the Canadian winters. So, for her this Canadian life is still a struggle.
For me, I am retired and I find a lot to amuse me -- Toronto is not so different from New York, just smaller and gentler. I attend academic meetings at the U of T from time to time, and I keep up with two women's book groups, go square dancing, and see some theatre and the odd art gallery. We went to the newly re-opened AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) a few weeks ago and enjoyed it, and the fireworks at City Hall at the end of November were wonderful. The exchange rate is now in my favor, so my U.S. pension is worth more Canadian dollars than when we arrived.
Funny Canadian language: They use the term "the tax man" for the government tax authorities, where we would say "IRS." Looking it up in Google, apparently this is a term used in Britain (see the Beatles' song "Taxman"). This language oddity reached a peak for me in the following from a photo caption in the Globe and Mail, of a long line of men in business suits waiting in a drizzle "... to get into the Internal Revenue Service's career open house held Tuesday [10/28] in New York City. America's tax man planned the special event 'for professionals interested in moving over from the private sector,' and ...the timing couldn't have been better."
As I write this, I am in New York for ten days, staying with my daughter in Yonkers. She had a baby boy on November 6th, and I am now enjoying being a hands-on grandmother. He really is terminally cute and cuddly. In the same month, my mother died at age 97, peacefully in her sleep. We held a memorial service for her in New York during my visit here. Also, I had a dental crown replaced by my old dentist on West 94th St. -- I have great dental insurance in the States, and none in Canada (teeth aren't included in the health plan). So, between a new grandchild, an old dentist, and cheap vitamins, I may have to keep coming back to the Big Apple from time to time.
Friday, August 22, 2008
08/22/08: Totally in Canada now
The Great Move i
s accomplished! The New York apartment is empty (except for the piano, which is about to go, and the new apartment in Toronto is like a warehouse for furniture and about 150 boxes.
What to tell of this huge project? First, it is noteworthy that I chose an unconventional approach to this move. Instead of just hiring an international firm, I rented a truck and hired a driver/packer to come down from Toronto and bring the stuff back, taking me and my excellent inventory list -- stamped and approved by Canadian customs -- over the border. That way, no hassle at the border with third-party agents, etc., according to other immigrants who have brought their stuff themselves, and no 2-3 week wait while your goods rattle around in corporate limbo before arriving at your curb. On the other hand, there are worries about liability, trust, the unpredictability of humans, etc. What if the truck crashed, or my packer didn't know how to pack and I ended up with furniture soup? After some agonizing along these lines, I realized that I preferred the flawed-human kind of worry to the corporate-monolith kind of worry, not to mention that the DIY approach is a lot cheaper.
So, I found (on Craigslist) a woman in Toronto to do the job, and I reserved a 24' moving truck from Penske in Toronto. Then I went down to NYC and spent the last ten days of July packing and getting rid of things. We had had a purge in October when we de-accessioned a lot of stuff, but I did some more this time around, mostly l
arge pieces of furniture. Of course, there was still a lot left. Fumiko came down during this period for four days and also did a lot of packing. This was her first trip to New York since we arrived in Toronto, and her impression was that Toronto is a pleasanter place to live!
Then I went back to Toronto for a week, and on Aug. 7 went to New York for the final push. The load-in was scheduled for Aug. 14, so I had six days to get everything else boxed or otherwise ready. I was able to do this. On the evening of the 13th, the truck arrived and the mover and her helper slept on mattresses in the guest room. (My tenant had left that day.) I hired a couple of extra helpers from Craigslist in New York, so four of them loaded the truck in about five hours on Thursday, working hard and fast.
Then the driver and friend went sightseeing in New York City, not getting back until 2 in the morning. I was alone in the echoing apartment and my task was to un-install the old wall-to-wall carpet in the hallway and living room. (Apartment has to be "broom-clean" or penalty money will be taken.) This turned out to be a bigger job than I had counted on. The lathing around the edges had to be pried up with a crowbar, nails pulled, rotten carpet wrestled out, etc. But it was accomplished, with the help of a porter at the end.
On Friday morning, more last-minute boxes than anyone had counted on were a challenge to stuff in, so the truck was filled to the brim and the mover was exasperated. Then all that was left was the piano; a buyer was dragging his feet, so I left it there for later removal. We pulled out, me riding in the truck, about noon on Friday and got in to Toronto at about 10:30 that night. The border crossing was not a problem and traffic wasn't too bad, so it was a pretty smooth trip.
Saturday morning about noon they started unloading -- the driver and friend and another helper she brought along. It went pretty quickly, so in three hours everything was inside the new apartment. (I had been afraid it might not all fit...) We returned the truck, I paid everybody off, and we were done.
It went well, all things considered, and most thankfully is now behind us! There were a few scratches on some furniture, and a few temper tantrums (by the mover, who in the final 24 hours developed Attitude like I would not have believed), but pretty much everything got delivered well, and the cost was considerably less than a corporate move would have cost.
The piano negotiations continued by email, and it now seems that the buyer will pay us a small amount of money (but at least not giving it away) and remove the piano tomorrow. Then the apartment can be released (by my son, who is kindly acting as my agent in New York). All that will be left is an old broom and the towel hooks in the bathroom, which I never got around to taking out. Perhaps strangely, I didn't feel much emotion about this leaving process -- actually, I was sadder about giving up my mother's apartment when we did that. After forty years, I guess I'm ready for something new.
We are very slowly getting things organized in the new apartment, trying to decide how to use the old familiar pieces in this new space. Fortunately, we have a couple of weeks to do this before we need to start living in it. The new rooms are la
rge (this is the kitchen), but there are not as many large closets as in New York, and we got rid of the five black cabinets from the dining room, so we have nowhere to put china, glass, etc. for the time being. We must say that ten times a day -- "let's put that here, for the time being"!
