Loving TO...

Well I am officially loving Toronto, in fact I cant believe I haven't discovered this city sooner. I got in a couple nights ago and took the sub for an hour to my couchsurfing hosts home. It was more of a community house, with four people living there and many people coming or going at all times of the day. Everyone that I met was so kind to me and most of them took their turns pointing me in the right direction or just chatting over coffee. Their house was a huge character home in the Annex area. The whole city is full of these old houses, homes that hadn't been torn down or "restored" to look like every other home on the block; like people, they had their own identity. I hope to one day live in a house like that, I want a real home with a story of its own just like me. My first evening I headed out for a while on my own, I went over to Bloor and found quite a bit of night life for the middle of the week. I was too tired to really do anything so I decided to grab a cup of coffee before heading to bed (I ended up sitting with a mentally ill, homeless woman who gave me some much needed company and many smiles throughout our conversation).

Yesterday I got up bright and early to do some wandering and grab a coffee. I ran into an older Jewish gentleman and he told me to hit up his old stomping grounds and go the Kensington Market. Ug, I loved it. Many different shops to brows in, wonderful friendly people wandering the area, and fresh bakeries and fruit stands everywhere. I stopped to grab a quick bite for breakfast and ran into my "old friend" Tessama. I asked if I could share her table and right away we were talking about life, not regular get-to-know-you chit-chat, but real life soul talks. Within minutes she had me crying, we shared some life pain - and growth, and she reminded me about the power of grace - the power of me - and what it meant to be true to my heart. I dreamt of her life while she dreamt of mine and we taught each other what we would do differently if we were in each others position; I will definitely be taking her up on some of her advice. Needless to say, after a wonderful breakfast I bid my friend goodbye and left feeling so much lighter. I headed over to OCAD to see some of their galleries and hoping I would catch one of their craft shows (it was a no go) there I ran into another guy Carlos. He and I started talking about India, and he got me so excited for my trip. He had a lot of really great advice but most of all just a passion. He travelled there a couple years ago, fell in love and stayed for the next two years. I cant wait to discover that little treasure in this world and I hope I love it as much as he does, at the very least I hope I am have as passionate about my journey as he was his.

I then headed over to Queens West. This is where the Much Music building is which was pretty cool to see since it was so popular when I was in junior high (case and point - electric circus), the pussycat dolls were doing a live performance which was slightly embarrassing so I just moved along. Queens is a great area however I had not prepared myself for loving the shopping so much! I will have to plan another trip for that as I had previously promised myself this trip was not about shopping and in true form I did not buy one piece of clothing. Instead I browsed the galleries for hours and was again taken back by the culture as well as the beautiful people. By this time I was starving and decided on settling for some Roti for lunch, a wonderful suggestion made by a friend before I left (however apparently he forgot to tell me the spicy disclaimer). I browsed around for a few more hours and ended up meeting up with Cliff, a couchsurfer that I met a couple years back when he was staying in Calgary. He was a life saver since I had just spilt my water in my purse and the water/dye of my purse managed to ruin my bag, ipod, jeans, and passport, so not only was I cranky but I was also exhausted from walking around all day. Anyway he drove me around for a while which gave me an awesome opportunity to rest and see a bit more of the city I wanted (Yorkville, Yonge Street, Chinatown, and the downtown area). I was exhausted by the time we were ready to part ways but grateful he came to meet me and very excited that my day had turned out so wonderful.

I learnt a few really important lessons from this trip. First being that God truly is in the most unexpected places and he is answering me, he just has a different form of doing so. Second that Calgary really is one of the most culturally deprived cities I have been too. Toronto has night life - every day of the week, it has art coming out of its ying-yang, they have one of those big screens hanging up downtown, they have posters pasted on the side of every building and wall, talented graffiti everywhere, music playing while you walk down the street, every kind of food under the sun - that actually tastes like a piece of their home. They have a subway system and adequate transit that runs the whole city long, street performers, worthy broadway shows, unlike Calgary it has buildings older than me, it has a stadium that artist want to play their music in, it has roots, it even has a bloody gay village (although if I was true to my redneck roots it would be just so "we" could get "them" out of "our" backyards). Anyway, my point is Toronto has life and each and every day I see more and more of that lacking in Calgary. The last thing I learnt is that I am on the right path. I had some sad moments yesterday, some times where I just kinda felt lonely. Without fail some random person was sent my way to keep me company and teach me some pretty powerful life lessons. I felt like God was just kinda saying "hold on girl, I got your hand, you just need to trust", so alas I am going to try that option. I am going to trust that I made the right decision and that God knows what he is doing - I still don't like His plan but I do accept (kinda) that it is His and I am only along for the ride.