Toronto

The goodbyes in Montreal were easier than I expected, or at least, much less sentimental than I was dreading they would be. I think I'm a bit emotionally drained so I don't think I see the goodbyes so much as a sad thing as I see it as something that just is - es muss sein. At that point of no return you can only look ahead or you can't keep moving.

So with last minute goodbyes under my belt, two hefty bags worth of my life here, and an early morning haul to the ride share Cardy and I were off to Toronto.

At first it didn't hit me but then slowly the sadness did creep in. Lucky for me though, Cardy and Toronto are too much fun to linger for too long.

She and I stayed at a backpackers hostel downtown because Cardy lives in the suburbs and we wanted to be central for all the action. We were close to Chinatown and this great area called Kensington Market. I've come to the conclusion that my favorite part of traveling is the food - if that's good the rest usually follows suit. Toronto delivers in the food department, and it helps that Cardy knows where it's at. So we've been eating a lot.

We checked in and then Cardy took me for potstickers! I haven't had potstickers in ages and they're typically the kind you buy frozen at Costco. We then walked around Kensington Market and explored the little clothing stores and colorful shops, coffee houses, and markets. It's such a sweet area to hang out in that we spent quite a bit of time there.

That evening we saw Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross at Soulpepper - a really good local theatre company (the kind I'd like to intern for). Great production in all aspects. The theatre is located in the renovated distillery district so it's a beautiful locale inside and out. The area definitely has a different feel than The Mainline in Montreal which is beat down with hand painted flames outside its doors. I'm not even sure I should be comparing the two as Soulpepper may be more equivalent to the Centaur in Montreal - hard to tell since Anglo theatre isn't as popular as francophone. I like both for different reasons but the common thread tends to be their choice of production work; career wise I'm leaning towards the more established, money making companies - girl's got to make a living.

That evening the sleepiness hit me so I took a two hour nap which Cardy graciously let me take. We left the hostel for a late night dinner at a Chinese Diner. I've been missing out on so much. Cardy had me try Congee which is basically this sort of rice based porridge. We got fish Congee and ate it with fried bread bits. So simple and delish. Then we left quite late to walk to the art school found in Toronto: OCAD - it's designed to look like a cube being held up by colored pencils. By 3 am we had walked to the town hall area. It was kind of nice to walk in the cool evening air and see the city at night - bustling even at 3 am!

Next morning we ate ate this great breakfast shop with lots of rolls and sweets: egg tart, pineapple bun with a custard on top, curry beef bun, coconut tart, raisin twist - I must find a shop like this in my next place of residence. After eating we made tracks to the Ontario Museum of Art. King Tut was there so we spent a lot of time in that exhibit. I made a point of going to see Wangechi Mutu's work which is temporarily collected in the museum - the first large collection of her works. She's a contemporary artist that I was introduced to when Daniel and I had gone to San Francisco's MOMA and her work just blew me away. They had given her a room and she had transformed it in her unique style familiar in her works. She does collages that comment on women, africanness, globalization, and sexuality - if I can be so forward in my simplifications of her messages. She collages and they're very good collages. Jess is another one that I can look at for hours given the opportunity and I'm beginning to wonder if collage art suits my aesthetic pallet. When I went to explore with the bit of time I had left after Tut and Mutu I found this trippy (apologies for the lame adjective) sculpture by David Altmejd - The Index. The guy made this huge piece made of mirrors with anthropomorphic birds and a broken apart werewolf and all sorts of little details along the way. There was an area you could walk into and I stayed too long or something because all the mirrors and little details started to make me jumpy. I was moved, affected, and engaged - the kind of art I dig generally has to have an eclectic sense for me to dig it, I suppose.

Vietnamese subs followed. YUM.

We met a few people in the hostel; a dude from Amsterdam, a Finish guy, and one German girl and boy. We convinced them to go to the Cameron house with us for some "garage jazz cabaret noir"Kevin Quain and the Mad Bastards. We ended up sitting next to this working Torontonian named Julie who was really talkative and gave us all the stories from her travels. Her latest was Nashville where she swore all the bars had strip karaoke and the people were so friendly she tended to think it was a joke. People do say "ya'll" and ex cons stop to give friendly directions.

The band was really good and the venue was pretty great itself. Julie said that it works as an art gallery so the interior design is always different. This one was full of decorated cowboy boots and paintings. The band plays every Sunday and they are very local and established. I was pretty blown away by their songs, the covers songs, and the choice to play the saw for "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I downloaded that stuff when I got to Cardy's house because the guy didn't have anymore of the album I wanted.

Today, after doing some last minute souvenir shopping in Kensington market we moved over to North York - the subway where Cardy lives. Uh...is it bad that I felt a sense of relief when I hit suburb sidewalk? Wow. I must miss all of Stockton if that's where I'm at.

Cardy's house is great. Her Mom and sister Camen are really welcoming and I got to have homemade Chinese dinner. I really want to learn to make the ginger, garlic, coriander fish that Cardy's Mom made for us. Right now I'm feeling really good just chilling out and blogging in a living room on their massage chair (oh yeah!) right after watching the Canadiens beat Washington in a pivotal game for the Stanley cup - let's hope they beat em for the 7th game.

I've got another day here with Cardy and then it's off to Chicago and Andrew Doney - a friend from Sonoma who recently moved there for work in music. I'm really glad this is the place I get to say goodbye to Cardy as we've been planning to go to Toronto together since we bonded so quickly in the beginning. It's been really special for me.

I think this is going to be my final blog entry in my study abroad adventure. But I do want to document my adventures back to California through middle America so I'll start another blog up for that.

I'd hate to sum up my experience in some petty adjectives and cliches that don't do it justice but let me just do it anyway: eye-opening, character building, learning experience, fun, challenging, good for me, lots of heart, courage for another fresh start. Okay.

Thanks for the support and for reading. You're interest is what really makes it all possible. See most of you very soon.