Here I am on the train back to Toronto, having spent five days (six nights) in my own bed in New York City. It was a bit odd to return to New York -- it felt more like four or six weeks since we left than the actual two. Everything in the apartment was pretty much the same, only neater. We had left it neat and our tenant is a meticulous person. In these two weeks, winter arrived in New York. Everyone on the subway was covered from head to toe, men wearing those hats with earflaps, and women in mukluk-type boots.
Well, to backtrack to last Sunday morning. I got the 8:30 a.m. train out of Toronto. Not very crowded, everybody got two seats to spread out in. No Quiet Car on this train, despite their announcement. Turns out a lot of "standard" stuff doesn't apply to these cross-border trains, like checking baggage. But, every seat (every!) has at least one electric plug. So I could use my computer to my heart's content (and no restrictions during takeoff like the airplane). It was a pleasant enough ride, until we got to the border at Niagara Falls, N.Y. about 11 a.m. There, a crowd of U.S. customs officers streamed onto the train, for all the world like storm troopers. The uniforms seemed to be modeled on the Germans in WWII, and they had a dog!! It took about 45 minutes for them to do their thing. First interviewing every passenger and examining their passport ("Where are you going? Why? Where have you come from? Why? What is your business?" etc., etc. in creepy detail). Then, they had us bring all our bags to our seat (from the large-luggage area at the end of the car, if necessary, or down from the overhead bins, and we were herded into a neighboring car, leaving our luggage for them to paw through. Which they apparently did, since on returning to my seat about 15 minutes later, I found my book-box unstrapped, though it was empty. Then they took a few people off the train ("Bring all your possessions!"), including a Chinese woman sitting across the aisle from me. Spooky. About half an hour later, she returned, smiling, so I guess nothing sinister happened, but the prelude was scary enough for me. Altogether, the whole experience made me vow never again to complain about the security procedures at the airport!
The rest of the journey (another 9 hours) was uneventful, except that the toilets got full and I had to go to the next car to pee. We passed over the Niagara River gorge, which was pretty spectacular, even though I couldn't see any Falls, but the rest of the scenery was mostly snowy fields, and sunshine. I had plenty of food and a book and Sudoku and my computer, so I had no trouble amusing myself, and even felt good about being denied fast-moving electronics for a day (TV and Internet). Oh, and I had some nice music on my computer and a headset, so all in all, the 13-hour trip was actually quite painless. We arrived in Penn Station at 9:30, about 15 minutes ahead of schedule, and I was home by 10 p.m. (Light luggage, mostly empty containers for the return trip, so I just took the subway.)
I was keyed up, so I opened a lot of mail (two weeks' mail turns out to fill a plastic milk crate, nearly all junk), chatted with Kristin and watched some junk TV with her. Plugged in my computer, checked my email, etc., went to bed about 1 a.m. For the next five days, I did a lot of paper work -- my mom's affairs and mine. Made phone calls to 800 numbers, caught up on filing, like that. Another time-consuming activity was assembling all the "mother ship" items, deciding how much I could take and strategizing on how to pack them. I also went to physical therapy (for my ankle) three times and did exercises at home, took two runs, attended a friend's book party, and square-danced one evening. Not a bad trip. At square dancing, people seemed much more pleased to see me than usual -- their eyes sparkled when they asked about Toronto. I guess the sort of big change that we are doing is more purely exciting in the abstract than in the actuality. Not that it isn't exciting for us, but it's also a lot of other emotions.
Still another concern was how I would return to Toronto -- train or airplane. I checked possible air routes and fares, including the possibility of using frequent flyer miles. The airlines allow two checked items and one carry-on suitcase, but the train just the two. I checked whether Greyhound or Amtrak would be willing to transport extra luggage -- answer is no! I also worked out a tentative schedule for these return trips -- four weeks in Toronto, then one week in New York. I factored in the requirement that for health coverage in Canada, I cannot be out of Canada for more than 30 days in the first six months, so I scheduled five trips of 6 days each. Then I tried pricing trips in advance. After an unreasonable amount of research and thought, I decided to return by train, and probably to do future trips by train. The downside is: creepy customs experience, less baggage allowed, takes a lot of time. The upside is: much cheaper ($160 round trip vs. the very cheapest air I could get for $266, and that only on sale, otherwise $350 and up), don't have to schedule far in advance, can use the time to keep my email under control, read books, etc., and getting to and from the train station is much easier/cheaper than to the airport(s). So I booked a return ticket with Amtrak over the phone ($5 more than from the Canadian ViaRail -- next time I'll buy a round trip in Toronto!).
While I was in New York, Fumiko and I talked twice a day by Skype-phone (free between members), if not more. We have been together so much in the past few months that it was odd to be apart, and we both missed each other. According to her report, there was colder weather and more snow in Toronto. She enjoyed, and profited from, the job-finding workshop that she attended. Four nights, 16 hours -- and she tells me that the instructor will go on mentoring each person in the class from now on. The instructor's office is in the same building where Fumiko will be taking ESL classes starting on Monday.
All in all, my days in New York weren't jam-packed. I had plenty of time to watch TV, mostly programs that my DVR had recorded in my absence. And I made a point of being "visible" in my building, saying hello and making eye contact with any building staff I ran into. On my next trip, in late February, I plan to do income tax for myself and for my mother, so that should keep me busy. And the trip after that, in late March, will be for getting a dental implant (I had the extraction in December, and one has to wait three months for the root to heal), using my U.S. dental insurance to advantage. I could also use the extra time to continue winnowing down my possessions. Having made some tentative inquiries about international moving, it seems not only expensive but very aggravating, so less rather than more would be good. It seems that it might easy for us to just drive across the border in a van or truck with our stuff in it and show our immigration inventory list, now officially stamped, whereas to consign stuff to a big moving company is more complicated. I'll have to investigate this further.
The last couple of days of this trip, I worried a lot about how, or whether, to bring everything on our "wish list," and Fumiko kept asking for a little this and a little that as the week progressed -- while she also said, don't endanger your health! I packed the book-box (a very strong thing I acquired years ago when I was going back and forth to Japan a lot, designed to hold just 50 pounds of heavy stuff) tightly, and then stuffed my carry-on-size suitcase to the gills; each was exactly 50 pounds, by the bathroom scale. But there were still things left over. So, I bit the bullet and put more stuff in the large duffel bag and then inserted the suitcase into the duffel bag also! It was not quite stretched to its full length of three feet, so I thought I could just about manage the two of them on my luggage cart, total 100 pounds. Then my laptop and a couple of books went into my backpack (very heavy). My plot was to manage to bring the refrigerator containers ("Tupperware") that Fumiko wanted by packing my food into them and carrying them in a paper shopping bag. I thought that probably the train officials wouldn't question me about that. But then, there were still a lot of little things that popped up at the last minute (always are, right?), so I found an expandable cloth bag from Japan and put them all in that. At the end, I had two "official" items, plus a backpack, plus two "extra" hand items. And that handled absolutely everything!
It worked! I managed to stagger down to the street with it all and hail a cab, and then some enterprising guy lurking outside Penn Station got the two big ones down the stairs for me. (Can you believe that there was an up escalator, but only stairs (two flights!) from Eighth Avenue to the main floor at Penn Station??) Actually, the guy was kind of old and I wasn't sure he could actually make it down those stairs with the second 50-lb. load. He did, but just as he landed, a youth who was helping another woman fell down three or four steps and started bleeding on the floor right in front of us! We started to get help, but he recovered and dashed off, leaving a small pool of blood. My helper seemed reluctant to take me further, so I guess that they are not allowed in the station itself, just from the street to the station, in the absence of any official redcaps to do this job. Again, doesn't seem like a good arrangement to me. From my sample of two, these guys working for tips are not really up to it.
Anyway, again I managed to get my stuff the short distance to the ticket window, and then to the gate without help. When the train was announced I hailed a redcap, who had no trouble in installing me in the proper car. In fact, it turns out that if you're with a redcap, the official at the top of the escalator who is checking everyone's ticket just waves you through, bypassing a fairly long line!
Sitting on the train, listening to the Mamas and the Papas, gazing out on the sunlit Hudson River, I'm eager to get to Toronto -- home is where Fumiko is!
Later: We crossed the border into Canada about 4:30 p.m., but the Canadian Customs were much nicer. They didn't open anything (though they did ask a lot of questions). I had to justify having two residences, and then I pulled out my inventory sheet and they initialed everything I had marked as coming in today. I felt a little stupid for listing (and then marking) some pretty valueless items, so I won't bother with that next time, just appliances and things. But it was quite a painless, even pleasant, process today.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Saturday, January 19, 2008
01/19/08: More of the same
Thursday after breakfast, I went for my first run in High Park. (In New York, I jog about 1.25 miles two or three times a week, around the Reservoir in Central Park.) I didn't have my little water bottle, and I wasn't really dressed warmly enough on top, it turned out, so I made it a short one. It was very nice, though. The park is hardly used at all, it seems, just a couple of runners, and a couple of moms with toddlers. As in Central Park, I enjoy the close contact with Nature, even if it's cold and the ground and ponds are frozen.
