We've had a lot of sun lately, and only a little snow, then rain. This is a huge relief after so much snow, most recently a two-day blizzard a couple of weeks ago that completely undid the previous melt. Now that snow is slowly melting, hopefully for good. We can see pavements and lawns on one side of the street, facing south, and the downtown area has only a few muddy snowpiles here and there. The temperature still hovers around freezing, but lots of sun gives a modicum of warmth and hope. A newspaper report here surprised me by showing that the Toronto snowfall this year -- 70 inches, which is close to the all-time record for the city -- was much less than many other Canadian cities. Ottawa has had twice as much as Toronto, Montreal almost twice as much, and a place called Corner Brook, Newfoundland, has had almost three times as much, so we're actually lucky! Of major cities, only Vancouver was not on this list, so I guess they don't get much. (For comparison, New York City averages under 30 inches a year, though I can't find a figure for this year.)
It's been almost a month since I last posted. Early in March, Fumiko completed the various procedures (and payments) necessary to get an Ontario driver's licence (two trips to the Japanese consulate, one trip to the downtown government center, and a total of $95). Then she parlayed that into identification necessary for registration for national health insurance. So, she's all set! I won't get a driver's licence, as I don't intend to drive -- my eyes are getting worse (cataracts), and an accident a couple of years ago has left me permanently skittish. I'll go for a health card sometime soon, even though I have good insurance in the States, and as long as I go back and forth like this, I'm unlikely to need any in Canada.
Fumiko has also been working hard at job-hunting. It's not easy, since the jobs she's interested in don't have a standard title or description, or even a standard "industry." During the recent "March break" week of no school, she revised her resume and wrote a two-page description of her last job in Japan -- managing a group home for developmentally disabled adults. Now she's trying to network, and to identify possible employers (social agencies) and send out her paperwork to them.
I've been continuing my leisurely life. I've attended a few linguistic colloquia at the University of Toronto, and quite a few plays, both professional and "community" theatre (which hardly exists in New York City). I've found that some theatres use volunteer ushers, as in New York. I enjoy going to new neighborhoods, under some pretext or other, and tramping about. It occurred to me that during my forty years in New York, I probably traversed every inch of sidewalk south of 120th Street at least once... We both spent a Saturday walking the length of Queen Street, popping into galleries and having lunch at a cafe, ending up at the Garden Show at the convention center, tired but happy.
We went square dancing with the Triangle Squares gay club, and Fumiko decided to join their Plus level class for the rest of the term. They have a number of events scheduled, but I've registered for a Saturday morning class for six weeks starting in April (on land use in Toronto) that makes it impossible to go to most of them, which are on Saturdays. Ditto for Saturday hikes scheduled by the Out & Out group I joined. However, there is a fly-in (weekend-long square dance event) in May, so we can go to that.
As a couple, we were featured (anonymously) in a news story in a NYC gay paper about same-sex couples emigrating: http://tinyurl.com/3aujju (let me know if/when this URL stops working...) It was done with one telephone interview, and I think the reporter did a good job. We wouldn't let him use a picture of us, so he featured High Park instead! Clever.
Last weekend was Easter, which seems to be a much bigger deal in Toronto than it was in New York. Lots of flowers on sale everywhere. Good Friday a national holiday, with most stores closed as well. Then, most close again on Sunday, and a number of stores and offices are also closed on Monday. One has to stock up on Thursday and Saturday, and stores were crowded on those days. Fumiko had a four-day holiday from school. There was a biggish parade in the east end of town on Sunday, though we didn't go. We had gone to the St. Patrick's parade, which was pretty feeble by New York standards. The Easter parade promised to be better, but we each had made other plans for that day. Next year.
Did you know that the population of Canada is only 33 million? Compared to Japan 128 million and U.S. 303. The Toronto metropolitan area is 5 million, New York 20 million, and Tokyo 33 million. So, greater Tokyo has about the same population as the nation of Canada!
More on language: Fumiko and I had an argument over a couple of days. She came home saying that her teacher was on vacation, so they had a "supply teacher" instead. Or that's what it sounded like to her. I said that's not right, I never heard such a term. All week she talked about the "supply teacher." Finally, in exasperation, I googled it, and got about 500,000 hits from the UK and Canada. Seems that's the standard term for what we call "substitute teacher"! Humility, Eleanor, humility.
Today I'm flying to Houston, Texas, to attend a linguistic conference at Rice University and stay with friends Karl and David. Then on Saturday I'll fly to New York, and on Tuesday back to Toronto. I used frequent-flyer miles, so it's not costing much, and the conference sounds really fascinating, on how languages are thought to have developed structural complexity. Then, three days after I return, we'll move to our next apartment. And, maybe spring will finally come to Toronto.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Sunday, March 2, 2008
03/01/08: Life becoming usual
It's been a while since I posted, so I guess life is becoming normally repetitive. We had lots of snow in Toronto, and then a thaw (with occasional freezes, I've fallen down twice), and now some more snow. We spent a nice evening with two other same-sex couples who've emigrated here -- two women who are even newer than us, and two men who have been here a lot longer. Fumiko has been working on her English, and also on preparing a resume for job-hunting, together with a longer essay describing her work in Japan with retarded adults, why she liked it so much, and what she hopes to do here. We saw a couple of plays here in Toronto, liked one, hated the other. And, I finally produced my annual letter -- just a couple of months late -- and emailed it to the world.
