Asian Express: December 2010

It is only December and already snowing. I always thought snow was beautiful but it is actually quite annoying. After walking down the street for 5 minutes, your coat would be covered in snow. If you do not shake off the snow before walking indoors, your coat will be soaked as it is always heated.
Next you have your jeans which obviously aren't waterproof but absorbs water like a sponge. Shoes; they need to be waterproof, full of grip and have protection against salt. Canadians love throwing salt on the pavement to a point when you don’t even know if its snow or salt. Salt will stain and damage your shoes. Also when the snow melts, you will be walking in slush and slipping all over the place. Hair; I like to be well presented and the use of wax is a waste of time because once snow melts, your hair is drenched.
The use of a beanie (or toque here) is required to keep your ears warm as the wind chill are numbing. Some also opt to wear ear muffs but only the ones that goes behind the head because they are the 'In' fashion.

Adapting to life here takes time getting used to because of all the differences:

1) Driving on the right hand side of the road - It will take time getting used to but the hardest part is crossing the roads. Instead of checking your right then your left for traffic, you have to first check your left then your right. There has been countless near misses; especially when trying to cross the road drunk.
2) Spelling – Words like organisation, capitalisation and civilisation are spelt with a z instead of an s. Those are the only words that I can think of right now but there are always time when you spend 5 minutes thinking “Do I spell it with a z or an s?" I don’t want to ask someone because they will think I’m retarded.
3) No level 13 – Every condo you visit in Toronto, you will not find a level 13; it’ll go from 12 to 14 because Canadians are very superstitious about that number.
4) 35 hours a week – Yes people, the work week is only 35 hours! That is on-par with the French. So if you are used to working 8-7, forget about it, try sticking to 8:59am-5:01pm and you see people rushing out of the office.

Eileen and Noel arrives from London tomorrow. They will be spending Christmas and New Years with me. We have hired a car and will be travelling out East to Snowboard in Mont Tremblant then Quebec City, Montreal and back to Toronto. Christmas will be spent on the slopes and we’ll probably have a party for New Years Eve. It’s going to be very busy for the next 6 day. The journey can be viewed here

So I also attended Cineplex’s Christmas work function and the night was great. Good food and all they did was gave away about 40 prizes randomly. The major prize was an LG 60inch LED TV! That would have been awesome to win! Such ballers!
My German and Canadian mate’s got around on Sunday to have our Pre-Christmas dinner. We roasted a chicken, drank beers, ate desserts, built a gingerbread train and watched a movie. Great fun.

Its late and I have just spent 4 hours cleaning up the place to prepare for Eileen’s arrival.

Entrance Camera Tom - 5.7 MB

Ciao
Sam