We had lunch and then set off on the subway to the center (Yonge and Bloor) for Fumiko's language assessment test appointment. She was really nervous, and it took about an hour -- all four skills, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Her tester was kind and encouraging, and after it was over said Fumiko had done well, placing into Level 5 of seven levels. Fumiko decided to start the ESL class on Monday, Jan. 28th, since she is registered for a 16-hour jobs workshop next week. The ESL class is five days a week, 9 to 2:30! And all this is free, from the government, which is eager to turn immigrants into tax-paying workers as quickly as possible.
While Fumiko was testing, I visited a couple of banks to discuss my money-changing problems. In conclusion, it seems the best way to transfer money is just to think ahead (about a month ahead) and deposit a $US check into my Canadian account. It will be credited as Canadian dollars on the day of deposit, but the funds will be frozen for about a month while the money is transferred; there is no fee for this, just time. The only reason to open an $US account in Canada is if I wish to control the timing of currency conversion more closely. I don't think I do. By the way, in the course of these discussions, I learned a few useful translations: GIC (guaranteed investment certificate) here is what we call a CD (certificate of deposit) in the U.S., and an IRA in the U.S. seems to be similar to the Canadian RRSP (registered retirement savings plan).
We then went to Union Station to buy my train ticket to New York for Sunday. There is a separate Amtrak window there for this purpose, but I paid in Canadian dollars ($79.00 one way). Suddenly anxious about the return procedure, I called Amtrak and they say that I can buy a one-way ticket back in New York, for $82.80.
In the evening, I had a nice Skype chat with friend Mike in Ottawa, and as a result was finally able to set up the TV with a list of channels that we are actually interested in. Took me about 45 minutes to do this, armed with PDF lists of channels from the provider (on my Mac screen, since I have no printer yet), one in numerical order and one in alphabetical order. Mike suggested buying TV Guide to learn more about each channel, and I will do that.
On Friday morning, both Fumiko and I had a run in High Park, taking a somewhat different path than I did the previous day. It was very cold and the wind is fierce -- the TV said the temperature was at freezing, plus another minus-13 degrees in wind chill! We had to keep moving, and did pretty well, alternating jogging and walking for about 40 minutes. On the way home we walked through the residential area (we like to look at all the various house styles), and we found an abandoned piece of furniture on the sidewalk that we liked and managed to lug home, about two blocks. It is a walnut-veneer small low cabinet, the shape of an end table. We are currently using it as a small bench/table in the entry hall. Considering that it had frozen ice droplets on it when we found it, it cleaned up very well. Our landlord came by and coveted it!
It was a beautiful sunny day, so although it was a shame to stay indoors, we did just that for most of the rest of the day. (We are still having wireless outages for parts of most days, but I have discovered another open network connection in the neighborhood that doesn't seem to mind me using it -- no password, anyway -- and is generally available when our landlord's network isn't.) About 5:30 (after dark), we ventured out to pick up some grocery items. Looking for peanut butter, we happened upon a small convenience store (from the outside it looks like a movie theatre!) that has a side business of renting DVDs. At $3 for new movies (1 night) or $2 for older ones (2 nights), it's a bargain, and also not far from our house. The cashier is a Korean woman who took an instant liking to us and wanted to know where we were from, etc. We rented "Hairspray" for $3. At home, we found (no surprise by this time!) that playing a DVD here is not a trivial matter. First we had to climb up on a chair to examine the DVD player, which is perched on the top shelf of the entertainment unit. Using all of our limited skills, we could not get it to work. We called the landlord, and he came down, took off his shoes (did I mention his wife is Korean?), and all but took the entire entertainment unit apart, tightening and/or moving plugs, lying on his belly to get at cables underneath it, etc. Finally he got it working. No sooner had he left, though, than we realized the picture was so dark and the colors so lurid that you could hardly tell what was going on; it showed a decent picture only intermittently, and fiddling with the TV controls didn't seem to help. We eventually discovered that by climbing up and wiggling cables on the DVD player ever so slightly, the correct picture would snap back into place. We had to do this about every 30-45 minutes for the duration of the movie, so it got to seem like a routine adjustment. We both enjoyed the movie, though Fumiko thought it rather "old-fashioned."
Saturday: On awaking, we see about an inch of snow on the ground, but by 9 a.m. it has all melted, leaving another sunny day but cold, and with a large wind-chill factor again. People are now dressing the way we imagined Canadians would be: heavy boots, big hoods and mittens, etc. The homeless woman who gently offers copies of Street News, and from whom we bought one the day before yesterday, is at her post even on this very cold day. We take our daily walk on Roncesvalles Avenue, walking north to what we thought was a major intersection at Dundas Street West, but there isn't really much there: a branch of our bank, and The Beer Store, and a nice revival movie house that charges only $5-6 and shows both new (well, almost new) and classic movies. A good walk, though. On our way home, we stop at the library and Fumiko exchanges a couple of books for possibly better ones.
Sidebar: Pronunciation of local names is always tricky. No logic applies. Here, the French-looking "Roncesvalles" is spoken like "Rahn-sess-vales" and I have to keep practicing it to myself. "Dundas" is not "Dun-dus" with the second vowel almost silent, as I would think, but "Dun-dass" to rhyme with "one glass." "Spadina" rhymes with "vagina" (sorry, but it's a good match!).
I glance at the newspaper that I bought (the Globe and Mail, which seems to be a national paper, as opposed to the local Toronto Star) and see that Bobby Fischer has died, age 64, three years younger than me. I am riveted, read the whole obituary (a full page, from the New York Times) and then seek out more information on the Internet. The recent picture they show of him looks bizarre, and his life is largely a mystery, so my curiosity is largely unsatisfied.
Fumiko cut my hair (we have exchanged haircuts for many years), and then she set out to do a load of laundry -- towels and bathroom rugs, mostly. However, the students who live in the basement seemed to have the same idea, so it took her hours and many trips before she was able to complete the job. Meanwhile, I worked at assembling the tiny amount of luggage that I will take tomorrow, mostly empty containers to bring things back from New York (just think of it as "the mother ship"). We'll plan to leave for the train at 7 a.m. I have to get in line early to get a "good seat" -- for me, that will be in the quiet car with an electrical outlet nearby, though they say that there are "very few" outlets in the coach section. I'll have 13 hours to kill, so I'd like to be able to use my computer; there is a lot of stuff I can do even without Internet access. I'm also taking two books, today's newspaper (unlike the U.S., the Saturday edition seems to be as big as the Sunday), puzzles of various sorts, Christmas cards to answer, and three meals worth of food. And my neck pillow for naps.
We had lunch and then set off on the subway to the center (Yonge and Bloor) for Fumiko's language assessment test appointment. She was really nervous, and it took about an hour -- all four skills, reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Her tester was kind and encouraging, and after it was over said Fumiko had done well, placing into Level 5 of seven levels. Fumiko decided to start the ESL class on Monday, Jan. 28th, since she is registered for a 16-hour jobs workshop next week. The ESL class is five days a week, 9 to 2:30! And all this is free, from the government, which is eager to turn immigrants into tax-paying workers as quickly as possible.
While Fumiko was testing, I visited a couple of banks to discuss my money-changing problems. In conclusion, it seems the best way to transfer money is just to think ahead (about a month ahead) and deposit a $US check into my Canadian account. It will be credited as Canadian dollars on the day of deposit, but the funds will be frozen for about a month while the money is transferred; there is no fee for this, just time. The only reason to open an $US account in Canada is if I wish to control the timing of currency conversion more closely. I don't think I do. By the way, in the course of these discussions, I learned a few useful translations: GIC (guaranteed investment certificate) here is what we call a CD (certificate of deposit) in the U.S., and an IRA in the U.S. seems to be similar to the Canadian RRSP (registered retirement savings plan).
We then went to Union Station to buy my train ticket to New York for Sunday. There is a separate Amtrak window there for this purpose, but I paid in Canadian dollars ($79.00 one way). Suddenly anxious about the return procedure, I called Amtrak and they say that I can buy a one-way ticket back in New York, for $82.80.
In the evening, I had a nice Skype chat with friend Mike in Ottawa, and as a result was finally able to set up the TV with a list of channels that we are actually interested in. Took me about 45 minutes to do this, armed with PDF lists of channels from the provider (on my Mac screen, since I have no printer yet), one in numerical order and one in alphabetical order. Mike suggested buying TV Guide to learn more about each channel, and I will do that.
