I saw a car parked in front of a big wide building, a pale white colored one with random marble patch, to be specific. It was an office building of some sort. I couldn't see any structure except that one. It was surrounded by green grass meadow. Partial surface of that building was exposed to the lazy rays of the early sun. There were two English gentlemen, both dressed in black long suits wearing a black hat, with a fine line of thread. They were discussing something in front of the parking lot, perhaps an argument, their conversation was not an audible one, as I was looking through the glass walls of Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Yeah! That was my first glimpse of this unbelievably magnificent country called 'Canada'.
I'm sure that it was a pretty normal glimpse, there was nothing to be wondered or nothing to be amazed at. It was just a regular morning in a country that was located in the far north end of this world. To say the least, I was so disappointed at that first sight. I had an entirely different picture in my mind about my first glimpse of the new land, at least to me. Road covered with pure white snow, little white snowflakes accompanying the wind or a place crowded with yellow taxis and foreign people. But no! It was just a clean empty road and a big wide building with two English men.
I was accompanied by two of my friends Dominic and Abhishek. Dominic was my colleague back when I worked as a profile writer, and it was our decision to come to Canada. I knew Abhishek, just before a month from my flight. Dominic was using the terminal's phone line and Abhishek suggested that we should go out of the airport and enquire about the taxi to an old guard standing in front of the terminal. We were not wearing our winter jackets and thermals. From inside the glass window the weather seemed to be fine, a normal sunny weather. So, I opened the doors of the terminal and stepped out into a new country. That was a BIG mistake, BIG!!! I should have worn my winter jacket. I still regret the moment. The moment, when I stepped out, literally, a chill ran down through my spine. That's when I realized that a regular winter day in Canada has a huge difference from that of a regular Indian winter day. I felt that as if my hand was starting to freeze. Dominic, from inside the glass wall, gestured a regular 'what happened' sign. I was shaking and I tried to say 'I need my jacket', instead of my voice, a large breath of snow puff came out of my mouth. That was totally weird and new to me.
After an hour or so, the red coloured taxi dropped us in front of a twenty storey apartment. The taxi driver was very pleasant towards us, he said that he is a Pakistani, working as a part time cab driver and studying Bio Medical at York University. He explained a lot about the Canadian Winter and also said that the word 'Sun' doesn't exactly mean 'Hot' here. We took the highway, so we didn't see much on our way to the apartment. So, as I said, the taxi dropped us in front of an apartment named '80 MORNELLE COURT'. The apartment was located in the small town of Scarborough. I'll explain about the town later in the next paragraph.
View from our Balcony ...
We took the elevator with all our packed luggage and finally reached room number 1204 in the 12th floor. As I had already arranged the accommodation, Sudharshan, our new roommate was waiting for us. He was also fairly new to Canada, just five days new. It was a comfortable two bedroom apartment, with a tidy balcony and a beautiful view. After checking out all the rooms, I was standing out in the balcony, starring down at the park swing near my apartment. Dominic came out with a coffee mug in his hand. It was a silent afternoon. We didn't hear a sound, not even a single thing. In a distance we saw few houses and two tall buildings. Cars and buses were moving back and forth in a road far away, but not so frequent. There was a constant siren sound of an ambulance that came from nowhere. It looked like a toy world. The silence was disturbing for the reason unknown. Finally Dominic broke that silence.
"We're in Canada!"
"Yeah!" I replied in a base tone.
"How do you feel?" he asked again.
" Unbelievable! It's like a dream" I replied.
" Everything was like a dream, our plan, our flight, everything!"
I don't know why, but that made me uncomfortable. I decided to take a nap and after few hours we started to unpack our things, arranged our clothes and stuffs in the close and by the time we finished, we heard a gentle knock on the door. It was Diana and Dillon. Diana is my friend's friend , about whom I wrote, earlier in this paragraph. Dillon is a mutual friend. So, that's it! It's the six of us and an apartment. These are my roommates.
We went out to do a little shopping, the very same evening. We walked for five minutes, to get out of our apartment complex and then we reached a cute little bus stop. We took a bus numbered '38' to a shopping mall called 'Scarborough Town Center'. I think this is the right time t explain about Scarborough. It is a small little coastal town located in the Greater Toronto Area. If Scarborough was a human, then if you ask 'what's up?' to it, it would answer 'nothing much!'
Yeah, nothing happens here. It's just a quiet little town with a fairly medium sized mall, few primary and secondary schools, a college campus and a university campus. But I noticed one incredibly good thing about this place. It is greatly organized. The roads are divided into grids, both in a parallel and horizontal way, neatly organized intersections, punctual and frequent public transportation and to say the least, extremely nice people. People here are so helpful and friendly.
Scarborough Town Center
Scarborough has some the most beautiful parks, a great pure lake, ravines in the woods and some pretty cool bicycle trails. Now, it's been a month since I first stepped into this town. I'm trying to blend in here with the new community, new people, new environment and most importantly new culture. I bought a phone connection, I talk to my friends and family every day, I regularly visit the Toronto Public Library that's near my place, I could take the subway train and I could find my way out if I'm lost in the middle of endless tracks and intersections and I could go to Downtown by taking three different modes of transportations without any help. Today I'm completing my first month here and for one month, I could say for sure that I'm doing a good job of blending in.
