Been a few days, recovering from holidays. Warming up here in Toronto, finally. Above 0 today for the first time in a week at least! Felt nice.

But enough about the weather here. This blog has links to all sorts of ways to help the relief effort in Asia after the tsunami. See what you can do.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Merry Christmas, everyone!

FREE FIONA

OK, I know she has been labelled a primadonna and has stopped at least one concert immediately after beginning because of "bad sound quality," but I like her music and want to stop the tyranny of the record industry!! Basically, Fiona Apple's record label has hijacked her album and won't release it because of lack of commercial viability. One guy started a petition to get the album released. If you want to fight the power, sign! This same thing almost happened to Wilco. Check out I Am Trying to Break Your Heart if you don't believe me!

Wintery and white

It is white and wintery in Toronto - we had a lot of snow on Wednesday and it has been quite cold since then. The trees are glistening with ice, and the snow is on the ground. It definitely takes work to get around. Last night we just went to the local pub and had a pitcher of beer and some grub. This was followed by a trip to the video store (seconds before it closed! Luck!) where we rented "Open Water" which was very creepy. I am not yet a certified scuba diver, but I want to be. This movie is going to make me even more cautious the next time I dive.

Anyway, if my husband remembers to bring his camera home, I want to take photos of our winter wonderland. Otherwise, I'm sure it's easy to imagine what it looks like!

Saturday night music

On Saturday night we went to the Rivoli on Queen Street and saw some good bands. The opening act was John Southworth and he was really original and funny. He has a great sense of humour and his songs reminded me of Donovan, Bob Dylan, and Tiny Tim. No Joke! He was really great. I have already checked out his website and am probably going to buy a CD. The headliner was Howie Beck, also very good, very WFUV folky singer-songwritery. I use the WFUV comparison because it is a NEW YORK radio station. At the end of the show, Feist came out and sang a song with them, and played drums. She is a newly anointed Canadian pop superstar. The press loves her up here, and I had never heard or seen her before so was interested to listen. I think I will have to hear some more, but I definitely liked what I heard.

So, # of times I fell today - 0
# of times tripped over my computer wire today - 1

I must say, starting this list has really helped me cut down on my falls! I hope I didn't just jinx myself!!

Parties

We went to a couple of holiday parties today. Started drinking champagne and eating smoked salmon at 1PM, so by now I am quite tired and very full.
My mother-in-law is throwing her annual holiday party on Tuesday night, so I have volunteered to help prepare. Think tomorrow we may make a trip out to Sam's Club! It is a very special place - although they don't sell liquor at the Sam's Clubs here. That is a downer compared to the deals we got at the one outside Boston. In Ontario, we may only buy liquor from the government. Only the government may get you drunk!! and that is an order!
ready for bed. night!

Immigration Nightmares

So yesterday I heard from the woman in the MP's office who is helping me find out my immigration status. Apparently they claimed to her (via fax, there is no speaking with them) that they are waiting for my medical papers. She responded that they were included with the original application, and is now waiting for further response.

THESE IMMIGRATION PEOPLE MAKE NO SENSE!! If they were missing part of our file (which if they are, is their fault) don't you think they would contact us?? Apparently not, because that would be too logical!! That requires SENSE! I can't say how frustrated I am, but hopefully you get an idea. They have had all of our papers (and we have proof of this, because they sent us letters in July stating "we have all your papers") for MONTHS and NOW we hear they are waiting for more. UGH!

I hope to hear back from my contact in the MPs office on Monday, and then will know what I should do. She is, naturally, waiting for a fax, because the immigration department doesn't speak.

Christmas Tree

We bought our first Christmas tree yesterday (at Home Depot, natch) and just finished decorating it. We picked a mighty fine tree too, I must say! It has been snowing pretty consistently all weekend, which was so appropriate. We spent the afternoon decorating it, listening to Christmas CDs and making a stew for dinner tonight. It seemed an ideal way to spend a December day.

What I miss about NYC

You know what I miss about New York? Food delivery!! I could order Mexican, Indian, Caribbean, steak, French, anything and have it delivered within 40 minutes any night!!
I tried to order Indian food tonight and found out I needed to order $25 worth of food to get it delivered. And I am in Toronto! It's not like I am in the burbs. New York was awesome for that. Miss it. I ended up heating up leftover Chinese and making rice for dinner. Oh well, at least I saved money.

Not too different from the U.S.

My meeting at the MP's office went really well. They seem to think I have nothing to worry about with my immigration application. Apparently, I haven't even waited the average amount of time yet!! It seems long, but it isn't comparatively. So, I probably have at least until the end of February before I can look for work. I feel better just knowing that.

So, I am discovering that Canada is not different from the U.S at all. The latest news all over the TV is this mother who flashed her son's hockey game - her son is 11 years old! She was trying to "intimidate" the opposing team. Here's the quote from today's National Post: "The mother lifted her shirt to reveal her bra and then shook her breasts during the final three minutes of a game. The action was apparently meant to taunt Terriers fans."
Canadians mock Americans for this sort of thing, but every country has their freaks who don't know how to behave in public.

HEY! I haven't tripped over my computer wire or anything else today! This is a good day! :) Plus, my husband is coming home from his business trip tonight. That is good news.

Had to add this -



America

December 08, 2004

Why Americans pretend to be Canadian
By Elaine Monaghan
Travellers adopt new identity to escape scorn abroad
FOR some Americans, to be mistaken for a Canadian is the ultimate humiliation, yet hundreds of US citizens travelling abroad have willingly acquired a disguise of a T-shirt with a Canadian flag.