On Friday morning, both Fumiko and I had a run in High Park, taking a somewhat different path than I did the previous day. It was very cold and the wind is fierce -- the TV said the temperature was at freezing, plus another minus-13 degrees in wind chill! We had to keep moving, and did pretty well, alternating jogging and walking for about 40 minutes. On the way home we walked through the residential area (we like to look at all the various house styles), and we found an abandoned piece of furniture on the sidewalk that we liked and managed to lug home, about two blocks. It is a walnut-veneer small low cabinet, the shape of an end table. We are currently using it as a small bench/table in the entry hall. Considering that it had frozen ice droplets on it when we found it, it cleaned up very well. Our landlord came by and coveted it!
It was a beautiful sunny day, so although it was a shame to stay indoors, we did just that for most of the rest of the day. (We are still having wireless outages for parts of most days, but I have discovered another open network connection in the neighborhood that doesn't seem to mind me using it -- no password, anyway -- and is generally available when our landlord's network isn't.) About 5:30 (after dark), we ventured out to pick up some grocery items. Looking for peanut butter, we happened upon a small convenience store (from the outside it looks like a movie theatre!) that has a side business of renting DVDs. At $3 for new movies (1 night) or $2 for older ones (2 nights), it's a bargain, and also not far from our house. The cashier is a Korean woman who took an instant liking to us and wanted to know where we were from, etc. We rented "Hairspray" for $3. At home, we found (no surprise by this time!) that playing a DVD here is not a trivial matter. First we had to climb up on a chair to examine the DVD player, which is perched on the top shelf of the entertainment unit. Using all of our limited skills, we could not get it to work. We called the landlord, and he came down, took off his shoes (did I mention his wife is Korean?), and all but took the entire entertainment unit apart, tightening and/or moving plugs, lying on his belly to get at cables underneath it, etc. Finally he got it working. No sooner had he left, though, than we realized the picture was so dark and the colors so lurid that you could hardly tell what was going on; it showed a decent picture only intermittently, and fiddling with the TV controls didn't seem to help. We eventually discovered that by climbing up and wiggling cables on the DVD player ever so slightly, the correct picture would snap back into place. We had to do this about every 30-45 minutes for the duration of the movie, so it got to seem like a routine adjustment. We both enjoyed the movie, though Fumiko thought it rather "old-fashioned."
Saturday: On awaking, we see about an inch of snow on the ground, but by 9 a.m. it has all melted, leaving another sunny day but cold, and with a large wind-chill factor again. People are now dressing the way we imagined Canadians would be: heavy boots, big hoods and mittens, etc. The homeless woman who gently offers copies of Street News, and from whom we bought one the day before yesterday, is at her post even on this very cold day. We take our daily walk on Roncesvalles Avenue, walking north to what we thought was a major intersection at Dundas Street West, but there isn't really much there: a branch of our bank, and The Beer Store, and a nice revival movie house that charges only $5-6 and shows both new (well, almost new) and classic movies. A good walk, though. On our way home, we stop at the library and Fumiko exchanges a couple of books for possibly better ones.
Sidebar: Pronunciation of local names is always tricky. No logic applies. Here, the French-looking "Roncesvalles" is spoken like "Rahn-sess-vales" and I have to keep practicing it to myself. "Dundas" is not "Dun-dus" with the second vowel almost silent, as I would think, but "Dun-dass" to rhyme with "one glass." "Spadina" rhymes with "vagina" (sorry, but it's a good match!).
I glance at the newspaper that I bought (the Globe and Mail, which seems to be a national paper, as opposed to the local Toronto Star) and see that Bobby Fischer has died, age 64, three years younger than me. I am riveted, read the whole obituary (a full page, from the New York Times) and then seek out more information on the Internet. The recent picture they show of him looks bizarre, and his life is largely a mystery, so my curiosity is largely unsatisfied.
Fumiko cut my hair (we have exchanged haircuts for many years), and then she set out to do a load of laundry -- towels and bathroom rugs, mostly. However, the students who live in the basement seemed to have the same idea, so it took her hours and many trips before she was able to complete the job. Meanwhile, I worked at assembling the tiny amount of luggage that I will take tomorrow, mostly empty containers to bring things back from New York (just think of it as "the mother ship"). We'll plan to leave for the train at 7 a.m. I have to get in line early to get a "good seat" -- for me, that will be in the quiet car with an electrical outlet nearby, though they say that there are "very few" outlets in the coach section. I'll have 13 hours to kill, so I'd like to be able to use my computer; there is a lot of stuff I can do even without Internet access. I'm also taking two books, today's newspaper (unlike the U.S., the Saturday edition seems to be as big as the Sunday), puzzles of various sorts, Christmas cards to answer, and three meals worth of food. And my neck pillow for naps.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
01/16/08: A walk in High Park, first snow, and shopping, shopping
Monday it rained in the morning -- not unusual here. Morning seem to be cloudy and it rains at least once a day lately. Fumiko calls it "mountain weather," though it's more likely to be "lake weather." We holed up inside, surfing the Internet as we very often do, on one mission or another. However, there was no Internet! For several hours! We were appalled. This also happened yesterday, so today I called the landlord and explained that we had to have Internet -- virtually all the time -- or we would move. He was duly impressed and promised to take steps.
By late morning, the sun was peeking through, so we dressed warmly (we don't actually have a thermometer and our apartment is so warm we have no idea how to dress for outdoors...) and headed for High Park, two blocks away. Like Central Park, High Park is a mix of manicured and wild. Near where we entered, we found a small pond surrounded by about 30 beautiful black geese who hardly noticed us as we walked by a few feet from them. We headed for the part marked "zoo" on the map, and walked along a road with animal pens on each side -- deer, wild sheep, buffalo, about 15 species in all, and some spectacular peacocks ("peafowl" on the sign). The animals are those which can live outdoors all year round, though there seem to be rough cabins or huts in each enclosure. We climbed up a hill and there is a cafe at the top, with a parking lot and a number of customers. Fumiko had heard on the Japanese grapevine that the food was good here, but the coffee terrible! We didn't take any chances.
We continued on, down another road that led to Colborne Lodge, home of the former owner (named John Howard, just to be confusing), who donated the land as a park to the City of Toronto on his death. The lodge was closed today, but seems to house a small museum. We could see a largeish lake down below, called Grenadier Pond, and beyond that Lake Ontario itself, which stretched to the curved horizon like a calm ocean. We walked down the hill, across an avenue, under a highway overpass, across another road, and found ourselves at the lakeshore (called a "beach" here, and indeed it is sandy). Very nice. I like to be near water. A large bathhouse-looking building was located at that spot, and a walking/cycling path passed by and seemed to go on for quite a distance in both directions. Not many people about on this chilly day.
By now feeling we had had a good outing, we backtracked to the avenue and caught a trolley towards downtown. Fumiko had found an agency that offers counseling to new immigrants and we headed there. It was in a rather posh office and I began to worry that she had misunderstood and would be charged a fee. But no, it really was government-funded and free. I waited outside while Fumiko had her consultation. They recommended that Fumiko take a language assessment test and sign up for a job-finding workshop.
We then went to nearby Queen Street, which has a lot of trendy shops -- lots of furniture stores, for some reason, as well as nightclubs and restaurants. We wandered along it looking in windows, and stopped for french-fried onion rings at a fast-food chain; not as good as New York, says Fumiko.
So wandering, we happened on a The Beer Store! A regular storefront, but when we entered it was very crowded and noisy. After our eyes and ears adjusted a bit, we saw that it was filled with street people who were cashing in beer bottles and cans. The cans/bottles had to be put into plastic bins provided and then placed on a rolling conveyor to the cash register. I think the transfer from bag to bin, and then the conveyor belt, was causing the noise. On the wall was a huge chart of all the brands and sizes and prices that were available -- about a hundred brands, and each had 2-8 prices (6 small cans, 12 large bottles, etc.). It took us a while to digest all this, but eventually we bought a six-pack of Schlitz large cans for $10.80 -- only six because we now had to lug them home on the trolley.
Getting tired, and the usual late-afternoon rain/sleet startiing to fall, we head home by trolley. (Four or five trolley lines ply their way across town from the downtown center to outlying areas both east and west. Trolley #504 goes along King Street from the core right down our shopping street (Roncesvalles), so we use that a lot; it's much closer and more pleasant than the subway.) Arriving at our door, we see a large potted plant covered in cellophane sitting on the floor -- it's a bush of tiny orchids! My daughter Sarai and her husband have sent a welcome gift and were apparently impressed by my report of high heat -- amazing!