My most favorite picture of mine ...
Yeah! That was my first glimpse of this unbelievably magnificent country called 'Canada'.
I'm sure that it was a pretty normal glimpse, there was nothing to be wondered or nothing to be amazed at. It was just a regular morning in a country that was located in the far north end of this world. To say the least, I was so disappointed at that first sight. I had an entirely different picture in my mind about my first glimpse of the new land, at least to me. Road covered with pure white snow, little white snowflakes accompanying the wind or a place crowded with yellow taxis and foreign people. But no! It was just a clean empty road and a big wide building with two English men.
I was accompanied by two of my friends Dominic and Abhishek. Dominic was my colleague back when I worked as a profile writer, and it was our decision to come to Canada. I knew Abhishek, just before a month from my flight. Dominic was using the terminal's phone line and Abhishek suggested that we should go out of the airport and enquire about the taxi to an old guard standing in front of the terminal. We were not wearing our winter jackets and thermals. From inside the glass window the weather seemed to be fine, a normal sunny weather. So, I opened the doors of the terminal and stepped out into a new country. That was a BIG mistake, BIG!!! I should have worn my winter jacket. I still regret the moment. The moment, when I stepped out, literally, a chill ran down through my spine. That's when I realized that a regular winter day in Canada has a huge difference from that of a regular Indian winter day. I felt that as if my hand was starting to freeze. Dominic, from inside the glass wall, gestured a regular 'what happened' sign. I was shaking and I tried to say 'I need my jacket', instead of my voice, a large breath of snow puff came out of my mouth. That was totally weird and new to me.
After an hour or so, the red coloured taxi dropped us in front of a twenty storey apartment. The taxi driver was very pleasant towards us, he said that he is a Pakistani, working as a part time cab driver and studying Bio Medical at York University. He explained a lot about the Canadian Winter and also said that the word 'Sun' doesn't exactly mean 'Hot' here. We took the highway, so we didn't see much on our way to the apartment. So, as I said, the taxi dropped us in front of an apartment named '80 MORNELLE COURT'. The apartment was located in the small town of Scarborough. I'll explain about the town later in the next paragraph.
View from our Balcony ...
We took the elevator with all our packed luggage and finally reached room number 1204 in the 12th floor. As I had already arranged the accommodation, Sudharshan, our new roommate was waiting for us. He was also fairly new to Canada, just five days new. It was a comfortable two bedroom apartment, with a tidy balcony and a beautiful view. After checking out all the rooms, I was standing out in the balcony, starring down at the park swing near my apartment. Dominic came out with a coffee mug in his hand. It was a silent afternoon. We didn't hear a sound, not even a single thing. In a distance we saw few houses and two tall buildings. Cars and buses were moving back and forth in a road far away, but not so frequent. There was a constant siren sound of an ambulance that came from nowhere. It looked like a toy world. The silence was disturbing for the reason unknown. Finally Dominic broke that silence.
"We're in Canada!"
"Yeah!" I replied in a base tone.
"How do you feel?" he asked again.
" Unbelievable! It's like a dream" I replied.
" Everything was like a dream, our plan, our flight, everything!"
I don't know why, but that made me uncomfortable. I decided to take a nap and after few hours we started to unpack our things, arranged our clothes and stuffs in the close and by the time we finished, we heard a gentle knock on the door. It was Diana and Dillon. Diana is my friend's friend , about whom I wrote, earlier in this paragraph. Dillon is a mutual friend. So, that's it! It's the six of us and an apartment. These are my roommates.
We went out to do a little shopping, the very same evening. We walked for five minutes, to get out of our apartment complex and then we reached a cute little bus stop. We took a bus numbered '38' to a shopping mall called 'Scarborough Town Center'. I think this is the right time t explain about Scarborough. It is a small little coastal town located in the Greater Toronto Area. If Scarborough was a human, then if you ask 'what's up?' to it, it would answer 'nothing much!'
Yeah, nothing happens here. It's just a quiet little town with a fairly medium sized mall, few primary and secondary schools, a college campus and a university campus. But I noticed one incredibly good thing about this place. It is greatly organized. The roads are divided into grids, both in a parallel and horizontal way, neatly organized intersections, punctual and frequent public transportation and to say the least, extremely nice people. People here are so helpful and friendly.
Scarborough has some the most beautiful parks, a great pure lake, ravines in the woods and some pretty cool bicycle trails. Now, it's been a month since I first stepped into this town. I'm trying to blend in here with the new community, new people, new environment and most importantly new culture. I bought a phone connection, I talk to my friends and family every day, I regularly visit the Toronto Public Library that's near my place, I could take the subway train and I could find my way out if I'm lost in the middle of endless tracks and intersections and I could go to Downtown by taking three different modes of transportations without any help. Today I'm completing my first month here and for one month, I could say for sure that I'm doing a good job of blending in.
My most favorite picture of mine ...
- Follow Us on Twitter!
- "Join Us on Facebook!
- RSS
Contact