First real snow, and our present to us

This morning we woke up to this:

Snow!  Finally!  We of course ran outside to check it out :)

The squirrels were still out despite the sub-zero weather.

It really looks like winter now.

It was a little chilly, but not as cold as we would have thought - I swear it's felt much colder when it was supposedly 6 or 7 degrees.

The annoying part was that we walked home, and half an hour later it was all gone - melted.  This wasn't really what I was expecting!  In my mind, the snow was supposed to start and then it would be on the ground until February and snowing every day.  In reality, we've been waiting since the end of October for it to start and now we get one little snowfall and it all disappears within an hour!  I'm starting to think we should have moved to Calgary instead :P

America is having their "Black Friday" sales (the day after Thanksgiving - the same as Aussie Boxing Day sales), and they spill over to Canada, with a lot of places having the sales all weekend despite it not being a holiday here.  We decided that despite the agreement not to buy a TV until Stephen got a job, this was a good time to buy a TV :P

We're not that fussed on having the best TV out there - we just wanted something that we could watch the Apple TV on.  They don't seem to make small TVs anymore - for some reason the 40in TVs were all cheaper than the 32in ones, so we've ended up with this giant monster TV which looks absolutely gigantic compared to what we're used to.  For people who care, it's a Samsung 40in LCD with full HD, and it cost $700 including tax.  Not too bad!

Here it is in all its glory - so much to catch up on!  We will have to check out the Canadian iTunes Store to see whether it's worth having a third account.  I guess this purchase means that we now officially have nothing left to buy!

Tourism and Thanksgiving in NYC

Another day in NYC and it was time for what I was most looking forward to:  visiting the Statue of Liberty.  Excited, we lined up in a queue in the freezing cold to catch the boat across.

The Merchant Navy had a memorial statue on the pier which was a bit jarring - I imagine it's worse at high tide.

As an aside, our entire trip to the US was a nightmare of security - luckily we didn't get asked to go through the backscatter machines at the airport or there would have been a scene.  As it was, taking your shoes, belt and coat off every time you go through a machine as well as taking your laptop out was just ridiculous and turned the entire security process into a three-ring-circus of undressing and redressing yourself on cue.  Land of the free?  More like the Land-where-you're-treated-like-a-criminal-at-every-turn-but-you-have-no-right-to-object.  After going through the security to get onto the boat to Liberty Island, I saw the following quote on the wall:  "Where liberty is, there is my country." - Benjamin Franklin.  Oh the irony.

Security circus over, we caught the boat over to the island.  I was actually quite disappointed by the statue itself - it was much smaller than I thought it was.

The view from the island back to the city was saddening considering the difference between what we saw and the obviously pre-9/11 photo on the tourist board.  The Twin Towers looked impressive in the photos, and I wish I could have seen them in person.

We wandered around looking for the NYC Flatiron Building (they have one in Toronto too), and spent around 5 minutes trying to work out if we were looking at the right building or the book was wrong - until we realised that we were looking at the wrong side.  From this angle, it's much more obvious :)

The next day was American Thanksgiving.  We got up early to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - it started at 9am, and we turned up at 8am to find a sea of people.

Giant balloons!  The good balloon handlers could make the balloons wave at the crowd!

The entire parade was very stereotypically American - marching bands, cheerleaders and flag-wavers, and the balloons were obvious marketing ploys by any company that could sell to children.

It wouldn't be New York City without Spiderman!

Santa finally arrived to finish the parade - by which time we were freezing cold and happy to run back to our warm hotel room before heading out again for a delicious Thanksgiving Lunch of turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potato and mashed sweet potato and beans... with some apple pie for dessert of course.

On our last day we headed to the American Museum of Natural History in the few hours we had before heading to the airport.  The dinosaurs were pretty cool!

The dinosaur makes even Stephen look small!  