The Internet was robust this evening, so we could pursue our various projects. I am researching various printers: inkjet color, multi- or single-function (problem is the inks are so expensive) or laser black-and-white (cheaper ink but less versatile); then how to give access from two computers -- Ethernet to router, or wireless, or just move the USB cable? Very time-consuming to research this, including consulting stores in U.S. that I know, and then discovering stores in Canada, and then checking Craigslist and Kijiji to see what's available on the gray market. I now have a big spreadsheet of the various possibilities, but I'm still far from a conclusion.
I finally type up a list of problems that we want the landlord to see to -- more light in the kitchen, a tub mat to prevent slips, etc., and email it to him. We are also working on a fairly long list of stuff for me to try and bring up from New York: baking pan, a stapler, file folders, small bedside light, etc., etc. It's hard to accept that there are things we need, that we own, but that we can't make use of, just because they happen to be sitting in New York while we are in Toronto! And if we buy new ones here, then someday we'll have two (or five or six, actually, since we have many duplicates in New York).
Tuesday morning we wake up to see a dusting of snow everywhere -- the first we have seen from the start (not counting remnants of that which fell before we arrived). It looks lovely. The Internet is dependable again this morning. I am moving money around on the Internet, hoping to be able to bring back some cash from New York. (It's either expensive or time-consuming or both to transfer money across national borders, I find. I'm still looking for a solution.) But I may have started too late, so I may not be able to assemble the cash in time to withdraw it before I return to Toronto.
Fumiko registers for her language assessment test on Thursday, and for a Job-Finding Workshop that meets for four evenings next week, while I am away. She does all this, by the way, using Skype, an Internet-based phone service that charges a pittance per call. Since there is no landline phone in the apartment, we depend on that -- the cell phone service I have chosen is 30 cents per minute, so I am stingy with it, at least for now. Skype works pretty well (as long as we have Internet!).
After lunch, we head out for a walk, stopping at the library for Fumiko to check out some leisure reading (well, not completely leisure, since the books are in English). Then we decide to go back to the No Frills supermarket, this time starting at our house, to see if we can find a shortcut. We walk through the residential area, admiring the large houses and lawns, and indeed it is only a 20-minute walk (on our first visit, it took about 45 minutes to walk home). Again we while away an hour or so buying a few staple items and investigating their stock. (Lately, shopping seems to be a major activity...) Coming home near dark, the sidewalks have become icy and we pick our way with care.
The evening's highlight is managing to locate Boston Legal on the TV! A number of my favorite shows are either between seasons or not available in Canada (House? Bones? The Closer?). I enjoy BL, even without the privilege of pausing it as I do in New York with my DVR. (I must research that here...)
Wednesday morning the landlord came to address several of the problems on my list, and we received a second desk from the basement for me to use. After rearranging some furniture, now we each have a fairly adequate workspace, and the kitchen table can be reserved for eating. Another walk-and-shop outing, this time on our local shopping street. We found a funky video store with wonderful ice cream cones: they're called "baby size," but it seemed like a normal single-scoop to me, for $1.25! I bought some new (literally) sweatpants at a second-hand clothing store, and we managed to find some laundry detergent powder in a one-month size (as opposed to what looked like a six-month size or a one-wash size).
I did laundry for the first time at the new apartment. This is rather cumbersome, since the washer and dryer are located in the basement, which is reached by going outdoors, around to the side of the building, unlock a door and use all my strength to wrench it open, and go down a rather dicey set of steps. At least three trips are necessary, since it's not a place one wants to spend more than a few minutes, and I made four trips since I wasn't sure how long it would take to dry (1 hour). Well, not ideal but tolerable, and probably a little better than taking the laundry to the shopping street to do it.
By late morning, the sun was peeking through, so we dressed warmly (we don't actually have a thermometer and our apartment is so warm we have no idea how to dress for outdoors...) and headed for High Park, two blocks away. Like Central Park, High Park is a mix of manicured and wild. Near where we entered, we found a small pond surrounded by about 30 beautiful black geese who hardly noticed us as we walked by a few feet from them. We headed for the part marked "zoo" on the map, and walked along a road with animal pens on each side -- deer, wild sheep, buffalo, about 15 species in all, and some spectacular peacocks ("peafowl" on the sign). The animals are those which can live outdoors all year round, though there seem to be rough cabins or huts in each enclosure. We climbed up a hill and there is a cafe at the top, with a parking lot and a number of customers. Fumiko had heard on the Japanese grapevine that the food was good here, but the coffee terrible! We didn't take any chances.
We continued on, down another road that led to Colborne Lodge, home of the former owner (named John Howard, just to be confusing), who donated the land as a park to the City of Toronto on his death. The lodge was closed today, but seems to house a small museum. We could see a largeish lake down below, called Grenadier Pond, and beyond that Lake Ontario itself, which stretched to the curved horizon like a calm ocean. We walked down the hill, across an avenue, under a highway overpass, across another road, and found ourselves at the lakeshore (called a "beach" here, and indeed it is sandy). Very nice. I like to be near water. A large bathhouse-looking building was located at that spot, and a walking/cycling path passed by and seemed to go on for quite a distance in both directions. Not many people about on this chilly day.
By now feeling we had had a good outing, we backtracked to the avenue and caught a trolley towards downtown. Fumiko had found an agency that offers counseling to new immigrants and we headed there. It was in a rather posh office and I began to worry that she had misunderstood and would be charged a fee. But no, it really was government-funded and free. I waited outside while Fumiko had her consultation. They recommended that Fumiko take a language assessment test and sign up for a job-finding workshop.
We then went to nearby Queen Street, which has a lot of trendy shops -- lots of furniture stores, for some reason, as well as nightclubs and restaurants. We wandered along it looking in windows, and stopped for french-fried onion rings at a fast-food chain; not as good as New York, says Fumiko.
So wandering, we happened on a The Beer Store! A regular storefront, but when we entered it was very crowded and noisy. After our eyes and ears adjusted a bit, we saw that it was filled with street people who were cashing in beer bottles and cans. The cans/bottles had to be put into plastic bins provided and then placed on a rolling conveyor to the cash register. I think the transfer from bag to bin, and then the conveyor belt, was causing the noise. On the wall was a huge chart of all the brands and sizes and prices that were available -- about a hundred brands, and each had 2-8 prices (6 small cans, 12 large bottles, etc.). It took us a while to digest all this, but eventually we bought a six-pack of Schlitz large cans for $10.80 -- only six because we now had to lug them home on the trolley.
Getting tired, and the usual late-afternoon rain/sleet startiing to fall, we head home by trolley. (Four or five trolley lines ply their way across town from the downtown center to outlying areas both east and west. Trolley #504 goes along King Street from the core right down our shopping street (Roncesvalles), so we use that a lot; it's much closer and more pleasant than the subway.) Arriving at our door, we see a large potted plant covered in cellophane sitting on the floor -- it's a bush of tiny orchids! My daughter Sarai and her husband have sent a welcome gift and were apparently impressed by my report of high heat -- amazing!
The Internet was robust this evening, so we could pursue our various projects. I am researching various printers: inkjet color, multi- or single-function (problem is the inks are so expensive) or laser black-and-white (cheaper ink but less versatile); then how to give access from two computers -- Ethernet to router, or wireless, or just move the USB cable? Very time-consuming to research this, including consulting stores in U.S. that I know, and then discovering stores in Canada, and then checking Craigslist and Kijiji to see what's available on the gray market. I now have a big spreadsheet of the various possibilities, but I'm still far from a conclusion.
I finally type up a list of problems that we want the landlord to see to -- more light in the kitchen, a tub mat to prevent slips, etc., and email it to him. We are also working on a fairly long list of stuff for me to try and bring up from New York: baking pan, a stapler, file folders, small bedside light, etc., etc. It's hard to accept that there are things we need, that we own, but that we can't make use of, just because they happen to be sitting in New York while we are in Toronto! And if we buy new ones here, then someday we'll have two (or five or six, actually, since we have many duplicates in New York).
Tuesday morning we wake up to see a dusting of snow everywhere -- the first we have seen from the start (not counting remnants of that which fell before we arrived). It looks lovely. The Internet is dependable again this morning. I am moving money around on the Internet, hoping to be able to bring back some cash from New York. (It's either expensive or time-consuming or both to transfer money across national borders, I find. I'm still looking for a solution.) But I may have started too late, so I may not be able to assemble the cash in time to withdraw it before I return to Toronto.