I have contracted for cable TV and Internet service, and sent out a couple of beloved rugs for a very expensive cleaning. When those are all in place, and the chaos has been tamed to some degree, then we can start actually living in the new apartment, in early September.
s accomplished! The New York apartment is empty (except for the piano, which is about to go, and the new apartment in Toronto is like a warehouse for furniture and about 150 boxes.What to tell of this huge project? First, it is noteworthy that I chose an unconventional approach to this move. Instead of just hiring an international firm, I rented a truck and hired a driver/packer to come down from Toronto and bring the stuff back, taking me and my excellent inventory list -- stamped and approved by Canadian customs -- over the border. That way, no hassle at the border with third-party agents, etc., according to other immigrants who have brought their stuff themselves, and no 2-3 week wait while your goods rattle around in corporate limbo before arriving at your curb. On the other hand, there are worries about liability, trust, the unpredictability of humans, etc. What if the truck crashed, or my packer didn't know how to pack and I ended up with furniture soup? After some agonizing along these lines, I realized that I preferred the flawed-human kind of worry to the corporate-monolith kind of worry, not to mention that the DIY approach is a lot cheaper.
So, I found (on Craigslist) a woman in Toronto to do the job, and I reserved a 24' moving truck from Penske in Toronto. Then I went down to NYC and spent the last ten days of July packing and getting rid of things. We had had a purge in October when we de-accessioned a lot of stuff, but I did some more this time around, mostly l
arge pieces of furniture. Of course, there was still a lot left. Fumiko came down during this period for four days and also did a lot of packing. This was her first trip to New York since we arrived in Toronto, and her impression was that Toronto is a pleasanter place to live!Then I went back to Toronto for a week, and on Aug. 7 went to New York for the final push. The load-in was scheduled for Aug. 14, so I had six days to get everything else boxed or otherwise ready. I was able to do this. On the evening of the 13th, the truck arrived and the mover and her helper slept on mattresses in the guest room. (My tenant had left that day.) I hired a couple of extra helpers from Craigslist in New York, so four of them loaded the truck in about five hours on Thursday, working hard and fast.
Then the driver and friend went sightseeing in New York City, not getting back until 2 in the morning. I was alone in the echoing apartment and my task was to un-install the old wall-to-wall carpet in the hallway and living room. (Apartment has to be "broom-clean" or penalty money will be taken.) This turned out to be a bigger job than I had counted on. The lathing around the edges had to be pried up with a crowbar, nails pulled, rotten carpet wrestled out, etc. But it was accomplished, with the help of a porter at the end.
On Friday morning, more last-minute boxes than anyone had counted on were a challenge to stuff in, so the truck was filled to the brim and the mover was exasperated. Then all that was left was the piano; a buyer was dragging his feet, so I left it there for later removal. We pulled out, me riding in the truck, about noon on Friday and got in to Toronto at about 10:30 that night. The border crossing was not a problem and traffic wasn't too bad, so it was a pretty smooth trip.
Saturday morning about noon they started unloading -- the driver and friend and another helper she brought along. It went pretty quickly, so in three hours everything was inside the new apartment. (I had been afraid it might not all fit...) We returned the truck, I paid everybody off, and we were done.It went well, all things considered, and most thankfully is now behind us! There were a few scratches on some furniture, and a few temper tantrums (by the mover, who in the final 24 hours developed Attitude like I would not have believed), but pretty much everything got delivered well, and the cost was considerably less than a corporate move would have cost.
The piano negotiations continued by email, and it now seems that the buyer will pay us a small amount of money (but at least not giving it away) and remove the piano tomorrow. Then the apartment can be released (by my son, who is kindly acting as my agent in New York). All that will be left is an old broom and the towel hooks in the bathroom, which I never got around to taking out. Perhaps strangely, I didn't feel much emotion about this leaving process -- actually, I was sadder about giving up my mother's apartment when we did that. After forty years, I guess I'm ready for something new.
We are very slowly getting things organized in the new apartment, trying to decide how to use the old familiar pieces in this new space. Fortunately, we have a couple of weeks to do this before we need to start living in it. The new rooms are la
rge (this is the kitchen), but there are not as many large closets as in New York, and we got rid of the five black cabinets from the dining room, so we have nowhere to put china, glass, etc. for the time being. We must say that ten times a day -- "let's put that here, for the time being"!I have contracted for cable TV and Internet service, and sent out a couple of beloved rugs for a very expensive cleaning. When those are all in place, and the chaos has been tamed to some degree, then we can start actually living in the new apartment, in early September.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
07/14/08: A more permanent home
After about two months of looking, we finally signed a year's lease today on a three-bedroom unfurnished apartment. It's not quite our dream apartment, but a good compromise, and I'm going to New York next week and wanted to have it settled. Otherwise, we'd be into August and we need to be out of here by Sept. 5th.
In the last few weeks, we widened our search, so I was covering a lot of ground. We looked at beautiful ones that were too small and/or too far away, and at slightly seedy ones that were large and close, and ones with inconvenient layouts or impossibly high rents or in buildings with poor management or too few windows. We saw a gorgeous condo in the sky -- all glass and shiny floors (too small), and a nice size three-bedroom right near us and near the subway, but the stairway had a strange odor. Then there were lots that sounded fantastic in the ads, but disappeared into thin air -- rented to someone else before the open house, withdrawn because the tenants decided to stay, or phone messages and emails just never answered.
