Time flies here in Toronto. I can't beleive I'v been here for 4 days already. There's so much partying and eating going. I've been trying to squeeze in an hour or more of exercise, mostly walking around my old neighbourhood, some light weight lifting and streching.
Almost every morning back in Canada I woke up at 6:00. My ritual: make a large pot of coffee, drink it while reading newspapers or magazines, and then, my family still fast asleep, putting on my sister-in-law's sneakers and hitting the 'trails' in my neighbourhood.
I go out the side entrance and I am greeted with amazingly fresh air and lawns exhuding that freshly watered fragrance. The building where my family live is in a court. There are four building surrounding the large 'court' which boasts manicured lawns, tall trees and flower beds in front of the entrances to each of the buildings. When I get out of the court, I find myself in a small street that connects two major Scarborough (that's how this part of Toronto is called) avenues. The street is lined with very expensive town houses that always remind me of the London neighbourhood where Dr. Higgins (My Fair Lady Lived) and only a couple of high-rise condominiums. Behind these is a huge Scarboroouogh golf club separated from the park that runs along the buildings by a little creek. There's also a library and a shopping mall, liquor store, beer store, two schools, one public and one Catholic, a high school, a community centre, a hockey arena, and an entrance to the major Toronto highway only a few hundred meters away. This, indeed, is a very good neighbourhood, but when I lived here I didn't like it. I found it too sleepy and too far away from the downtown area. Now, I think how silly I was.
My morning workout is always the same: I walk by the posh town houses, turn left into the main road and almost immediately turned left off the main road to find myself behind the town houses and walking by the creek enjoying the view of the green, green, green well cared for golf course. It's so peaceful in the morning. The town houses and condos are mostly populated by wealthy professional Chinese and Korean immigrants whose elderly parents take care of their young children while they are out making money to support the kind of lifestyle that includes a nice place ot live and a German car. At this early hour, the elderly Asians are gathered by the pool in the condo yard, doing their thai-chi or just walking in the park doing that funny arm flapping and circling. It's like being in Korea. I walk by the creek and then stop for a good strech. There are ducks and geese swimming in the creek and they look quite pretty gliding in the water that reflects tall trees from the golf course.
When I'm done with walking along the creek, I cross another major avenue and I find myself in typical middle-class neighbourhood, shaded lanes, manicured lawns, flower bed and inevitable Canadian flags. The sprinklers are on and it's fun trying to avoid getting wet. The sky is incredibly blue, the grass in impossibly green, the houses impecably neat... and I think to myself how nice, how organized, how civilized everything seems to be. I try to picture myself coming back to Canada and living in one of these quite nooks just minutes away from Toronto's hustle and bustle. I try and I fail. I can't see myself enjoying such peace and quiet after Seoul's dynamo atmosphere.
When I come back my family are stirring, getting out from their bedrooms, having showers, sipping coffee on the balcony. I feel great after exercising and thinking that I have yet another long lazy day ahead of me. I am letting myself be lazy this week, just taking it easy.
Yesterday, I went to the movies with my niece and sis. It was a lot of fun.
Last night we went for a barbecue, and what a feast it was. We were sitting in the backyard of Goran's partner's house, surrouned by 1/2 dozen kids. Good wine, good beer, good steak and thousands fo mosquitos (not good). My brother is in the construction business so we went to see a house that they bought in a very dilapidated condition, refurbished and now they are selling it for $700,000.00 (574,370,917.02 won) . It's "cheap" because it's across the road from on of the most coveted neighbourhoods in T.O. If it were on the other side it could fetch up to a million. And what a bloody palace it is! I forgot how much of a land of plenty Canada really is.
Later today we'll bemeeting some friends in a local friend to make yet another barbecue. That's what you do in Canada in the summer: you just go to a park and grill meat, hide your alcohol and curse the heat and humidity.
My niece had a competition in her music school so Nela, Marko and I went to cheer for her. She was playing with an ensemble and they won the first prize. She was so happy! And we were happy for her. There were many performers, from teenagers to little tiny kiddies who were the cutest. One group of 20 or so little kids performed the song "It's a small world after all" and truly they represented the whole world (it's not difficult to have such a group of singers in Agincourt, the part where we live, that is officially the most multicultural community in the world). The kids were dressed in the national costumes of their background nations: kids in kimonos, saris, with orchid garlands around their necks, barefoot, all waving tiny Canadian flags. They were so adorable. I took gazillion of pictures. I looked around the audience and god we were the United nations. Just behind me I could hear a Korean mother talking to her son who later played the saxophone and won the second prize.
Now I'm just sipping coffee and waiting for Nela to finish watching "king arthur' so that we can go to the park and attack more meat.