Fumiko registers for her language assessment test on Thursday, and for a Job-Finding Workshop that meets for four evenings next week, while I am away. She does all this, by the way, using Skype, an Internet-based phone service that charges a pittance per call. Since there is no landline phone in the apartment, we depend on that -- the cell phone service I have chosen is 30 cents per minute, so I am stingy with it, at least for now. Skype works pretty well (as long as we have Internet!).
After lunch, we head out for a walk, stopping at the library for Fumiko to check out some leisure reading (well, not completely leisure, since the books are in English). Then we decide to go back to the No Frills supermarket, this time starting at our house, to see if we can find a shortcut. We walk through the residential area, admiring the large houses and lawns, and indeed it is only a 20-minute walk (on our first visit, it took about 45 minutes to walk home). Again we while away an hour or so buying a few staple items and investigating their stock. (Lately, shopping seems to be a major activity...) Coming home near dark, the sidewalks have become icy and we pick our way with care.
The evening's highlight is managing to locate Boston Legal on the TV! A number of my favorite shows are either between seasons or not available in Canada (House? Bones? The Closer?). I enjoy BL, even without the privilege of pausing it as I do in New York with my DVR. (I must research that here...)
Wednesday morning the landlord came to address several of the problems on my list, and we received a second desk from the basement for me to use. After rearranging some furniture, now we each have a fairly adequate workspace, and the kitchen table can be reserved for eating. Another walk-and-shop outing, this time on our local shopping street. We found a funky video store with wonderful ice cream cones: they're called "baby size," but it seemed like a normal single-scoop to me, for $1.25! I bought some new (literally) sweatpants at a second-hand clothing store, and we managed to find some laundry detergent powder in a one-month size (as opposed to what looked like a six-month size or a one-wash size).
I did laundry for the first time at the new apartment. This is rather cumbersome, since the washer and dryer are located in the basement, which is reached by going outdoors, around to the side of the building, unlock a door and use all my strength to wrench it open, and go down a rather dicey set of steps. At least three trips are necessary, since it's not a place one wants to spend more than a few minutes, and I made four trips since I wasn't sure how long it would take to dry (1 hour). Well, not ideal but tolerable, and probably a little better than taking the laundry to the shopping street to do it.
Sunday, January 13, 2008
01/13/08: Settling in, little by little
On Friday, we moved, loading all our luggage into a van-size taxi and riding the two miles between the guest house and our new apartment. It's taking us some time to unpack and get things the way we like them, but we really like it, warts and all. The landlord is a very cheery and energetic, almost elfin, man, with a young pregnant Korean wife. He's forever fixing, and yet there's always more to do. He installed a new range hood with fan yesterday, which Fumiko coveted. He brought us a 50-ft Ethernet cable for times when the wireless signal is weak. He unclogged the drain in the bathroom sink and replaced the toilet flush ball, which kept gurgling. This morning the heat was off (odd, since usually it's like a sauna in here, and we open windows) -- apparently the pilot light on the furnace went out. This afternoon, we had no Internet for a few hours -- the provider is flaky, he says, but he's already switched twice! We have a little list of more things for him to fix or provide -- but our affection for our new digs is still undimmed.
We went into town on Friday to register for OHIP, the national health insurance. We learned that we couldn't register without a lease or some proof that we had a "permanent" residence (the term is losing meaning for me), but that in any case we wouldn't be eligible for services until April 7, three months after we entered the country, so there's no rush. The health system is administered differently in different provinces, so whoever told Fumiko to rush right down and sign up may have been in Vancouver or somewhere. We also learned that we have to be present for five of the first six months to qualify for health services, and that may be difficult for me. (After the first 6 months, only 5 months in 12 is necessary.) I'll have to inquire further about this.
It's been chilly here, and a few snow flurries. We've been putting a lot of energy into grocery shopping -- we went to a huge Korean supermarket a few subway stops away and Fumiko spent a happy hour there. The nearest "regular" supermarket is quite a hike, or a trolley ride, and the transport fare is $2.25 for Fumiko and $1.50 for me per ride. We walked there yesterday -- an enormous "big box" called No Frills, where the carts are more like small trucks and the sale prices are truly amazing, though the non-sale prices are not so different from the D'Agostino lookalike near our apartment. Incidentally, since the Canadian and U.S. dollar are virtually at par lately, it's easy for me to compare prices directly. The only problem is the occasional gram or kilogram measure (though they do also deal in pound weights). For instance, there was this long thin slab of cheese at No Frills for $3.97. I knew that it was a bargain, but I couldn't immediately tell how much of one. Now I've worked it out: it's marked 520 grams, and 500 grams is about a pound. In New York, I buy 8 oz. of cheese for $2.50 on sale, so this is less than half as expensive as that!
Now that her cold is getting better, Fumiko wants to buy some beer, but it's not simple. Grocery stores and delis can't sell it, or any alcoholic beverage -- only special outlets, apparently. I don't pretend to understand the situation, but we found a site www.thebeerguy.ca that delivers beer and liquor to your door! Another site www.beerhunter.ca maps all the outlets, and shows that the nearest place to buy beer is about a 15-minute walk from our apartment. So I think we'll use thebeerguy!
After trying to use my American credit card to top up our prepaid phone and having it rejected, I tried to apply for a Canadian card online. Got nowhere with my new SIN -- I'm like a newborn with no past at all, at least no financial past! So, we went back to our bank on a snowy Saturday afternoon, and lucked out with a jivey young man who whipped through two applications (so we each build a credit history here, he said) in under 15 minutes! His manager will kindly sign the application, overriding a couple of standard requirements, and in a couple of weeks, hopefully, new cards will arrive in the mail.
We've also struggled with the television: it's a satellite subscription service and it's a multi-day project to learn, mostly by experimentation, how to use the remote. The programs offered seem to be similar to the U.S. (except that there's a lot of French versions -- "Harry Potter et la coupe de feu"), but we haven't figured out how to reduce the list of 500 or so to a manageable few, so we keep scrolling through everything to find something to watch.
Looking ahead, we've planned a trip Feb. 7-10 to visit our only Canadian friends, Mike and Guy in Ottawa, timing it for the Winterlude festival there. We'll go by train, a trip of about 4 hours. I've been there once, square dancing, but Fumiko never has, and we're both looking forward to the change of place, and to having a good visit with Mike and Guy.
And I'm working on travel arrangements for a return visit to New York, perhaps for the week of Jan. 20, to check on my apartment-mate, read the mail, and continue with physical therapy on my ankle. The air fare Toronto to New York is outrageous -- $469 to $722 for round trip -- unless I can find a Deal (as we did to come here last week, when we paid only $150 one way). Otherwise, I'll try to go by bus or train to Buffalo and fly to New York from there. This is a well-known dodge, apparently, by people who need to travel between Toronto and New York often, but I won't be sure about all the wrinkles until I do it once.
We have no landline phone here, so we've been using Skype on Fumiko's computer, trying to use the cell phone sparingly, as those 30-cent minutes mount up quickly. I'll also try to put Skype on my Mac and see if it works okay; I'll have to learn it, I guess, and not just lean on Fumiko. We also went to see about getting a new printer today. (The ethernet printer we had been using in New York since 2001 has aged less than gracefully and is now barely adequate, so we'll leave it there.) Not only are printers expensive, but the ink is shockingly pricey -- $30 and $40 for a single cartridge, and two cartridges are necessary, more than the price of the printer! This needs more research.
My final problem for today is my email. I've been trying to access one of my email accounts as POP mail so I can use my Mac mail client rather than doing it all through a browser, which is clumsy. (In New York, I send everything to the mail account of my provider, so I get it directly rather than over the Internet.) I've juggled about 10 different setup parameters and so far there are still problems. Uuurrrgghhh!
Maybe tomorrow will be the time to explore the park.
We went into town on Friday to register for OHIP, the national health insurance. We learned that we couldn't register without a lease or some proof that we had a "permanent" residence (the term is losing meaning for me), but that in any case we wouldn't be eligible for services until April 7, three months after we entered the country, so there's no rush. The health system is administered differently in different provinces, so whoever told Fumiko to rush right down and sign up may have been in Vancouver or somewhere. We also learned that we have to be present for five of the first six months to qualify for health services, and that may be difficult for me. (After the first 6 months, only 5 months in 12 is necessary.) I'll have to inquire further about this.
It's been chilly here, and a few snow flurries. We've been putting a lot of energy into grocery shopping -- we went to a huge Korean supermarket a few subway stops away and Fumiko spent a happy hour there. The nearest "regular" supermarket is quite a hike, or a trolley ride, and the transport fare is $2.25 for Fumiko and $1.50 for me per ride. We walked there yesterday -- an enormous "big box" called No Frills, where the carts are more like small trucks and the sale prices are truly amazing, though the non-sale prices are not so different from the D'Agostino lookalike near our apartment. Incidentally, since the Canadian and U.S. dollar are virtually at par lately, it's easy for me to compare prices directly. The only problem is the occasional gram or kilogram measure (though they do also deal in pound weights). For instance, there was this long thin slab of cheese at No Frills for $3.97. I knew that it was a bargain, but I couldn't immediately tell how much of one. Now I've worked it out: it's marked 520 grams, and 500 grams is about a pound. In New York, I buy 8 oz. of cheese for $2.50 on sale, so this is less than half as expensive as that!
