It's been a very long time since my last post, a long overdue update is required. Now the main reason for me not posting anything is because I've very busy, both professional and private. So I'll try to not make it too long.
First off; Andrea warned me that once the first wonderful impressions sink in, the annoyances may come. Boy was she right. The first one: Tim Hortons, specifically the one on campus. When I still lived uptown (more later) I'd come here every morning to get my coffee fix, for a 12-14hr workday. The first thing I've learned is how to articulate my order. Medium, Black, Darkroast, Coffee, in that exact order. If I do not pronounce it to them like that, they will ask me about these elements in a language I can only describe as Timmey! They tend to drop words in sentences. They continuously call people to the front of the line while still helping other customers with the line "Help you!" to indicate the next in line should come. These people then proceed to give your order, to someone else who starts this order around the time the 5th individual behind you places his. In other words: I'm waiting in line with 6 other people, cluttering the checkout, for a simple coffee. Of course this order might have been finished earlier than that, but I still don't speak Timmey! so I don't know when they shout my order at someone else. To be honest, it will probably be something I'll miss back home, because it's very indicative of starting my awesome days of science.
Just one more annoyance, and then I'll continue with a bunch of pictures and experiences, Taxes. Canada and the United States don't put taxes on their pricing. Nowhere is there an indication of the percentage or absolute value of tax on the product you are buying. Now Dutch readers might think, so what, the price is on it right? No it's not, the display price is the price before tax. So basically shopping becomes a gamble around the end of the month, hoping that an overestimation of 20% will get you there.
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| Rick and Conner at Snakes and Lattes, a great boardgames café |
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| Niagara Falls |
The first update is about the week my good friend Rick came over to Toronto. We started it with a ski trip to Mont Tremblant, we checked out some of the sights, went to a few bars, and finished it with a trip to Washington DC. In Washington we spend most of our time at the Smithsonian and the monuments, but also enjoyed some great food and drinks. As you can tell by the images below, we had a great time.
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| My first (valid) attempt at insect photography at the Smithsonian |
There's a bunch of sights I didn't talk about, like the CN tower with its great view, or the aquarium with its amazing collection, comic con (where I got some awesome stuff), and Kensington market which is just awesome. Sufficient to say I've been exploring the city. Aside from that I've also explored some cafés and coffee shops, which I like way better here. The atmosphere is more relaxed and the availability and assortments are just what'd you'd expect to find in a city like this.
I started of with a bit of a negative note, but I am really enjoying this country. Of of the reasons things used to be more frustrating was my living arrangements. I lived with some nice people, but they had some internal conflict going on. They were nice enough to try and keep me out of it, but that evidently didn't go as planned. These issues were resolved by one of the others moving out. This situation did highlight to me that I couldn't stay. At that time my experiments changed to a schedule that required me on campus 12-14 hours a day. This isn't always continuous work, but I do need to be there. Add a total daily commute of between 3 and 4 hours a day (the TTC can be a real mess) and you realise there's no room for sleep and life. Thus I moved to campus. I now live in a nice house with just two roommates, with only one of which I share my washroom (yes that's what I'm calling it now, they're getting to me). I will have to move again, because of my temporary visiting researcher status, but this is only a small distance on campus. Now the best part, aside from the massive increase in sleep, is the environment. I walk through a small piece of woods every morning. In this piece of woods there are deer, squirrels, and chipmunks (pictures will follow!), if that does not start your day of with a big smile I don't know what will.
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| A piece of Mars |
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| Stardust |
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One of my favourite shots of the Washington monument
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To strengthen my smile Amy and I went to NYC last weekend, which in one word was great! The city is just a wonderful place to wander and explore. We of course also explored all the cliché sites, which were very satisfying too. There's really not much to tell, we went there and had a great experience, I'll let a small selection of images do the talking.
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| Wall street, the very NYC typical image I had to attempt to replicate. |
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| A rainy day allowed me to take this shot of the Washington square arch |
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| The obligatory empire state building's skyline shot |
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| A part of central park |
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| This is one of my favourites. It's an HDR assembly of shots taken at the Columbia university. |
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| Me trying to blend in, or as Glenda describes it: "Just finished my job as a hitman". |
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| Trying to blend in, which let's face it doesn't work if you pose for a shot in Bryant parc ;) |
All in all it's going great here, the weather is getting warmer, my experiments seem to be going in the right direction (even though I'm not quite there yet), and I'm having some great times with my new Canadian friends. Until the next time I'm trying to find an excuse to not work!
