'Once Upon a Time in Canada' Chapter 19.

Made it to another meet up today, and I had a fun time. Just like I did for the first meet up. An interesting meet up this one was. Getting to the location wasn’t much of a problem, even though it was a little far. As to how far it was that I live all the way West and the location was all the way East. Further East than my where my bnb was. I left for the location at 5:30pm and I took the 504 streetcar, a streetcar I’m more than familiar with since I’ve taken it more than any other streetcar. The ride was a little while but it was a straight ride, which only went in one direction. Up till now, I’ve been hanging out by myself and exploring on my own. It is when I’m exploring on my own that I started to feel lonelier than ever. The feeling grew more and more as time progressed. But as soon as I joined the group, I no longer felt alone and felt more and more that I enthusiastic to hang out with groups and people like this one. The good news is that this will continue to comfort me for days to come. I get to have opportunities where I can hang out with like-minded people and I can be myself and do what I love with them.

The weather was fine, it wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t too cold. No unbearable heat and no discernable winds. I think it was a good evening to shoot some photos. There’s a good chance we could get some great pictures of the skyline and sun setting. I should be able to show off some tuff in this post. Which, by the way, we did. After taking shots of the bridge over the Don River, the Broadview Hotel and its surrounding area during sunset and at night. I stayed with the group on the bridge for most of the time. I could gone off on my own and shot some different things, but the group was so much fun to hang out and shoot with, and there wasn’t much else to take photos of. Most of the action took place on the bridge. By the end, we wrapped it up and went out drinking at a bar and chatted with each other for about two hours.

It’s a strange but wonderful feeling when I was sitting there surrounded by my new friends. Before all of this, everywhere I went, I felt isolated and distant from the Canadians I’m living among. During then, I never once felt I could connect with; the last thing I remembered was an advice give to me by friend Peter, whom I met during my stay at my bnb. He told me something that stayed with me that shaped my perceptions of Canadians, whether for better or for worse. He told me that Canadians are nice, but they are not friendly. This concept was further reinforced when I first interacted with my roommate. She told me it was because Canadians have their national/international image to uphold as an immigrant-friendly nation that upholds diversity above all else. Because of this reputation, Canadians are pressured and stressed to never let the reputation slip through the cracks, as my roommate explained. I wasn’t really expecting much in terms of interacting with Canadians after that. I was expecting to have a difficult time connecting with people. A month passed by and I had only made a few friends, which mostly consisted of the people I interacted with at my bnb. Here’s a man who has substantial amount of friends back home. Man, I miss my friends. I wish I could see all of them before I had left. Jesus Christ, look how far I’ve come connecting with people and making new friends. Back in the first month, I’d give anything for a five-minute conversation with someone, anyone for that matter. Anywhere and about anything. I’m the first member of my family to have taken the risk to immigrate to another country on the other side of the world and to be alone in that country.

Okay, enough moping about depressing feelings. Now I am having a conversation with someone, with some people: my new friends. It’s a bit quick to jump to conclusions but I’ve made up my mind. They are my new friends. And the whole point of this entry is to talk about my new friends. I could even talk about them and a whole bunch more before this long story ends. So here’s another first: This week I’ll be attending the Toronto International Film Festival.

Also, see Chapters 18 and 20.