It became so seductive, waking each morning to a new crop of possibilities. Maybe today would be the day! Very easy to just keep looking and hoping, harder to actually commit to something reasonable, if not perfect. The apartment we have taken is very new and clean, with a pretty good layout and large rooms (two baths, 3+ bedrooms), BUT it's a (short) bus ride from the subway (a very short walk from the bus to home, however -- not always the case) and on a rather noisy main drag (the flip side of "short walk from the bus") featuring auto dealerships and body shops. The landlord seems pleasant, cooperative, and not too nosy, and the price is pretty low for the amount of space we have.
So, now I am dealing with the tailoff from a super-busy life, and the rather grim prospect of moving. Last week was hectic -- I went to thirteen Toronto Fringe productions and saw about as many apartments. We got caught in a torrential rainstorm one night while seeing an apartment, and made new friends when we huddled under someone's entry roof and they invited us in. The week before that was Pride -- three days of festivities on Church Street. We went downtown Friday, Saturday (Dyke March), and Sunday (Pride). The crowds were huge, seemed like more spectators than in New York, though the route is much shorter so maybe the same number is just compressed. The media all make a big fuss about it (different from New York, for sure), and the whole city celebrates for a few days.
A few days later was Canada Day (July 1st), the country's birthday. We chose to go to Ribfest at a park not far away -- lots of people, couples and families, all standing in long lines for barbecued ribs, funnel cake, and beautiful fried onions that looked like roses. There were fireworks in the evening, but not until 10 p.m., so we didn't wait. A lot like July 4th in the U.S.
The weather has included less rain and a few fairly hot days lately, but nothing to compare with Tokyo or New York. High Park is lush with green now, the reeds on the pond are over six feet high, and the goslings are growing up. (We won't be so close to High Park at our new place. Like I say, compromises.)
In the last few weeks, we widened our search, so I was covering a lot of ground. We looked at beautiful ones that were too small and/or too far away, and at slightly seedy ones that were large and close, and ones with inconvenient layouts or impossibly high rents or in buildings with poor management or too few windows. We saw a gorgeous condo in the sky -- all glass and shiny floors (too small), and a nice size three-bedroom right near us and near the subway, but the stairway had a strange odor. Then there were lots that sounded fantastic in the ads, but disappeared into thin air -- rented to someone else before the open house, withdrawn because the tenants decided to stay, or phone messages and emails just never answered.
It became so seductive, waking each morning to a new crop of possibilities. Maybe today would be the day! Very easy to just keep looking and hoping, harder to actually commit to something reasonable, if not perfect. The apartment we have taken is very new and clean, with a pretty good layout and large rooms (two baths, 3+ bedrooms), BUT it's a (short) bus ride from the subway (a very short walk from the bus to home, however -- not always the case) and on a rather noisy main drag (the flip side of "short walk from the bus") featuring auto dealerships and body shops. The landlord seems pleasant, cooperative, and not too nosy, and the price is pretty low for the amount of space we have.
So, now I am dealing with the tailoff from a super-busy life, and the rather grim prospect of moving. Last week was hectic -- I went to thirteen Toronto Fringe productions and saw about as many apartments. We got caught in a torrential rainstorm one night while seeing an apartment, and made new friends when we huddled under someone's entry roof and they invited us in. The week before that was Pride -- three days of festivities on Church Street. We went downtown Friday, Saturday (Dyke March), and Sunday (Pride). The crowds were huge, seemed like more spectators than in New York, though the route is much shorter so maybe the same number is just compressed. The media all make a big fuss about it (different from New York, for sure), and the whole city celebrates for a few days.
A few days later was Canada Day (July 1st), the country's birthday. We chose to go to Ribfest at a park not far away -- lots of people, couples and families, all standing in long lines for barbecued ribs, funnel cake, and beautiful fried onions that looked like roses. There were fireworks in the evening, but not until 10 p.m., so we didn't wait. A lot like July 4th in the U.S.
The weather has included less rain and a few fairly hot days lately, but nothing to compare with Tokyo or New York. High Park is lush with green now, the reeds on the pond are over six feet high, and the goslings are growing up. (We won't be so close to High Park at our new place. Like I say, compromises.)
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
06/25/08: A long catch-up story
Yeeks, it's been a long time since I posted anything. The weeks and months go by... I'll try to give an update of the past couple of months. Maybe you can read it in installments?
Fumiko got a part-time job starting mid-April, working with a 27-year-old mildly retarded (but horribly spoiled) woman, trying to train her in handling her money, eating well, doing laundry, etc. This job has been challenging, but also very frustrating for Fumiko, as the woman is quite resistant to suggestion, persuasion, and threats. Her parents can do nothing with her, apparently, as she is quite undisciplined and won't listen to anyone. But, it's some income, and hopefully a good Canadian reference. Fumiko also continues to do some volunteer work and apply for full-time jobs. She is revising her resume for the nth time -- everyone who kindly reviews it for her has a different (and usually conflicting) set of suggestions, but none of them has the power to hire her!
I'm now once again in an obsessive apartment search. Our hold on this apartment ends when the "real" tenants return on September 1, and we're thinking to give up the New York apartment, get an unfurnished one here, and move everything north. This is very stressful to even think about, and our list of wants for a "permanent" apartment is long, our funds are limited, and we want to get as good a one as possible. To gear up for this, I started in May to look at a lot of different possibilities -- far from transit but large, close to transit but far from shopping (yes, such exist), close to transit and shopping but small and dark, etc. I've even been going out with a realtor to look at condos for sale. Many people in Toronto own property, so it seems normal and, with the stock market bouncing about like it's been doing, perhaps an attractive investment. It's fun to see many different places, but very time-consuming, and I haven't found anything that I really love. Will something fall from the sky, like this one did, or will we be down to the wire, having to settle on a third-best option?