And with that it was time to hop back on the plane.  I was actually pretty disappointed with New York to tell the truth - perhaps it was that everyone had built it up to be a magical playground of awesomeness, but nothing really seemed as shiny as it was made out to be.  That said, Stephen liked it and is keen to go back.  

We arrived back in Toronto to -1 with an apparent temperature of -8, and some snow flurries - lucky we bought those warm coats in NYC!  I was very jealous to hear that they've had an absolute dump on the west coast (damn you Liz!) while we're still hanging out for something that will stick the ground.  Hopefully we'll get it soon!

New York, New York

We decided to take advantage of our lack of employment to spend five days checking out New York City.  The flights were cheap - $300 each return despite it being over Thanksgiving weekend.  We were amazed when we turned up at Pearson International to discover that our plane was a tiny little thing - 3 seats per row.  Nevertheless, we arrived safely after less than an hour in the air, and headed into our midtown Manhattan hotel by subway.

We brought the hotel address, but Eleventh Ave was a long street, our map had no numbers, and we'd forgotten to bring the cross-street.  It wasn't until we'd walked a long way that we realised that the hotel named "Ink48" was on the corner of 48th street.  Duh!

New York hasn't been quite as I was expecting - I had in mind this sort of Coruscant-like area of tall buildings from horizon to horizon, and it's not like that at all.  There are plenty of smaller apartment blocks and shops - there's even a Toyota dealership next to our hotel.  It was a little disappointing!  The centre of the city does look just like the movies though.

We hit up Central Park in the afternoon.  It's huge - we spent hours walking around and still only made it to halfway up.

The park was full of beautiful little paths meandering through woods and lawns.

The autumn colours were out in force - it's quite a few degrees warmer in New York than in Toronto.

In the evening we went up to the top of the Rockefeller Center (Top of the Rock) to check out the city lights - it was beautiful if a little scary being so high and with the knowledge of what happened to previous tall New York buildings.

The next day we headed to see the USS Intrepid - an aircraft carrier from the Second World War that's been turned into a museum.  It wasn't bad (although I wouldn't recommend the audio tour) - I was a little disappointed that you could only see three decks of the ship rather than the full complement of them.

On the lower decks we saw the mess and some of the crew living quarters - sleeping right next to someone with someone else's feet in your face would be pretty rough.

The flight deck was covered in planes, including this Harrier.  The Harrier has the ability to take off and land vertically, but for planes that don't, they described how it works - the runway on a carrier is very short, so the planes are launched by using power from the engine to basically slingshot them off the edge of the ship.  And when they land, they hang an "arrestor hook" from the back of the plane - basically a hook that catches wires that stretch across the deck - and when the hook catches, the plane stops.  It's some very cool engineering.

The Intrepid was involved in picking up some of the returning astronaut capsules from the initial earth orbit missions - they had a replica, and Stephen decided to play astronaut.  

In the afternoon we hit up Macy's for some hardcore shopping - clothes are incredibly cheap here, and that's not even waiting for the Black Friday sales.  I picked up two pairs of label jeans, a winter coat and a jumper for around $210.  That would buy me a pair of jeans and lunch in Australia.

Our feet are sore and we're pretty exhausted - it's a pretty big place to walk around.  Tomorrow, the plan is to take a visit to the Statue of Liberty and perhaps the Museum of Natural History, before Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Arrival of the boxes!

We didn't want to take much with us to Canada from Australia -  mainly our bikes due to the cost of replacing them.  It was cheap to send a couple of boxes with it, so we decided on two boxes and the two bikes.  With the benefit of hindsight, we did it in the wrong order - our boxes for Canada were taken away before we'd packed anything in the rest of the house.  The boxes also had lots of extra space as they were twice as big as we were expecting, so we filled it up with whatever we found at the time - unfortunately, we discovered once they'd gone and we packed up the rest of the house that there were a lot of other things that we should have packed instead (such as my uni textbooks and sleeping bag).