Now that her cold is getting better, Fumiko wants to buy some beer, but it's not simple. Grocery stores and delis can't sell it, or any alcoholic beverage -- only special outlets, apparently. I don't pretend to understand the situation, but we found a site www.thebeerguy.ca that delivers beer and liquor to your door! Another site www.beerhunter.ca maps all the outlets, and shows that the nearest place to buy beer is about a 15-minute walk from our apartment. So I think we'll use thebeerguy!
After trying to use my American credit card to top up our prepaid phone and having it rejected, I tried to apply for a Canadian card online. Got nowhere with my new SIN -- I'm like a newborn with no past at all, at least no financial past! So, we went back to our bank on a snowy Saturday afternoon, and lucked out with a jivey young man who whipped through two applications (so we each build a credit history here, he said) in under 15 minutes! His manager will kindly sign the application, overriding a couple of standard requirements, and in a couple of weeks, hopefully, new cards will arrive in the mail.
We've also struggled with the television: it's a satellite subscription service and it's a multi-day project to learn, mostly by experimentation, how to use the remote. The programs offered seem to be similar to the U.S. (except that there's a lot of French versions -- "Harry Potter et la coupe de feu"), but we haven't figured out how to reduce the list of 500 or so to a manageable few, so we keep scrolling through everything to find something to watch.
Looking ahead, we've planned a trip Feb. 7-10 to visit our only Canadian friends, Mike and Guy in Ottawa, timing it for the Winterlude festival there. We'll go by train, a trip of about 4 hours. I've been there once, square dancing, but Fumiko never has, and we're both looking forward to the change of place, and to having a good visit with Mike and Guy.
And I'm working on travel arrangements for a return visit to New York, perhaps for the week of Jan. 20, to check on my apartment-mate, read the mail, and continue with physical therapy on my ankle. The air fare Toronto to New York is outrageous -- $469 to $722 for round trip -- unless I can find a Deal (as we did to come here last week, when we paid only $150 one way). Otherwise, I'll try to go by bus or train to Buffalo and fly to New York from there. This is a well-known dodge, apparently, by people who need to travel between Toronto and New York often, but I won't be sure about all the wrinkles until I do it once.
We have no landline phone here, so we've been using Skype on Fumiko's computer, trying to use the cell phone sparingly, as those 30-cent minutes mount up quickly. I'll also try to put Skype on my Mac and see if it works okay; I'll have to learn it, I guess, and not just lean on Fumiko. We also went to see about getting a new printer today. (The ethernet printer we had been using in New York since 2001 has aged less than gracefully and is now barely adequate, so we'll leave it there.) Not only are printers expensive, but the ink is shockingly pricey -- $30 and $40 for a single cartridge, and two cartridges are necessary, more than the price of the printer! This needs more research.
My final problem for today is my email. I've been trying to access one of my email accounts as POP mail so I can use my Mac mail client rather than doing it all through a browser, which is clumsy. (In New York, I send everything to the mail account of my provider, so I get it directly rather than over the Internet.) I've juggled about 10 different setup parameters and so far there are still problems. Uuurrrgghhh!
Maybe tomorrow will be the time to explore the park.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
01/10/08: Getting established in Toronto
Here is the fascinating saga of how, in three days, we graduated from being raw newcomers to having a toehold in Canadian society.
Monday night we acclimated ourselves to our guest house situation, and mined the Toronto Craigslist for possible apartments to see -- furnished and not too far away from public transportation. Our room is in the basement of the guest house. This is a common location for a living space in Toronto, so in retrospect it's good we had this early experience of it. We didn't like it: low ceilings (I have to keep remembering not to stretch my arms upward when I take off a t-shirt), a damp chill, noise from above, and not much daylight. (We later saw a basement apartment which was much better than this, but in general we prefer to be above ground, even for a higher price.) Despite other points of unhappiness with this room, we decided to stick it out rather than spend the better part of a day finding another and moving all our luggage.
Tuesday, our first full day in Toronto, was a day of exploration. Again, it was unseasonably warm, about 50 degrees, but with a stiff cold wind. We learned a bit about the transportation system (which is excellent -- buses and subways are frequent and frequented by all segments of the Toronto population), and bought a ten-trip discount ticket strip. We took a look at a bank account and a cell phone, retreating to do a little more research. We saw three apartments, all in the area a little north of downtown but still well within a bus and subway ride: first was a basement one-bedroom that was not only a basement but tiny, for $999 a month. The second, from the same realtor, was a second-floor "penthouse" (because it's the top floor...) that was pleasant enough but also a little small, for $1249 (this guy thinks like a discount store). The third was a basement apartment in a suburban-type house that was lighter and warmer than one would expect, but a bit small and a little too far from civilization, and the bathroom was located across a semi-public hall from the main apartment. The owner, a charming Asian woman, wanted $975 and a six-month commitment, and we said we'd get back to her. We tried to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, but either we chose poorly, or Fumiko is right that there are no decent restaurants in Toronto (compared to Tokyo -- or even New York). Home, to more Craigslist for me, and an evening of groggily watching TV and fighting off a cold for Fumiko.
On Wednesday, the temperature dropped to 40, but the wind was truly fierce. Though there were more frustrations, ultimately more progress was made. We started early, walking to a 9 a.m. appointment to see a sublet not far away. A single woman had a really lovely two floors, bedroom and den, living, dining and kitchen. She's going away for two months and leaving her apartment and her cat to someone, for $700 a month! Quite amazing. I'm not sure why we weren't more excited by it than we were. Anyway, we submitted references and awaited her decision.
We went to the mall to get a Virgin prepaid-plan cell phone. The process was not without glitches: the Wal-Mart sales girl recommended a particular Samsung phone, and then when we ordered it said it was out of stock! I was disgusted, vowing never to set foot in Wal-Mart again. Then we found an actual Virgin phone kiosk right outside the store, so we went there and succeeded (we thought) in buying a phone.
From there to another mall up the road to open a bank account at Canada Trust. They offer a practically free account for those over 60, even when the person is joint with an under-60 one. However, it took over an hour to accomplish this -- many questions, many papers, currency exchange, etc. I couldn't believe it, and was irritable and twitchy by the time we finally exited the bank with our ATM cards and checks.
On the way home, we bought another 10-trip ticket strip, this time at a senior discount, $15.00 instead of $22.50. I had found out that anyone can buy these, and when youf use them you can be "carded" for over-65 ID, but a New York driver's license is fine!
Home to check email and set up another apartment viewing. We also tried to charge the new cell phone so that we could activate it and start to use it, but the charger plug didn't seem to fit in the phone. Incredulous, I called Virgin and the salesgirl said, "Oh, you must have gotten one of the packages with the wrong charger!" I was livid. "If you know that some have non-matching chargers, why don't you at least warn us so we can check before we leave the store!!??"
So, after lunch we headed back to the mall to exchange the phone, and then on to see a two-bedroom apartment near High Park for $1500. This was more than we had planned to spend, but I am now thinking that we need a place that we are glad to come home to, that nourishes us a bit as we struggle to start a new life, and I think we can afford it. The park itself charmed us -- a largish and partially wild stretch that reminded us of Central Park. The neighborhood was also inviting, with large well-designed houses on hilly plots, and people very neighborly. This particular house is owned by a very talkative man who fixes up and furnishes apartments for weekly rentals in the summer, but lowers the price to rent them monthly during the winter. He seems to be in constant fix-up mode, with a long laundry list of things to be done. However, we loved the apartment (or what we could see of it, since it was under renovation at the moment). An odd layout, with the bath, large master bedroom, and huge kitchen all branching off the entry, then the kitchen leading to a medium-sized living room, and then a small bedroom with bunk beds beyond the living room. So someone sleeping in the small bedroom would have to go through the living room, kitchen, and entryway to reach the bathroom. But it was well heated (t-shirt weather), bright, simply but well decorated, and a little quirky. Something about it really warmed us -- not only our bodies, after two days of clouds and wind and a chilly basement, but also our spirits.
After we left there, we walked two blocks in the other direction to get the trolley on Roncesvalles Avenue and discovered a lovely shopping street with Polish butchers, used book store, a modern library, and a natural foods store selling soy sauce and tofu! The whole situation seemed marvelous and I could imagine days spent at my computer, with time out for a run in the park and/or a stroll along the shopping street or a stop at the library. Life in Toronto began to seem possible.
