To Canada and beyond

"Blissfully oblivious" would be the most suitable description of my state of mind this week. Canadians were shaken (not stirred) last week by a quake of 5.0 (not 007) and I didn't hear or feel a thing. Well, that was until in the evening my brother in law asked me how I was doing. Then this weekend I was on my way to watch the A-Team in the cinema. Usually it would take maybe 15 min from my place to that cinema. Yesterday it took me about 90 minutes to walk to the screens because protesters had blocked the streetcar paths in downtown. Only after the movie, I learned that police cars were set on fire. I really wonder what these guys are trying to achieve with that. Anyway, so I actually had a nice week whilst the rest of Toronto was taking its first steps towards 2012 (which probably only makes sense if you saw the movie).

Could it have been the least eventful week in Canada yet? I'm not quite sure. I watched the Brazilian match in a Brazilian café/bar and met some very interesting lads. I had another job interview and I have no idea how it went. I think there more looking for a Delphi guy and my Java and C++ skills only kept me in the game, but didn't win them over. So, I'll see what comes back. Until Wednesday my legs had to recover from last weekends 5K run. Therefore I focused my training on my upper body. Accordingly, my arms are quite heavy now.

Oh boy, I cannot believe that the last entry was two weeks ago. And I'm not quite sure what to write this time. A lot has happened, but I keep forgetting as much as well. Anyway, I think I'll just start with more recent events. On Friday evening I took another stroll through downtown and towards 'Little Italy', which was quite nice. Yesterday I booked a car with "Autoshare.com" for the first time. They even have a car inside my building. And when you're member you actually build up your insurance history over here in Canada. It's a neat deal. So with my new found freedom, I drove to "Dimpflmeier" a German Bakery, a home store to get some missing bits and pieces and to Lindt Chocolate Factory Outlet. I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the Lindt Outlet. In Aachen you could buy chocolate for at least half a year and spend less then 30 €. Now for 30 $ I only got a tiny amount of chocolate... but it might actually be for the better, si...

The dust has settled a little by now and I have a little more time on my hands. So, I thought it's only fair to write a quick entry in my blog. Moving into the new apartment went quite well... Well, apart from the IKEA guys forgetting one of the components of my bed. That led to two rather unfortunate things. A night on the mattress, which honestly is not that bad, but it's not great either. And also a trip to IKEA in Vaughan, which takes approx. 2.5 h by public transport. Maybe I should give a little background on that. I went to my godfather over the weekend, for which I had to rent a car. That meant I had a car for my Ikea shopping. So quite logically, I chose the IKEA that was closest to me on my route from my godfather to my new apartment. All went perfectly well - or so it seemed. I didn't hit too much traffic and arrived in IKEA early. I went shopping for smaller items first and tossed them into the trunk of my rental car. Then I went in for a second rount and got t...

It's a been a good while since my last entry. The search for a place to stay has evolved into a tedious one. After finding a nice apartment in a good neighborhood, the landlord decided that he would prefer to sell rather then rent... half an hour before giving out the keys. After many more viewings, another nice place ticked all the boxes. Centrally located in the heart of downtown, it had all the niceties for modern living. Like a pool, a gym, sauna... This time the landlord asked for a deposit of a years rent! That was not going to happen. Since he didn't move on his position even after much negotiation, it was time to move on once more. Then finally after a few more days of intensive search on craigslist and co, another apartment made it to the top of the list. This time the deal was sealed. Move-in will be next Wednesday and I'm already looking forward to sharing some photos with you. Okay, that's it for today. Stay tuned for more. (The photo above is a sunse...

I cannot believe that a week has already passed since my last entry. I have been in Toronto since last week's Wednesday eve. Well, still being in possession of the rental car for Thursday, a trip down to wine valley and Niagara Falls was pretty much a must. Which was very enjoyable, BTW. Toronto itself is extremely big. I still haven't quite grasped the entire scale of the Toronto and Greater Toronto area. I went down to the end of one of the subway lines and there were still loads of skyscrapers. However, I have encountered a couple of stops in between that feel more like a small village or suburbia. Therefore, I'm still figuring out where I would like to live in the long run. But for the moment I might have a look at some apartments close to High Park tomorrow. Another thing that I can hardly (especially as a bureaucracy ridden German) get my head around. Last Friday, in just one day, I managed to get the Social Insurance Number (needed when you want to work here), a ...

One of my points for choosing Canada as my new home, was the fact that they have all the seasons. A tough winter as well as a hot summer. Nevertheless, I didn't expect to have all seasons in less than a week. Yesterday in Montreal, I walked the streets in a T-shirt. Today however, (Quelle surprise!) I woke up to a snow storm. For most parts, the snow melted before hitting the ground. So it wasn't too much of a problem driving. Nonetheless, I haven't seen snow density like this for years. And it only turned into snow/rain when finally arriving in Ottawa. Anyway, apart from snowfall at the end of April, there was a lot of fun to be had. I've been meeting friends/colleagues from my internship in Trois-Rivieres in 2005 (see previous) entry. A whole bunch of them now work in Montreal. So I had the chance to visit their workplace, which was very interesting. Only one of them had time for a few pints after work, which was extremely enjoyable still. Today, due to the weathe...