We posted them on the 30th of August, and they were delivered today - so 12 weeks time in transit.  Once the boxes made it Canada, there were surprisingly few difficulties - we were emailed some papers, and we needed to personally visit Canadian Customs with those papers plus one that was stamped when we entered the country.  We were expecting a few hours of messing around and being sent from government department to government department, but amazingly, we spoke to one person and it took 10 minutes to get the stamp we needed.  After that, it was just a matter of faxing the paper with the stamp to the delivery company, and two days later they were delivered!  And there was much rejoicing!

Two boxes...

... and two bikes!

The best part about getting boxes that you packed 3 months ago is that you have absolutely no idea what's in them - it's like Christmas, finding things that you had no idea you'd packed!

In an awesome coincidence, the boxes were delivered 20 minutes before we left to see the new Harry Potter movie, so I got to wear my Ravenclaw scarf to the movie! :D

In other news - on Tuesday we decided on the spur of the moment to take advantage of our unemployed state in our new location and booked a trip to New York next week.  So on Monday morning we'll be in New York City :)  We didn't realise when we booked it, but Thursday is American Thanksgiving, so we'll even be in New York for the big Thanksgiving Day Parade!  If anyone has any suggestions about what to do in NYC, let us know - we're currently compiling a list :)

Choosing a team

Stephen and I have been having a "discussion" recently.  Upon moving to Toronto, I assumed that we would adopt the local ice hockey team - the Toronto Maple Leafs - as our team.  Stephen argues that we have no obligation to choose Toronto, and is instead suggesting that we adopt the Montreal Canadiens - their arch-rivals.  This has been a source of some contention in the house.

Ice hockey is a big thing in North America, and especially in Toronto.  The Maple Leafs haven't won the Stanley Cup (premiership trophy) since 1967, and they seem to be a sort of Canadian St Kilda in that they've made the play-offs a few times in the last 10 years but seem to choke when it counts.  Recently, they're not doing so well - they've come last in their conference for the last few seasons, and so far this season they're 12th and they've just managed to kick an 8 game losing streak.

Despite this, their season ticket waiting list is at 2,500 people.  They sold out every home game from 1946 until 1999 when their stadium closed, and in their new stadium (the Air Canada Centre) they've sold out every game since October 2002 - and they play 82 games a season.  Tickets are ridiculously expensive compared to Australian prices - the cheapest tickets are $40 in the nosebleeds, but they quickly rise to over $600 a ticket - and that's if you can find a ticket, as they sell out months in advance.  Wow.

I put forward to Stephen that upon moving to a new country where you don't already have an allegiance to a team, you should adopt your city's team as a way of fitting in - especially in a one team city (of which Toronto is obviously an almost rabid example).  Picking a team from another city - especially your city's arch-rivals - is a way to disaster.  How could you participate in such traditionally Canadian activities as going to the pub to catch the game if you support the wrong team?  And what if someone invites you around to watch the hockey?

Stephen's argument for why we should pick Montreal (or Ottawa) instead of Toronto is that it's practically  impossible to see a Maple Leafs home game as they are ludicrously expensive and sell out quickly.  He also suggests that even if you did manage to get a ticket, Toronto are almost guaranteed to lose so there's no point in going.  As someone who supported the Brisbane Bears (no one dares to mess with the Bears!), I find this view somewhat offensive.  I quote:  "I don't know why we should saddle ourselves with an awful, inaccessible team when we don't have to."

With these two opposing viewpoints (and an awful lot of time on our hands), I wanted to put it out there - what's everyone else's view?  Should we support our home team, or are we free to choose a team with slightly more optimistic chances of winning?

Welcome to our humble abode!

We've posted photos of the house before, but we've had some requests for some "how does the house look now" photos, so I thought I'd post a bit of a tour.  It's amazing when you think that we've gone from 2 backpacks to an entire house worth of stuff in 3 weeks!