Fumiko kept saying she is adaptable and can live anywhere, I should decide. I don't like being in that position. Happily, we got home to find an email from the $700 landlady saying that she had chosen another applicant, who got there before us, so I didn't have to make that decision (a good place for $700 or a wonderful one for $1500 is a hard call for me...). I did one more pass on Craigslist and found a few more possibilities and sent off email. Fumiko's cold was worse and she went to bed early.
Thursday: Fumiko was feeling better today, finally. The temperature was near freezing, but we dressed warmly (feeling a little like visiting eskimos as the local people wore jackets...) and did okay. We went downtown, for the first time since we arrived, to see a large one-bedroom on the 28th floor, smack in the center of the business district (Yonge and Gerrard). The apartment was very nice, well furnished with large rooms, and only $1250. The building has sofas in the laundry room (on the second floor), and a swimming pool and saunas for tenant use. It's just REALLY urban -- like being on Times Square in New York. No nature and no neighborhood feeling. It was a test for us -- do we want an apartment without problems in the city, or one with charm and flaws in the "country"?
While pondering this, we had lunch at a not-bad Vietnamese restaurant, and went to a nearby bank to convert Fumiko's yen to about Cdn$4000, and then another bank to deposit it. Bi-cultural couple: we argued about how the ATM would handle a deposit of cash, with Fumiko right on some points, based on her experience in Japan, and me right on others, based on my experience in the U.S. So, it does take cash (in an envelope), but it doesn't count it -- humans later verify the deposit. Japanese ATMs count the cash right then and there.
Then we happened on City Hall and went in to inquire about immigration services. We applied for and received our SINs (like Social Security numbers). This means that we can now apply for a Canadian credit card, not to mention get a job!
By this time, we had pretty much decided on the High Park apartment. We took the trolley from downtown out to there, which took about 30 minutes. We continued to feel good about the neighborhood, and felt we would enjoy the apartment even with its quirks. Fumiko liked the idea of a "spare room," so people could come and visit us even in this early stage of our new life. And she began nagging the owner to fix the kitchen fan (this is something we never had in New York). On our way back to the guest house, we stopped at the library and got cards, using our new address!
So, three days after arriving, we have a bank account, a phone, an apartment, SINs, and library cards! Not bad. Tomorrow we move house!
Monday night we acclimated ourselves to our guest house situation, and mined the Toronto Craigslist for possible apartments to see -- furnished and not too far away from public transportation. Our room is in the basement of the guest house. This is a common location for a living space in Toronto, so in retrospect it's good we had this early experience of it. We didn't like it: low ceilings (I have to keep remembering not to stretch my arms upward when I take off a t-shirt), a damp chill, noise from above, and not much daylight. (We later saw a basement apartment which was much better than this, but in general we prefer to be above ground, even for a higher price.) Despite other points of unhappiness with this room, we decided to stick it out rather than spend the better part of a day finding another and moving all our luggage.
Tuesday, our first full day in Toronto, was a day of exploration. Again, it was unseasonably warm, about 50 degrees, but with a stiff cold wind. We learned a bit about the transportation system (which is excellent -- buses and subways are frequent and frequented by all segments of the Toronto population), and bought a ten-trip discount ticket strip. We took a look at a bank account and a cell phone, retreating to do a little more research. We saw three apartments, all in the area a little north of downtown but still well within a bus and subway ride: first was a basement one-bedroom that was not only a basement but tiny, for $999 a month. The second, from the same realtor, was a second-floor "penthouse" (because it's the top floor...) that was pleasant enough but also a little small, for $1249 (this guy thinks like a discount store). The third was a basement apartment in a suburban-type house that was lighter and warmer than one would expect, but a bit small and a little too far from civilization, and the bathroom was located across a semi-public hall from the main apartment. The owner, a charming Asian woman, wanted $975 and a six-month commitment, and we said we'd get back to her. We tried to treat ourselves to a nice dinner, but either we chose poorly, or Fumiko is right that there are no decent restaurants in Toronto (compared to Tokyo -- or even New York). Home, to more Craigslist for me, and an evening of groggily watching TV and fighting off a cold for Fumiko.
On Wednesday, the temperature dropped to 40, but the wind was truly fierce. Though there were more frustrations, ultimately more progress was made. We started early, walking to a 9 a.m. appointment to see a sublet not far away. A single woman had a really lovely two floors, bedroom and den, living, dining and kitchen. She's going away for two months and leaving her apartment and her cat to someone, for $700 a month! Quite amazing. I'm not sure why we weren't more excited by it than we were. Anyway, we submitted references and awaited her decision.
We went to the mall to get a Virgin prepaid-plan cell phone. The process was not without glitches: the Wal-Mart sales girl recommended a particular Samsung phone, and then when we ordered it said it was out of stock! I was disgusted, vowing never to set foot in Wal-Mart again. Then we found an actual Virgin phone kiosk right outside the store, so we went there and succeeded (we thought) in buying a phone.
From there to another mall up the road to open a bank account at Canada Trust. They offer a practically free account for those over 60, even when the person is joint with an under-60 one. However, it took over an hour to accomplish this -- many questions, many papers, currency exchange, etc. I couldn't believe it, and was irritable and twitchy by the time we finally exited the bank with our ATM cards and checks.
On the way home, we bought another 10-trip ticket strip, this time at a senior discount, $15.00 instead of $22.50. I had found out that anyone can buy these, and when youf use them you can be "carded" for over-65 ID, but a New York driver's license is fine!
Home to check email and set up another apartment viewing. We also tried to charge the new cell phone so that we could activate it and start to use it, but the charger plug didn't seem to fit in the phone. Incredulous, I called Virgin and the salesgirl said, "Oh, you must have gotten one of the packages with the wrong charger!" I was livid. "If you know that some have non-matching chargers, why don't you at least warn us so we can check before we leave the store!!??"
So, after lunch we headed back to the mall to exchange the phone, and then on to see a two-bedroom apartment near High Park for $1500. This was more than we had planned to spend, but I am now thinking that we need a place that we are glad to come home to, that nourishes us a bit as we struggle to start a new life, and I think we can afford it. The park itself charmed us -- a largish and partially wild stretch that reminded us of Central Park. The neighborhood was also inviting, with large well-designed houses on hilly plots, and people very neighborly. This particular house is owned by a very talkative man who fixes up and furnishes apartments for weekly rentals in the summer, but lowers the price to rent them monthly during the winter. He seems to be in constant fix-up mode, with a long laundry list of things to be done. However, we loved the apartment (or what we could see of it, since it was under renovation at the moment). An odd layout, with the bath, large master bedroom, and huge kitchen all branching off the entry, then the kitchen leading to a medium-sized living room, and then a small bedroom with bunk beds beyond the living room. So someone sleeping in the small bedroom would have to go through the living room, kitchen, and entryway to reach the bathroom. But it was well heated (t-shirt weather), bright, simply but well decorated, and a little quirky. Something about it really warmed us -- not only our bodies, after two days of clouds and wind and a chilly basement, but also our spirits.
After we left there, we walked two blocks in the other direction to get the trolley on Roncesvalles Avenue and discovered a lovely shopping street with Polish butchers, used book store, a modern library, and a natural foods store selling soy sauce and tofu! The whole situation seemed marvelous and I could imagine days spent at my computer, with time out for a run in the park and/or a stroll along the shopping street or a stop at the library. Life in Toronto began to seem possible.
Fumiko kept saying she is adaptable and can live anywhere, I should decide. I don't like being in that position. Happily, we got home to find an email from the $700 landlady saying that she had chosen another applicant, who got there before us, so I didn't have to make that decision (a good place for $700 or a wonderful one for $1500 is a hard call for me...). I did one more pass on Craigslist and found a few more possibilities and sent off email. Fumiko's cold was worse and she went to bed early.
Thursday: Fumiko was feeling better today, finally. The temperature was near freezing, but we dressed warmly (feeling a little like visiting eskimos as the local people wore jackets...) and did okay. We went downtown, for the first time since we arrived, to see a large one-bedroom on the 28th floor, smack in the center of the business district (Yonge and Gerrard). The apartment was very nice, well furnished with large rooms, and only $1250. The building has sofas in the laundry room (on the second floor), and a swimming pool and saunas for tenant use. It's just REALLY urban -- like being on Times Square in New York. No nature and no neighborhood feeling. It was a test for us -- do we want an apartment without problems in the city, or one with charm and flaws in the "country"?