We continue to enjoy High Park, taking a jog or a hike several times a week. There are lots of birds -- a fascinating one that's all black except for bright scarlet spots on the wings that are visible only in flight; I think this is called a red-winged blackbird. Also robins and pigeons and a few seagulls, as well as a number of smaller birds that we can't identify, and crowds of geese that wander around the lawns and shores as well as gathering in the water. They now have young'uns (goslings?), and they seem totally unafraid of humans. They are sufficiently numerous that their green turds become a nuisance on the park paths. Recently, there have been articles in the newspaper about the blight of the Canada goose, which has overrun many Canadian cities and is even considered a health hazard. Other dangers: Recently dogs have been poisoned in High Park; it's in the papers. And Fumiko is frequently frightened by blackbirds dive-bombing at her!
The weather was not real spring-like in May. It was mostly cold and windy, with occasional rain and we wore short warm coats all month. Now that it's June, we've had a couple of warm, even hot, days, but it rains at least once a day five days out of seven, and we have frequent thunderstorms. Like monsoon season.
In early May, I made a trip to Boston (from New York), attending an academic conference there, visiting my son and his family (who kindly put me up for the weekend), and seeing my mother at her nursing home for the first time since we delivered her there in November. I was nervous about this, but it turned out to be a very nice visit. She looked very alert and healthy. We went out for a walk and she was cheerful and talkative. I really enjoyed seeing her and will try to get there again soon. The nursing home is bright and spacious and she seems to be doing well there, despite her standard complaints that there's not enough to do. My sister visits Mom there regularly and sends photos and stories which help me to feel connected. The problem is that it's pretty difficult to get from Toronto to Boston by bus (14 hours, with a change in Syracuse), and impossible by train (would require an overnight stay in Albany), so the easiest way is to go to New York and then do Boston as a side trip!
On my June trip New York, there was some problem with the train tracks, so the train was three hours late, a total trip of 16 hours! I was so disgusted that I decided to return on the new New York-Toronto express bus from Greyhound. It was not bad, took about 10 hours. At the border, we had to take all our luggage out and walk it through the customs house, where an agent gazed at it briefly and from a distance, and then we put it back again -- a pain. The bus seats are of course not as comfortable as the train, but they did have electrical connections for computers (called "plug-ins" on the website, amusingly) -- the promised Internet access was not working my trip. It made a couple of rest stops so we could stretch. It's a hard choice for me -- comfortable but late, or less comfortable and less time. The track work is expected to continue through October, and the Amtrak conductor claimed it was not under their control since the tracks are owned by the freight shippers. Whatever!
One more transportation story: There was a two-day transit strike in Toronto April 26-27, and I had places to go, so I did what people did in New York -- I hitchhiked! I think I was the only person doing this in Toronto. I made a big sign with my destination magic-markered on it and stood at the nearest intersection looking hopeful. It worked; I got where I was going, and I met some interesting people, but I certainly felt like a foreigner.
So what else have I been doing? I enjoyed the Hot Docs documentary film festival, managing to see six or eight programs, mostly for free, either as a senior or a volunteer. I also saw a couple of films at the "Inside Out" gay film festival. Both Fumiko and I took advantage of the "Doors Open Toronto" event recently; each of us (separately, because of scheduling differences) explored a number of buildings and places around Toronto, but we barely made a dent in the 150 or so being shown. Next year... One problem is that this event is always the same weekend as the annual weekend-long square dance event ("fly-in") held by the Triangle Squares, our local gay square dance club. In fact, there were so many events of all types in Toronto that weekend (May 23-25) that we could have filled our dance cards four or five times and not run out of fun things to do. I have a theory that, after a hard winter of being confined, Toronto just bursts forth at this time of year with all the events that they were afraid would be snowed out (or in) earlier in the year. Just a theory.
One Saturday in April, we went for the day to St. Catherine's, Ontario, for a square dance convention. During the dinner break, a group of us went in two cars to see the Welland Canal, a series of eight locks over the 27 miles that lies between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie that enables ships to bypass the Niagara Falls. Very interesting, though there didn't happen to be any ships going through at the time, which I understand is spectacular to see. Then, last week, we went to the harbour here in Toronto to see several tall ships, and I learned that one in particular came here by water from Erie, Pennsylvania! Apparently all of the Great Lakes are connected, one way or another, for boat/ship traffic. Having lived near an ocean port for the past few decades, I never thought much about lakes before.
On a rainy day in May, we visited the Kensington Market, which it turns out is a neighborhood of small shops that has grown up over a century or so. We ate tacos pastor at a Mexican restaurant, and I managed to buy a pair of blue jeans at a little shop. Now, this doesn't sound like much, but I haven't owned a pair of jeans for at least 10 years. I could never seem to find one that fit me and that seemed like I could tolerate them (stiff, tight, etc.). Anyway, the stars were right and I bought one (for $18) that didn't even need hemming! I wore them the following weekend when I went on a "city hike" with the gay hiking club on a cool and rainy evening, and they were just right! I felt very modern. The hike, incidentally, started at a subway station, wound through an upscale residential neighborhood, and then disappeared into a heavily wooded ravine for about a mile or so, ending up at an old pottery factory, now surrounded by landscaped ponds and gardens. Toronto is amazing that way -- there are many patches of wildness scattered throughout the city. In fact, "ravine view" is often mentioned in apartment ads as a plus.
We considered joining a "Bike Train" trip to Niagara Falls in July with the gay hiking group, but the project of acquiring bikes is just too daunting for now. We'd like to get them eventually, but right now we have nowhere to store them and the apartment search is using up all my research time and energy. Many people ride bikes here, as least in the summer, so it would be nice to have them. Maybe in the fall, if we get settled.