During the last big series of snows in Toronto, there was a modest level of outrage (this is Canada, remember) that the streets were not cleared in a timely manner. So, the city government announced it was going to pull out all the stops and get the job done. That night, I was waked up at 3 a.m. by what looked like science fiction: a very large yellow tractor-like vehicle with a huge arm and bucket, and four floodlights mounted on the cab so that the entire area was lit up like day. It worked on our block (a small residential street) for about an hour, dragging snow from the curbs and from between cars, then pushing it ahead of it up the street (perhaps there was a truck further up to receive the snow), then returning, backing and pushing some more -- five times in all! Like a rather sleepy housewife collecting dust, sweep this way, sweep that way -- I was horrified and fascinated. It seemed like such an inefficient method, and at this rate how could they hope to clear the whole city!
On another night, we viewed the lunar eclipse, first red, then blue again. Beautiful! It was a perfectly clear night and the moon seemed very near. Speaking of eclipse, there has been a lot of publicity here about Earth Hour, March 29 from 8 to 9 p.m. Plan is to turn off the lights, and the city of Toronto is officially participating, so we will, too.
In mid-February, I spent some time looking at apartments. The idea was to see what is available in general, particularly in the neighborhood we're in, looking toward having to vacate this apartment in May. We saw a few that were interesting but not compelling, but then we saw one that seemed too good to pass up, so we rented it for April 3 to August 31. It's also furnished, a little smaller than the current one but with a nice arrangement, and it's a little cheaper. In a modern low-rise apartment building, so we hope that the service quirks will be fewer. Also, it's much nearer to a supermarket, a liquor store (no "beer at the deli" here), and a bank. So, we're sewed up for the summer now, and I have no excuse to turn apartment-hunting into a hobby. There is a sleepable sofa (and a trundle bed), though not a second bedroom (there's a separate desk-and-computer area with no door), so we may be in a position to take on visitors who don't require a private room.
I'm now returning from my second trip to New York, again by train. Each trip is different! This time the U.S. customs was non-intrusive. No dogs, no luggage inspection, go figure. The only mildly hostile guy was one with rubber gloves and a garbage bag who was checking food -- he took away my orange ("no citrus," he said). On the other hand, the heat was off and the toilets were broken. But, we were early arriving in New York. Like I say, a mixed bag, and each time a different mix. In New York, I saw my children, did income taxes for me and Mom, and saw two off-Broadway shows. And I'm bringing back another load of clothing and household desirables. The Canadian officials at the border just took my customs declaration form without comment, and didn't even want to look at my passport!
During the last big series of snows in Toronto, there was a modest level of outrage (this is Canada, remember) that the streets were not cleared in a timely manner. So, the city government announced it was going to pull out all the stops and get the job done. That night, I was waked up at 3 a.m. by what looked like science fiction: a very large yellow tractor-like vehicle with a huge arm and bucket, and four floodlights mounted on the cab so that the entire area was lit up like day. It worked on our block (a small residential street) for about an hour, dragging snow from the curbs and from between cars, then pushing it ahead of it up the street (perhaps there was a truck further up to receive the snow), then returning, backing and pushing some more -- five times in all! Like a rather sleepy housewife collecting dust, sweep this way, sweep that way -- I was horrified and fascinated. It seemed like such an inefficient method, and at this rate how could they hope to clear the whole city!
On another night, we viewed the lunar eclipse, first red, then blue again. Beautiful! It was a perfectly clear night and the moon seemed very near. Speaking of eclipse, there has been a lot of publicity here about Earth Hour, March 29 from 8 to 9 p.m. Plan is to turn off the lights, and the city of Toronto is officially participating, so we will, too.
In mid-February, I spent some time looking at apartments. The idea was to see what is available in general, particularly in the neighborhood we're in, looking toward having to vacate this apartment in May. We saw a few that were interesting but not compelling, but then we saw one that seemed too good to pass up, so we rented it for April 3 to August 31. It's also furnished, a little smaller than the current one but with a nice arrangement, and it's a little cheaper. In a modern low-rise apartment building, so we hope that the service quirks will be fewer. Also, it's much nearer to a supermarket, a liquor store (no "beer at the deli" here), and a bank. So, we're sewed up for the summer now, and I have no excuse to turn apartment-hunting into a hobby. There is a sleepable sofa (and a trundle bed), though not a second bedroom (there's a separate desk-and-computer area with no door), so we may be in a position to take on visitors who don't require a private room.
I'm now returning from my second trip to New York, again by train. Each trip is different! This time the U.S. customs was non-intrusive. No dogs, no luggage inspection, go figure. The only mildly hostile guy was one with rubber gloves and a garbage bag who was checking food -- he took away my orange ("no citrus," he said). On the other hand, the heat was off and the toilets were broken. But, we were early arriving in New York. Like I say, a mixed bag, and each time a different mix. In New York, I saw my children, did income taxes for me and Mom, and saw two off-Broadway shows. And I'm bringing back another load of clothing and household desirables. The Canadian officials at the border just took my customs declaration form without comment, and didn't even want to look at my passport!
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