*Yitzin

(still looking for a nice header and title, what about "the friendship journal" or something like that?)

I know, my journals are long but I always appreciate when you can read them and comment them, the resulting discussion makes them more interesting.

So as of this week, I'm actually half the way on this summer trip to Canada. It has been so awesome, and so busy too, but it's OK because if they have us all bored without doing nothing maybe half of the group would already be wanting to return home. Too bad there won't be any more weekend trips, at least included in the original plan, but our last weekend is free so maybe we'll plan something nice so that we won't pass it all boring up here in North Bay.

I've been enjoying it quite a lot, despite not being able to draw, but all what I've learned might eventually help not only for future drawings but perhaps to start writing a small story for my girls. Here's among the many things that I've liked about this beautiful and interesting country:

-The big diversity of living styles and fashions, both among Canadians themselves and people from other countries living in Canada. Sometimes you can actually be close to a group of people who appear to be Canadian or from the US, but when you hear them speaking something different from English, French or Spanish, you suspect they might not be American. Mexico seems to be more like "standardized" in the sense that most people make the same things and dress alike, so one might feel awkward when trying something different.

-Many people seem to take summer VERY seriously. It might be 15 C at night, but that doesn't deter some girls of all ages to hang around with tank tops and mini shorts. In Tampico, everybody would be wearing sweaters at this temperature! Of course, you can expect a girl in bikini top or a guy shirtless during daytime in some places. In fact, most of the time people don't mind how they look; as long as they feel comfortable they wear whatever they want. Perhaps because summer is so short...?

But well, not everything is pink up here in Canada...
-There are things that are much more expensive than in Mexico. For example, if I didn't had a bus pass I'd have to pay $2.25 every time I take the bus... that's what I pay for a taxi ride in Tampico! And the thoughest one... food: while in Mexico I can get plenty of munchies at an Oxxo (convenience store) for $2.00 (say, a soft drink, a bag of potato chips AND a chocolate bar), up here that's the price of a bottle of water! Almost nothing costs less than a dollar. And still harder, at least here in Ontario they also apply sales tax to food, which makes you pay even more. Of course that alcohol is more expensive, and you can only buy it at The Beer Store or LCBO; too different from Mexico where you can even buy an Absolut at almost any Oxxo for around $25 or a Smirnoff for $13.

And now, let me share my best experience in each city I've visited:
-Montréal: Being in a city that's not predominantly English or Spanish made me feel a bit nervous at first, I do know some French but don't feel very comfortable speaking or hearing it. It was my second time there, so I already knew a few things about the city like how to go from downtown to the residences which were the same of the last time. Actually I went to different places in both visits: while the first time I focused more in shopping at the malls of the underground city and the Olympic Stadium, now I went to the Old Montréal and the Biodome.

-Ottawa: Also my second time there, and for the same reason: Canada Day!!! So there were crowds and crowds AND CROWDS all the way near Parlament Hill. And of course, we couldn't miss the fireworks show at night. Though this time I spent a long time at the natural history museum, both in there and going to since it's like 10 blocks away from downtown Ottawa! And the day before, we visited the Parlament building where we learned a lot of the history of Canada and why was it built as it is, supposedly because of the mourning time during World War 1.

-Toronto: Just two words describe my best experience in Canada's largest city: CN Tower... what else? At last one of my travel wishes was accomplished, because since I always wanted to visit CN Tower since I first knew of its existence several years ago when my father first visited Canada. I visited everything except the restaurant (VERY expensive, they told me it was $44 for a fish n chips and a friend shocked when I told him that) and the Sky Pod since it wasn't included in our package. I was also offered the opportunity to go to the Blue Jays vs Yankees game, but turned it down because none of my best friends were going and I don't understand baseball that much. As of the shopping, I was eager to go to the Eaton Centre, but I was afraid of being left behind so I didn't bought too much there. Fortunately, on our last day we went to Vaughan Mills just outside TO and had better opportunities.

Well, that's all for today, we still have around two weeks to go here in Canada. For our free weekend (not this one but the next), we're organizing a trip to Québec which is like 8 hours east from NB; it's still in plans but if it's made, I'll go and be completely satisfied for having visited Canada's 4 main cities during the same trip.

Let me give you an idea of how busy I've been: I started writing this journal on Wednesday night, continued next day to publish it today Friday morning. Yup, no time to draw (or even think what to draw) at all!

STAMP COLLECTION!





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