While pondering this, we had lunch at a not-bad Vietnamese restaurant, and went to a nearby bank to convert Fumiko's yen to about Cdn$4000, and then another bank to deposit it. Bi-cultural couple: we argued about how the ATM would handle a deposit of cash, with Fumiko right on some points, based on her experience in Japan, and me right on others, based on my experience in the U.S. So, it does take cash (in an envelope), but it doesn't count it -- humans later verify the deposit. Japanese ATMs count the cash right then and there.
Then we happened on City Hall and went in to inquire about immigration services. We applied for and received our SINs (like Social Security numbers). This means that we can now apply for a Canadian credit card, not to mention get a job!
By this time, we had pretty much decided on the High Park apartment. We took the trolley from downtown out to there, which took about 30 minutes. We continued to feel good about the neighborhood, and felt we would enjoy the apartment even with its quirks. Fumiko liked the idea of a "spare room," so people could come and visit us even in this early stage of our new life. And she began nagging the owner to fix the kitchen fan (this is something we never had in New York). On our way back to the guest house, we stopped at the library and got cards, using our new address!
So, three days after arriving, we have a bank account, a phone, an apartment, SINs, and library cards! Not bad. Tomorrow we move house!
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
01/07/08: To Toronto and PR status
Well, we made it! Step by step, conquering each anxiety and obstacle as it arrived.
We woke up early, as usual, but had enough time to do everything -- me pack my stuff and Fumiko to bring the apartment to her high standard of neatness and clear out the refrigerator. At the last minute, there was a flurry, since the car service did not call ahead 20 minutes, but only when the driver had arrived, and it took us 15 minutes to wrangle all our stuff down to the curb. The driver was pleasant, helped us to stuff all 8 items into the sedan, and we were at LaGuardia by 11:30.
Waited a while to check in. The clerk barely glanced at the scale, she was so busy talking to the clerk next door, so our four heavy pieces, which we thought might be barely under the weight limit, flew through. Then we were stuck with three luggage carts, they wouldn't check them through, but at the gate again the official didn't even glance at our luggage. An uneventful and seemingly brief flight.
In Toronto, it was overcast and drizzling, but very warm, just like New York. I carried my down coat around. First stop is customs, with the standard little card to fill out. Perhaps just to be perverse, I listed "two oranges and bread" on our card. Fumiko was beside herself. Fifteen minutes wait, but we just missed a flood of incoming people, so we felt lucky. "What is the purpose of your visit today?" "We're landing!" Oranges were noted, but no problem.
Then to Immigration, which was empty, so no wait. A pleasant and rather silent young woman filled in the multi-part forms we had brought from the consulate in New York and, in about ten minutes, we had been accepted and our permanent residence (PR) cards were in the works, to be mailed to the lawyer's office since we don't have an address yet.
Then we claimed our luggage and went to stand in a long line for people who can't be waved through customs (missing bags, duty to pay, etc.). This was a pain, and rather unpleasant, surrounded by people being interrogated and luggage being pawed through. I took a picture of Fumiko and our luggage, but an official called out that it was not permitted, so I stopped at one. At last we were called, and a very charming young man was highly impressed with my inventory list. Didn't open anything. We told him about freecycle and he told us about kijiji. After about 20 minutes, we were duly admitted, with an officially stamped copy of my list.
Then to the taxi line. After some investigating, it developed that $52 was the bottom price for so many bags, and so we waited about half an hour in the "van line" for a large-size taxi, and then another half hour negotiating rush-hour traffic. Finally arrived at the guest house at 5:30 p.m. Happily, the daughter of the proprietor was there to welcome us. Mission complete!
We woke up early, as usual, but had enough time to do everything -- me pack my stuff and Fumiko to bring the apartment to her high standard of neatness and clear out the refrigerator. At the last minute, there was a flurry, since the car service did not call ahead 20 minutes, but only when the driver had arrived, and it took us 15 minutes to wrangle all our stuff down to the curb. The driver was pleasant, helped us to stuff all 8 items into the sedan, and we were at LaGuardia by 11:30.
Waited a while to check in. The clerk barely glanced at the scale, she was so busy talking to the clerk next door, so our four heavy pieces, which we thought might be barely under the weight limit, flew through. Then we were stuck with three luggage carts, they wouldn't check them through, but at the gate again the official didn't even glance at our luggage. An uneventful and seemingly brief flight.
In Toronto, it was overcast and drizzling, but very warm, just like New York. I carried my down coat around. First stop is customs, with the standard little card to fill out. Perhaps just to be perverse, I listed "two oranges and bread" on our card. Fumiko was beside herself. Fifteen minutes wait, but we just missed a flood of incoming people, so we felt lucky. "What is the purpose of your visit today?" "We're landing!" Oranges were noted, but no problem.
Then to Immigration, which was empty, so no wait. A pleasant and rather silent young woman filled in the multi-part forms we had brought from the consulate in New York and, in about ten minutes, we had been accepted and our permanent residence (PR) cards were in the works, to be mailed to the lawyer's office since we don't have an address yet.
Then we claimed our luggage and went to stand in a long line for people who can't be waved through customs (missing bags, duty to pay, etc.). This was a pain, and rather unpleasant, surrounded by people being interrogated and luggage being pawed through. I took a picture of Fumiko and our luggage, but an official called out that it was not permitted, so I stopped at one. At last we were called, and a very charming young man was highly impressed with my inventory list. Didn't open anything. We told him about freecycle and he told us about kijiji. After about 20 minutes, we were duly admitted, with an officially stamped copy of my list.
Then to the taxi line. After some investigating, it developed that $52 was the bottom price for so many bags, and so we waited about half an hour in the "van line" for a large-size taxi, and then another half hour negotiating rush-hour traffic. Finally arrived at the guest house at 5:30 p.m. Happily, the daughter of the proprietor was there to welcome us. Mission complete!
01/06/08: Tomorrow is the day!
So, we're about ready. I can't believe it. I was sure we'd be madly doing a million things at the last minute, but I have time to re-reorganize the back of the linen closet! Fumiko is taking a lot of stuff, but I plan to be back in New York every few weeks for a while, so initially I'm just taking daily necessities. Fumiko will use all of our four checked luggage allowance for herself, and she has packed and repacked now umpteen times, to get everything within the size and weight limits.
I have reworked the inventory list a number of times, and am now satisfied that, despite being more than necessary, it is at least internally consistent and as accurate as I could make it. I've used the acquisition date of "<1980" liberally, allowing myself thus to ignore all details older than 27 years! The list comes to 14 pages (two parts: Goods Entering Now and Goods to Come), about 450 lines, and a total value for all our possessions (excluding money and securities) of $11,750.
At almost the last minute, I settled on a paying house-sitter who seems quiet and dependable, so I'm relieved not to have to leave the apartment empty. Her name is Kristin, and she's pleased that I can leave her a spare computer (the iMac that I have recently replaced with a portable iBook), and in turn I've asked her to check her email twice a day, at least. For the time being, email will be the only way to contact us. We have purchased a wireless adapter for Fumiiko's XP computer (my MacOSX of course comes with!), so we are set to take advantage of the free connections that seem to be liberally offered at hotels and sublets in Toronto.
The last week has been pretty depressing, so many possessions everywhere and the process of sorting, purging, organizing, and storing seemed endless. We both dragged around the apartment in a fog, taking every excuse to watch television and/or work sudoku puzzles. Finally, on Friday morning, I got a cold, which allowed me to be lazy with dignity. By this morning (Sunday), it seems to have cleared up, thank the goddess!
I have reworked the inventory list a number of times, and am now satisfied that, despite being more than necessary, it is at least internally consistent and as accurate as I could make it. I've used the acquisition date of "<1980" liberally, allowing myself thus to ignore all details older than 27 years! The list comes to 14 pages (two parts: Goods Entering Now and Goods to Come), about 450 lines, and a total value for all our possessions (excluding money and securities) of $11,750.
At almost the last minute, I settled on a paying house-sitter who seems quiet and dependable, so I'm relieved not to have to leave the apartment empty. Her name is Kristin, and she's pleased that I can leave her a spare computer (the iMac that I have recently replaced with a portable iBook), and in turn I've asked her to check her email twice a day, at least. For the time being, email will be the only way to contact us. We have purchased a wireless adapter for Fumiiko's XP computer (my MacOSX of course comes with!), so we are set to take advantage of the free connections that seem to be liberally offered at hotels and sublets in Toronto.
The last week has been pretty depressing, so many possessions everywhere and the process of sorting, purging, organizing, and storing seemed endless. We both dragged around the apartment in a fog, taking every excuse to watch television and/or work sudoku puzzles. Finally, on Friday morning, I got a cold, which allowed me to be lazy with dignity. By this morning (Sunday), it seems to have cleared up, thank the goddess!
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