Entering through the front door - that stand will have a TV on it once Stephen gets a job :)

Our lounge room - 2 seater couch with a giant ottoman for putting our feet up.  It's usually pushed against the couch for that exact purpose as in the below photo.  That's our computer desk in the corner - I'm a big fan of putting the main computer desk in the main room because I tend to spend most of my time wherever the computer is  :)  It's nice to be able to take advantage of the view while working as well!  The painting on the wall is one that we brought back from our trip to China :)

We did of course celebrate the delivery of our new couch in appropriate fashion :)

Facing the other way - we have a computer-free dining table!

The kitchen - now with a microwave!  Unfortunately there really wasn't a good place to put the microwave without losing a quarter of our (already limited) available bench space, so it's living on top of the fridge.  Lucky Stephen is so tall!

Our bedroom - we're still missing bedside tables, but we're managing for now.  We are breaking the rule of sleeping with your head away from doors (the door in the picture is the door to the wardrobe, the entry to the room is on the same wall on the opposite side of the bed) - that white strip going around the outside of the room is the (hot water) heating, and Stephen was worried about his head getting too hot if we put the bed in the correct place (poor baby).

The bathroom looks pretty much the same - tacky bamboo shower curtain and all.  The only problem is that the shower curtain tries to attack me while I'm showering - I can't work out why, but as soon as you turn the shower on, the curtain moves in.  Short of putting the curtain outside the bath and ending up with water all over the floor, I'm a bit stuck.  Any ideas, anyone?

The second bedroom (on an overcast day) - at the moment it's just got a small table for quiet working and a bookshelf with the few books we brought with us, and our new printer (for my uni work).  The plan is to put a comfortable futon or sofa bed in here for visitors :)

Welcome to our humble abode :)

Also, as an aside, remember the last time I said it was "really foggy"?  I take it back.  This is the view facing the same way last night - and it's still hanging around this morning.  It's seriously bizarre - like living in a cloud.

Representing your nation

Something that I didn't think about before we moved is the extent to which we as Australians living in Canada are really ambassadors for our country.  It's been interesting - despite the number of different nationalities living and working here, because of our skin colour and clothing, people seem to expect us to be Canadians.  That lasts right until we open our mouths, when they're not sure where we're from!

Apparently we don't sound like Aussies - we've had a number of queries, usually suggesting that we sound "English but not quite".  Apparently everyone expects us to get around in leather vests with corks on our hats broadly affirming that "That's not a knife!"  Nevertheless, it's strange to think that every time we speak, people are judging Australia based on how we act - if we're rude or if we hold a particular opinion, they might think that "all Australians" are rude or "all Australians" think like that.  It's a good lesson in self-control and thinking before you speak.

We went to our first Canadian social event the other day - a Rock Band night at a house belonging to one of our World of Warcraft guildmates.  It was a great evening and we had a lot of fun - everyone was very welcoming and asked us how we were enjoying Toronto.  (Apparently a common joke told by people who live in Toronto is that if someone says they're enjoying Toronto, they haven't been there for long enough yet - that could almost be an Australian joke!)

It was very telling, however, when we were discussing countries at the start of the night, and this group of mid-20s gamers mentioned that "Australians don't like refugees do they?  You don't even hold to the Geneva Convention."  I found that very embarrassing - we meet our first group of social Canadians, and one of the first things they know about Australia aside from the weather is our awful foreign policy.  We demurred and explained that unfortunately our politicians tend to deal in fear, but the point stood.  The Canadians, just for the record, were very proud of their policy, telling us that they accept all refugees.

We weren't sure if it was perhaps less of an issue in their politics because they didn't have that many refugees to accept, but when we looked at the figures when we went home, the 2009 figures showed that the US accepted approximately 80,000 people as refugees, Canada 12,500 and Australia 11,100 - so Canada is actually taking more refugees than Australia is.  Stephen pointed out that on a per capita basis, Australia is actually taking significantly more refugees than Canada.  It's interesting to note that in Canada it's a source of national pride, whereas in Australia it's a political football with both parties attempting to appear "strong on border protection" - but the results are much the same, with both countries taking in nearly the same number of refugees.