Fumiko has begun baking bread -- in fact, we don't buy bread any more. At one of the square dancing parties, she tasted Irish soda bread baked by one of the members, and since then she's been baking her own healthy variety for our breakfast. She uses whole wheat flour and a number of ground-up seeds and nuts, plus raisins. It's good! Occasionally she makes yeast bread, too, often as little rolls with things inside -- meat paste, baked apple, sweet bean paste, etc. Recently we went downtown to a chef's day, where a number of restaurants set up booths and each served two special dishes for $5 apiece. We enjoyed looking at everything and talking to the cooks, then we bought two each and were quite satisfied. This was part of a festival called Luminato, which goes on for ten days all over the city, a variety of events. I tell you, Toronto bids fair to outdo even New York for festivals -- film festivals, jazz festivals (at least three that I know of), art, dance, ethnic events, etc., etc. Recently, we spent a couple of hours at a two-day, ten-block long dog festival called "Woofstock"! I've got to stop trying to "keep up" with everything, or I might as well never have left New York.
We finally broke down and bought a second cell phone, so now we can talk to each other -- very handy on occasion. We made the mistake of allowing them to ship it by package express (Purolator, here) and of course there's no reception in our building and they took it away again. It took three phone calls and a streetcar trip to a place we never go, to retrieve it. So now we give my phone number to any English speakers (the library, the bank, etc.) so Fumiko won't be afraid to answer her phone.
We had our first visitors last week: my cousin Sharon and husband Stan came to visit Toronto, and we had wine and snacks here in our apartment before we all went out to dinner. It was very nice to welcome them to "our" city and "our" home.
Fumiko's English class is coming to an end for the term. Last week I joined them on a school trip to Centre Island, which has a children's amusement park, and a boardwalk, and was very pleasant, despite the daily thunderstorm. Tomorrow her class will have a party and then summer recess begins. She plans to work on her own to continue to improve her English. This weekend is Gay Pride. They make quite a thing of it here -- there was a special section in the main newspaper last Sunday (not one of those supplied from outside, but written by/for the Toronto Star) and all week there have been features on gay people in the papers and on TV. Then on July 1 is Canada Day, the celebration of the confederation of the provinces in 1867 to create the nation.
Finally, my latest minor peeve: The house numbers on two sides of a street in Toronto are not necessarily coordinated -- the matching numbers (101 and 102, for instance) may be one, two, or even three blocks apart. This just seems crazy to me, but I've learned to first get on the odd or even side of the street and only then start looking at the numbers.
Fumiko got a part-time job starting mid-April, working with a 27-year-old mildly retarded (but horribly spoiled) woman, trying to train her in handling her money, eating well, doing laundry, etc. This job has been challenging, but also very frustrating for Fumiko, as the woman is quite resistant to suggestion, persuasion, and threats. Her parents can do nothing with her, apparently, as she is quite undisciplined and won't listen to anyone. But, it's some income, and hopefully a good Canadian reference. Fumiko also continues to do some volunteer work and apply for full-time jobs. She is revising her resume for the nth time -- everyone who kindly reviews it for her has a different (and usually conflicting) set of suggestions, but none of them has the power to hire her!
I'm now once again in an obsessive apartment search. Our hold on this apartment ends when the "real" tenants return on September 1, and we're thinking to give up the New York apartment, get an unfurnished one here, and move everything north. This is very stressful to even think about, and our list of wants for a "permanent" apartment is long, our funds are limited, and we want to get as good a one as possible. To gear up for this, I started in May to look at a lot of different possibilities -- far from transit but large, close to transit but far from shopping (yes, such exist), close to transit and shopping but small and dark, etc. I've even been going out with a realtor to look at condos for sale. Many people in Toronto own property, so it seems normal and, with the stock market bouncing about like it's been doing, perhaps an attractive investment. It's fun to see many different places, but very time-consuming, and I haven't found anything that I really love. Will something fall from the sky, like this one did, or will we be down to the wire, having to settle on a third-best option?
We continue to enjoy High Park, taking a jog or a hike several times a week. There are lots of birds -- a fascinating one that's all black except for bright scarlet spots on the wings that are visible only in flight; I think this is called a red-winged blackbird. Also robins and pigeons and a few seagulls, as well as a number of smaller birds that we can't identify, and crowds of geese that wander around the lawns and shores as well as gathering in the water. They now have young'uns (goslings?), and they seem totally unafraid of humans. They are sufficiently numerous that their green turds become a nuisance on the park paths. Recently, there have been articles in the newspaper about the blight of the Canada goose, which has overrun many Canadian cities and is even considered a health hazard. Other dangers: Recently dogs have been poisoned in High Park; it's in the papers. And Fumiko is frequently frightened by blackbirds dive-bombing at her!
The weather was not real spring-like in May. It was mostly cold and windy, with occasional rain and we wore short warm coats all month. Now that it's June, we've had a couple of warm, even hot, days, but it rains at least once a day five days out of seven, and we have frequent thunderstorms. Like monsoon season.
In early May, I made a trip to Boston (from New York), attending an academic conference there, visiting my son and his family (who kindly put me up for the weekend), and seeing my mother at her nursing home for the first time since we delivered her there in November. I was nervous about this, but it turned out to be a very nice visit. She looked very alert and healthy. We went out for a walk and she was cheerful and talkative. I really enjoyed seeing her and will try to get there again soon. The nursing home is bright and spacious and she seems to be doing well there, despite her standard complaints that there's not enough to do. My sister visits Mom there regularly and sends photos and stories which help me to feel connected. The problem is that it's pretty difficult to get from Toronto to Boston by bus (14 hours, with a change in Syracuse), and impossible by train (would require an overnight stay in Albany), so the easiest way is to go to New York and then do Boston as a side trip!
