'Once Upon a Time in Canada' Chapter 3.

Well, I had settled into the apartment and haven’t found any problems with it (unless you count the apartment being a little messy and need a little bit of vacuuming). I unpacked my stuff and set up my room, but after a day of intense rest, I think it was time to go out and finally meet up with my family friends here (whom I have not seen in ten years). The Mins were good family friends of ours, they lived a block away from my third home. As a kid I would go over their house often and be baby-sat by the three kids, Kevin, Rachel and Johnny (now Raven). When they left New Zealand in 2007, I was saddened that they were no longer around. So when I finally decided to immigrate to Canada, Toronto was my number one choice. Partly because I was able to see them again after all these years. I was pretty stoked.

They were supposed to meet me in the morning but they arrived in the early afternoon. This was probably due to the fact that the traffic that day (like every other day in Toronto) was horrendous, as well as the fact they live all the way in North York. So I spent most of my day with them and catching up with them after they left New Zealand ten years ago. I was pleasantly surprised how much they have not changed yet they assimilated into Torontonian society. They have truly become Canadians, obviously. I was able to set myself up and I was able to get a better sense of my surroundings thanks to them. What I needed to do with them was to obtain a SIM Card (which I did from the Freedom Mobile kiosk at Eaton Centre) and other miscellaneous items from a normal small grocery store. Fortunately I was able to accomplish what I needed to do with them by the end of the day, including securing a contact with an associate of theirs who happened to be a real estate agent. It’s good to have connections. Getting a SIM Card, some miscellaneous items and a real estate agent’s number doesn’t sound like a lot of things but these were things that I desperately needed to make it through the two weeks. Anyways, that’s was it.

Today, I got my bank account set up with TD Canada Trust, and got the opportunity to hang out at the Distillery. Most of the work had been done the day before. But the bank was a task that couldn’t be accomplished then due to the fact that the day was ending and the fact that the Mins had to go back to North York. So I had to set it up myself, which wasn’t rocket science. When that was taken care of, I spent the rest of the day hanging out at the Distillery. I was amazed by the sight around me that I couldn’t stop taking photos non-stop. Of course, not all of the photos are shown here. I had to choose which ones could stay and which ended up on “the cutting room floor”. This is a process I have to go through almost every time; this is due to my perfectionist nature in which I want the best images possible. Anyways, I found the Distillery to be a fascinating place where old architecture met new architecture. My kind of place. A place where the finest restaurants and established were all in one convenient location. I found it to be an ideal place and I fell in love with it, and I swore right then and there that I would come here and try out every dining establishment during my stay at the bnb.

Within a week, I’ve managed to get my surrounding area out of the way. This meant that I could go further out for the rest of my stay and explore the city. But this would be no easy task as I don’t know much and that I’ve got to watch myself. Hopefully after each week, I go further out and explore different regions of Toronto that I thought I would never see. But I shouldn’t get too ahead of myself. One step at a time. I plan to see all the major tourist attraction before I get a job. I don’t even mind that much if I walk to all these locations, if it saves me money for the big, fancy Summerlicious lunches and dinners that was going on until the end of July. It’s a season where most of the finest restaurants and establishments would serve five-star full course meals for very reasonable prices. In that regard, I came at the right time. Am I lucky or what?

Also, see Chapters 2 and 4.