This all wouldn't be such a big deal, except that the Australian government is having more and more problems with attracting foreign tourists - the soaring currency value aside, when this is one of the few things that people know about Australia, is it any wonder that they don't want to visit?

We're continuing to fight the good fight, trying to be good ambassadors for Australia - friendly, polite and generous, like the stereotype says, right?  We're even keeping the Aussie humour in check, as apparently it's difficult for non-Australians to understand.  It feels like it should go both ways though - Australia needs to try not to embarrass us as well.  Hopefully the refugee policy/gay marriage policy/racist behaviour manages to stay out of the news so that we can spend future Canadian social events loudly shouting "Crikey!" and lauding Australia's performance in various sporting events.  If only.

Americans Who Speak French (or, Our Weekend in Montreal)

One of our few friends on this continent - Chris, who lives in San Diego - had his birthday on the weekend, so we decided to celebrate by meeting up in Montreal, Quebec for a weekend of French-Canadian food and culture.  Our expectations were fairly high - after all, they're French, and French people are renowned for having great food and culture!  Chris told us a joke when he arrived:  "Canada could have had British culture, French food, and American technology, but instead they have British food, French technology, and American culture." - that pretty much sums up our experience.  I would say that "French-Canadian" is a bit of a misnomer - they're more like Americans who happen to speak French.  

By the way - in English, it's "Mon-tree-all" or "Mont-ree-all", but in French it's "Mon-rey-al".  

Montreal isn't a really touristy place - in fact, the entirety of the guide book's suggested Montreal itinerary was to have brunch, climb Mont Royal and then catch a train to Quebec City.  We did a little more than this, but a lot of the time was spent shivering while wandering around on our way to various food-related places.

We went to Beauty's for Sunday morning brunch, which is apparently a famous foodie thing.  The breakfast was ok - Chris informed us that the bagels are different to his experience with the rest of America - but it wasn't fantastic in my books.  The queue outside in the freezing cold was another matter.  The entire weekend I don't think the temperature topped 2 degrees, and we thought Toronto was cold - on our return, it seems mildly chilly after our weekend in Montreal.

We climbed Le Mont Royal (the hill that gave the city it's name), which was pretty cool with all of the leafless trees.  We found that it looked much more wintery in Montreal than in Toronto - most of the trees were bare, and the weather much grayer.  

Beware of falling tree stumps?

There were quite a few people in the park who were obviously gearing up for cross-country skiing season with these bizarre wheeled skis.  I just want to know how they get downhill without killing themselves.

We ran into an American Football team training (in the 2 degree weather) on our way back from the "mountain", which was pretty funny to watch.  During our indoor recuperation time (every trip outside necessitated about half an hour inside to thaw out) we watched a fair amount of this on the tv, and I can now say with authority that it is the hands down the most boring sport I have ever seen. 

On Sunday night we visited the Upstairs Jazz Bar for some culture and tunes - the venue was nice and cozy, and the jazz was good.  The entertainment was a quintet with an alto and tenor sax, piano, double bass and drums, playing original music.  A fun evening out :)  

 

Montreal really did have some beautiful old buildings - this was just a random row of houses in the Old Town.  Gorgeous.

The whole French-speaking thing was true, by the way - every person we spoke to spoke in French first, and all of the signs and menus were in French.  It wasn't so bad when we got used to it, and most people spoke English anyway - Chris amused us all by trying his Australian high school French out, and he made himself understood, although Stephen and I found the waitresses' expressions while listening to him to be the second funniest thing of the trip.

The funniest thing of the trip?  Chris's reaction to the poutine he ordered for lunch.  Apparently he didn't know what it was - just that it was a French-Canadian dish that he had to try.  I think he ate about 2 bites.  The operative phrase here would be "Welcome to Canada!" :)

Happy Birthday Chris!  (And not just any birthday - the big 3-0!)  Hope you had a fun weekend!  Next time we'll come and visit you where it's warmer! :)