Traditionally, Americans have looked down on their northern neighbours and Canadians are the butt of a thousand American jokes. But faced with hostility on their foreign holidays, some Americans are going to great lengths to conceal their nationality.

Those prepared to make the switch can now buy maple leaf stickers for their luggage. The truly adventurous can even learn the dialect and replenish their knowledge of the adopted homeland with the help of the quick reference guide How to Speak Canadian, Eh?

Relations between the two countries have been strained by Canada’s refusal to back the US-led war on Iraq. President Bush did not help matters during a recent visit to Ottawa. Confronted by protesters, he said that he was grateful to those Canadians who came out to wave “with all five fingers”.

However, Mr Bush’s election victory last month prompted a flood of inquiries on Canada’s main immigration website. Sensing a business opportunity, an American company is selling a “Go Canadian” package for $24.95 (£13) after an employee heard of someone being harassed over US politics during a recent trip overseas.

“It was not meant as a slight against the US or Canada,” Bill Broadbent, president of T-shirtKing.com, said. “Some people might not mind, but others just want to be on vacation. So we were joking that they could just go as Canadians, and that just kind of evolved.”

The package’s quick reference guide offers tips in case an American in disguise gets quizzed on Canada. On sports the guide suggests: “This is easy to remember. There is only one real sport in Canada and it is called hockey. Regardless of any trivia question, the answer is ‘Wayne Gretzky’.”

If a Canadian had to “deke out of a meeting”, it means he avoided the meeting. If someone is headed to “Hogtown”, that is Canadian for Toronto. A trip to “Cowtown” means that the person is going to Calgary.

TALK LIKE A NATIVE: AN AH TO ZED GUIDE

Allophone: someone whose first language is neither English nor French
Chesterfield: a sofa
Eh?: an utterance regularly injected into conversations which has the meaning “don’t you think?”
Elevator: lift
Homo milk: full fat (homogenised) milk
Housecoat: dressing gown
Keener: sycophant, an overly keen person
Lineup: queue
Loonie: one dollar coin, on which appears a
Loon: native Canadian bird
Pogey: unemployment benefit
Poutine: a dish typical to Quebec consisting of fries, cheese curds and gravy
Runners: trainers
Tap: the same as in British English, rather than the US faucet
The States: the USA
Toonie: two dollar coin
Tuque: knitted hat
Washroom: toilet
Zed: the final letter of the alphabet

INDOORS

I know it's almost winter, because I spent the whole day in the building. I miss the snow! Today it was just rain, rain and more rain. I think it may have stopped but now it's dark already! Oh well, big plans for tomorrow.

Tomorrow I have an appointment at the local MP's (Minister of Parliament's) office. I am going to ask for help with my immigration application. Basically, I just want to know the status of the application, and my husband figured maybe someone in government could find out for us. I don't have much faith, though. I went by the office at 1pm on Monday and had to make an appointment. The woman took out her date book and opened it to this week and told me she was in Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. When I glanced at the book and saw it was completely empty, I asked if I could come back later that day. She looked at the clock and said, "No." I managed to avoid laughing out loud and got an appointment for tomorrow morning. We'll see if I can keep a straight face tomorrow. those who know me will understand when I say I can't believe I have come to the desperation of asking politicians and bureaucrats for help! But who else to ask to deal with bureaucrats but others like them?? I'll report on the meeting tomorrow.

OK. I have decided to create a daily (or every day I post) tally of things I commonly do each day, so here goes:
# of times I tripped or fell today - 0, but the night is young (I did slip down some stairs outside a store yesterday, but that was yesterday)
# of times I tripped over my computer wire (this has to be a separate category from the above) - 1 so far

OK, getting ready for reality TV tonight - Amazing Race and Rebel Billionaire. Whoopee!
:)

SNOW DAY

My first day of snow as a Canadian resident! Very cool. I went out this morning to do some Christmas shopping and it was cold, windy and snowing, and it was fun! Fortunately, not too many other people were shopping where I was, so it was pretty easy.

This afternoon (after shopping), I went for a short swim and had a sauna. Great way to spend a snow day. I have to start using that sauna more; it really felt cleansing.

Found an ok website to take a word association test. Don't know too much about the results, because you do have to click as opposed to blurting out the answers, but interesting nonetheless. I will try to link, see if this works: Take Word Association Test

We went to a great holiday party last night. It was a pretty early start: we got there at 7:45 and headed straight for the bar. Had a few really yummy martinis with framboise and pineapple juice.
Because of the early start, 10PM seemed like late night. People were dancing up a storm! I had a blast! That was our first holiday party this year, and it was a great start to the season.

Cold and rainy day

We spent this afternoon at the Canadian Cross Country Championships in Sunnybrook Park.
http://www.torontoolympicclub.com/cross_country_2004.htm
NO! I didn't run or know anybody running; we just watched. As it was ending, the rain started, and it was cold out!! I am now warm and toasty inside and drinking tea.
We have a holiday party to go to tonight. Should be fun!

First Post - Canadian Immigration

Hi. Welcome. I am an immigrant to Canada from the U.S. A little over one year ago, I married a wonderful Canadian man. Six months ago, I moved to Toronto. Since then, I have been awaiting immigration status to work or study and resume my existence as a contributing member of society. As I must rely on a bureacracy to do that, I am settling in for a long haul.
While I wait, I will enjoy my life in Toronto, Canada, and report on my activities as an expatriate. Thanks for stopping by!!

Melinda