On my June trip New York, there was some problem with the train tracks, so the train was three hours late, a total trip of 16 hours! I was so disgusted that I decided to return on the new New York-Toronto express bus from Greyhound. It was not bad, took about 10 hours. At the border, we had to take all our luggage out and walk it through the customs house, where an agent gazed at it briefly and from a distance, and then we put it back again -- a pain. The bus seats are of course not as comfortable as the train, but they did have electrical connections for computers (called "plug-ins" on the website, amusingly) -- the promised Internet access was not working my trip. It made a couple of rest stops so we could stretch. It's a hard choice for me -- comfortable but late, or less comfortable and less time. The track work is expected to continue through October, and the Amtrak conductor claimed it was not under their control since the tracks are owned by the freight shippers. Whatever!
One more transportation story: There was a two-day transit strike in Toronto April 26-27, and I had places to go, so I did what people did in New York -- I hitchhiked! I think I was the only person doing this in Toronto. I made a big sign with my destination magic-markered on it and stood at the nearest intersection looking hopeful. It worked; I got where I was going, and I met some interesting people, but I certainly felt like a foreigner.
So what else have I been doing? I enjoyed the Hot Docs documentary film festival, managing to see six or eight programs, mostly for free, either as a senior or a volunteer. I also saw a couple of films at the "Inside Out" gay film festival. Both Fumiko and I took advantage of the "Doors Open Toronto" event recently; each of us (separately, because of scheduling differences) explored a number of buildings and places around Toronto, but we barely made a dent in the 150 or so being shown. Next year... One problem is that this event is always the same weekend as the annual weekend-long square dance event ("fly-in") held by the Triangle Squares, our local gay square dance club. In fact, there were so many events of all types in Toronto that weekend (May 23-25) that we could have filled our dance cards four or five times and not run out of fun things to do. I have a theory that, after a hard winter of being confined, Toronto just bursts forth at this time of year with all the events that they were afraid would be snowed out (or in) earlier in the year. Just a theory.
One Saturday in April, we went for the day to St. Catherine's, Ontario, for a square dance convention. During the dinner break, a group of us went in two cars to see the Welland Canal, a series of eight locks over the 27 miles that lies between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie that enables ships to bypass the Niagara Falls. Very interesting, though there didn't happen to be any ships going through at the time, which I understand is spectacular to see. Then, last week, we went to the harbour here in Toronto to see several tall ships, and I learned that one in particular came here by water from Erie, Pennsylvania! Apparently all of the Great Lakes are connected, one way or another, for boat/ship traffic. Having lived near an ocean port for the past few decades, I never thought much about lakes before.
On a rainy day in May, we visited the Kensington Market, which it turns out is a neighborhood of small shops that has grown up over a century or so. We ate tacos pastor at a Mexican restaurant, and I managed to buy a pair of blue jeans at a little shop. Now, this doesn't sound like much, but I haven't owned a pair of jeans for at least 10 years. I could never seem to find one that fit me and that seemed like I could tolerate them (stiff, tight, etc.). Anyway, the stars were right and I bought one (for $18) that didn't even need hemming! I wore them the following weekend when I went on a "city hike" with the gay hiking club on a cool and rainy evening, and they were just right! I felt very modern. The hike, incidentally, started at a subway station, wound through an upscale residential neighborhood, and then disappeared into a heavily wooded ravine for about a mile or so, ending up at an old pottery factory, now surrounded by landscaped ponds and gardens. Toronto is amazing that way -- there are many patches of wildness scattered throughout the city. In fact, "ravine view" is often mentioned in apartment ads as a plus.
We considered joining a "Bike Train" trip to Niagara Falls in July with the gay hiking group, but the project of acquiring bikes is just too daunting for now. We'd like to get them eventually, but right now we have nowhere to store them and the apartment search is using up all my research time and energy. Many people ride bikes here, as least in the summer, so it would be nice to have them. Maybe in the fall, if we get settled.
Fumiko has begun baking bread -- in fact, we don't buy bread any more. At one of the square dancing parties, she tasted Irish soda bread baked by one of the members, and since then she's been baking her own healthy variety for our breakfast. She uses whole wheat flour and a number of ground-up seeds and nuts, plus raisins. It's good! Occasionally she makes yeast bread, too, often as little rolls with things inside -- meat paste, baked apple, sweet bean paste, etc. Recently we went downtown to a chef's day, where a number of restaurants set up booths and each served two special dishes for $5 apiece. We enjoyed looking at everything and talking to the cooks, then we bought two each and were quite satisfied. This was part of a festival called Luminato, which goes on for ten days all over the city, a variety of events. I tell you, Toronto bids fair to outdo even New York for festivals -- film festivals, jazz festivals (at least three that I know of), art, dance, ethnic events, etc., etc. Recently, we spent a couple of hours at a two-day, ten-block long dog festival called "Woofstock"! I've got to stop trying to "keep up" with everything, or I might as well never have left New York.
We finally broke down and bought a second cell phone, so now we can talk to each other -- very handy on occasion. We made the mistake of allowing them to ship it by package express (Purolator, here) and of course there's no reception in our building and they took it away again. It took three phone calls and a streetcar trip to a place we never go, to retrieve it. So now we give my phone number to any English speakers (the library, the bank, etc.) so Fumiko won't be afraid to answer her phone.
We had our first visitors last week: my cousin Sharon and husband Stan came to visit Toronto, and we had wine and snacks here in our apartment before we all went out to dinner. It was very nice to welcome them to "our" city and "our" home.
Fumiko's English class is coming to an end for the term. Last week I joined them on a school trip to Centre Island, which has a children's amusement park, and a boardwalk, and was very pleasant, despite the daily thunderstorm. Tomorrow her class will have a party and then summer recess begins. She plans to work on her own to continue to improve her English. This weekend is Gay Pride. They make quite a thing of it here -- there was a special section in the main newspaper last Sunday (not one of those supplied from outside, but written by/for the Toronto Star) and all week there have been features on gay people in the papers and on TV. Then on July 1 is Canada Day, the celebration of the confederation of the provinces in 1867 to create the nation.
Finally, my latest minor peeve: The house numbers on two sides of a street in Toronto are not necessarily coordinated -- the matching numbers (101 and 102, for instance) may be one, two, or even three blocks apart. This just seems crazy to me, but I've learned to first get on the odd or even side of the street and only then start looking at the numbers.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
early May 2008
This is High Park in early May, picture by Fumiko. She was feeling a little homesick about then, and we both greatly enjoyed the cherry blossoms so nearby. We went several times, watching them grow fuller and then gracefully fade.
Monday, April 14, 2008
04/14/08: A new home
As scheduled, I flew to Houston on Wednesday evening, March 26th. It was a great shock to go from snowdrifts in Toronto to azaleas and shorts in Houston! However, I adapted, and enjoyed the mild weather. I stayed with friends Karl and David, and as usual enjoyed their company as well as their hospitality. The conference was stimulating, but three days is a lot, and I was not sorry to climb onto another airplane Saturday night and move on to New York. New York was neither winter nor spring -- dry, but cloudy and nothing green yet. I was only there briefly, returning to Toronto early on Tuesday morning. By the time I got back to Canada all my minor cultural indicators were completely confused: centigrade or fahrenheit, licence or license? There are now several definitions of "home"...
In the next couple of days, we got ready to move, packing up things, but with a poor sense of how much there was. It's true we came here with just a few suitcases (what was allowed on two persons' air tickets), but since then I have ferried several loads from New York, and we have also bought a few things from Craigslist (a computer printer, a standing lamp, two sets of wire shelves, etc.). Friday, April 4th, was a rainy day, but Fumiko had taken off school for the move, so eventually we bit the bullet and called a "van taxi," which has more luggage room than the standard size. It turned out we needed two van trips, but by evening we had managed to get everything transferred the 3 kilometers, and then wrestled up two flights of stairs.
This new apartment will certainly build muscle: there are no elevators, at all! The street entrance is on the first floor, the mail and newspaper delivery is on the second floor, and we are on the third floor; laundry room and recycling bins are in the basement. On top of that, our apartment itself consists of two floors, with the bedroom, bath, and study on the second level! So, we do a lot of stair-climbing. On the move-in day, Fumiko kindly did the lion's share of hauling stuff upstairs, and I was duly grateful. She kept saying it was "good exercise," but she was sore for a couple of days afterwards.
We spent most of the weekend getting settled, packing up some of the owners' things to make room for ours and deciding how we wanted to arrange the space. After discovering that they do not own a few things that we consider essential, we went to Craigslist and eventually bought an electric coffee maker ($7), a very old toaster oven ($10), an even older microwave oven ($15), and a rice cooker ($6). The total lack of TV closed captions forced me to realize how addicted to them I have become, in order to overcome passing traffic noise, occasional actor mumbling, and heavy foreign accents. I eventually traced the problem to the extreme age of the little television, so I bought a less elderly but still small TV for $20 (Craigslist again) and now I'm content. We are trying to limit our acquisitions, since we'll have to move it all again in five months, but it's tempting to make a nest that's really comfortable and has what we need.
We've now been here about 10 days, and we like it pretty well. Though we miss the streetcars, it's true that being a few steps from a major subway stop is very convenient, not to mention the library, supermarket, and wine/beer store. The high ceilings and big front windows give us a feeling of light and air, even on rainy days, and we're getting used to skipping up and down the stairs all the time. We're astonished that, despite being on a main thoroughfare and right next to the subway, there is less noise here than in our last place. There are extra beds here, too, a fold-out couch (double) and a rollaway bed(single), so we can welcome guests who can do without a private room.
Spring has definitely begun to arrive. Crocuses are sprouting everywhere, and every other day is warm (55 or 60 F.), and often without strong winds. On a recent walk through the little zoo in High Park, we saw the mountain goats racing each other around the enclosure in what looked like a mating ritual. The ponds and snowpiles in High Park have all thawed, and I'm discovering many "new" trails and paths that have been invisible for the past four months.
Culture Shock Dept.: The post office here has discovered a luxe approach to public service. First, most local post offices are located inside stores -- a counter in the corner of a drugstore or a stationery store, so Canada Post doesn't have the real estate problems that the U.S.P.O. does. Then, postage is higher here and, when I went to file a forwarding order, I discovered they charge $37 for six months' mail forwarding service! Can you imagine? We get so little mail that of course I said "forget it," and just spent the afternoon changing all the addresses by Internet and telephone. Worst case, we can swing by the old place occasionally and pick up any mail that comes.
The class (on history of Toronto development) that I have been looking forward to was canceled at the last minute due to lack of enrollment. Darn! I have been scheduling around it for a couple of months, so now I have to rethink everything. I'm going to volunteer at HotDocs, an international film festival starting this weekend. As a senior, I can get in free during the day (if tix available), and then I'll get some free anytime tix for volunteering. So I can go crazy ("film-festival frenzy") and OD on documentaries.
I have been thinking of trying to be an extra or bit player in the burgeoning film and theatre industry here in Toronto, and I've been watching a couple of Internet sites for this purpose. Through them, I found a photographer who is creating a "breast montage" for a documentary about breast cancer and wants subjects. In return, she'll do free head shots (I contacted two photographers about this, and they quoted me $145 and $350, respectively!), so I went last Friday and had it done. She took a long time on "my" shots, and one of her assistants was a nice young Japanese woman who was enchanted that I could speak Japanese, and they served healthy munchies. So, a nice experience, and in a few weeks she'll email me a free professional head-shot so I can play with the big guys!
Fumiko is still sending off resumes to possible employers, but no nibbles so far. We keep hearing that it's hard to get a job without Canadian experience and references, so she has begun volunteering two days a week for one of these employers. Actually, even the newspaper comments from time to time on the problems of immigrants finding work here. There are doctors driving cabs, etc. But Fumiko says she'll give it until her birthday (in November she'll be 60) and then she'll start looking for other kinds of work. (We seem to have enough money to live on for the time being.)
In the next couple of days, we got ready to move, packing up things, but with a poor sense of how much there was. It's true we came here with just a few suitcases (what was allowed on two persons' air tickets), but since then I have ferried several loads from New York, and we have also bought a few things from Craigslist (a computer printer, a standing lamp, two sets of wire shelves, etc.). Friday, April 4th, was a rainy day, but Fumiko had taken off school for the move, so eventually we bit the bullet and called a "van taxi," which has more luggage room than the standard size. It turned out we needed two van trips, but by evening we had managed to get everything transferred the 3 kilometers, and then wrestled up two flights of stairs.
This new apartment will certainly build muscle: there are no elevators, at all! The street entrance is on the first floor, the mail and newspaper delivery is on the second floor, and we are on the third floor; laundry room and recycling bins are in the basement. On top of that, our apartment itself consists of two floors, with the bedroom, bath, and study on the second level! So, we do a lot of stair-climbing. On the move-in day, Fumiko kindly did the lion's share of hauling stuff upstairs, and I was duly grateful. She kept saying it was "good exercise," but she was sore for a couple of days afterwards.
We spent most of the weekend getting settled, packing up some of the owners' things to make room for ours and deciding how we wanted to arrange the space. After discovering that they do not own a few things that we consider essential, we went to Craigslist and eventually bought an electric coffee maker ($7), a very old toaster oven ($10), an even older microwave oven ($15), and a rice cooker ($6). The total lack of TV closed captions forced me to realize how addicted to them I have become, in order to overcome passing traffic noise, occasional actor mumbling, and heavy foreign accents. I eventually traced the problem to the extreme age of the little television, so I bought a less elderly but still small TV for $20 (Craigslist again) and now I'm content. We are trying to limit our acquisitions, since we'll have to move it all again in five months, but it's tempting to make a nest that's really comfortable and has what we need.
We've now been here about 10 days, and we like it pretty well. Though we miss the streetcars, it's true that being a few steps from a major subway stop is very convenient, not to mention the library, supermarket, and wine/beer store. The high ceilings and big front windows give us a feeling of light and air, even on rainy days, and we're getting used to skipping up and down the stairs all the time. We're astonished that, despite being on a main thoroughfare and right next to the subway, there is less noise here than in our last place. There are extra beds here, too, a fold-out couch (double) and a rollaway bed(single), so we can welcome guests who can do without a private room.
Spring has definitely begun to arrive. Crocuses are sprouting everywhere, and every other day is warm (55 or 60 F.), and often without strong winds. On a recent walk through the little zoo in High Park, we saw the mountain goats racing each other around the enclosure in what looked like a mating ritual. The ponds and snowpiles in High Park have all thawed, and I'm discovering many "new" trails and paths that have been invisible for the past four months.
Culture Shock Dept.: The post office here has discovered a luxe approach to public service. First, most local post offices are located inside stores -- a counter in the corner of a drugstore or a stationery store, so Canada Post doesn't have the real estate problems that the U.S.P.O. does. Then, postage is higher here and, when I went to file a forwarding order, I discovered they charge $37 for six months' mail forwarding service! Can you imagine? We get so little mail that of course I said "forget it," and just spent the afternoon changing all the addresses by Internet and telephone. Worst case, we can swing by the old place occasionally and pick up any mail that comes.
The class (on history of Toronto development) that I have been looking forward to was canceled at the last minute due to lack of enrollment. Darn! I have been scheduling around it for a couple of months, so now I have to rethink everything. I'm going to volunteer at HotDocs, an international film festival starting this weekend. As a senior, I can get in free during the day (if tix available), and then I'll get some free anytime tix for volunteering. So I can go crazy ("film-festival frenzy") and OD on documentaries.
I have been thinking of trying to be an extra or bit player in the burgeoning film and theatre industry here in Toronto, and I've been watching a couple of Internet sites for this purpose. Through them, I found a photographer who is creating a "breast montage" for a documentary about breast cancer and wants subjects. In return, she'll do free head shots (I contacted two photographers about this, and they quoted me $145 and $350, respectively!), so I went last Friday and had it done. She took a long time on "my" shots, and one of her assistants was a nice young Japanese woman who was enchanted that I could speak Japanese, and they served healthy munchies. So, a nice experience, and in a few weeks she'll email me a free professional head-shot so I can play with the big guys!
Fumiko is still sending off resumes to possible employers, but no nibbles so far. We keep hearing that it's hard to get a job without Canadian experience and references, so she has begun volunteering two days a week for one of these employers. Actually, even the newspaper comments from time to time on the problems of immigrants finding work here. There are doctors driving cabs, etc. But Fumiko says she'll give it until her birthday (in November she'll be 60) and then she'll start looking for other kinds of work. (We seem to have enough money to live on for the time being.)
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