catchup post vs. verbal diarhea

we moved to the delicious food co-op with martine and all the people that live there.

checked out the different types of beer that are being offered in the distillery distrcit. a milk lactose sugar based porter.

went to younge street. ive never seen so many people in one place at a time before. everyone was milling about as if transfixed by the heads in front of them, oblivious to their surroundings, bumping into everyone and blaring nonsense through their mouths. out of utter disgust we went into the eaton centre. inside young girls were getting make overs and being photographed in front of judges to become canadas next top model. it was horrible.

we met daves great uncle stan. he collects wicker furniture and other antiques. his house was like an antique shop found on main street. huge old paintings covering the entire walls, leaving no wall space exposed. the scent was moth balls. he was really a funny guy, he would walk up to average workers on the street and ask them if they could get him a job. he was 78. He had a lot of stories to tell, and took us to the beaches of toronto. if i hadn't known that there wasn't an ocean near toronto i would have thought this was one! waves, seagulls, soft sand, it was beautiful.

we then met my uncle and went to a good burrito place downtown called chipotles. apparently it is a chain across the usa, but this is the only one in canada. It was great to finally see my uncle again, and hope we can meet again in the future.


One night after a huge storm, man the storms are beautiful! Two clashing clouds of mixed colors collide from opposite ends of the sky, leaving the ground a warm, windy atmosphere high of static electricity. soon the environment turns a dark green then the lightning. bright flashes and fork lightning, following is a downpour that rips the skin off your arms and bounces 4 feet of the ground. thunder rattles the windows in their panes. then as soon as it started the sun is back out quickly evaporating all the water off the streets. this happened 3 times or so in toronto.

anyway around midnight or so after one of these strorms martine drove dave, lee, larysa, and I to her parents house in Georgetown, a suburb about an hour out of toronto, where the houses are all on acres in the middle of dense deciduous forests. We made like a ravenous pack of animals raiding her parents fridge and cupboards, eating everything in sight. since the whole house was empty each of us had our own bedroom to sleep in. we awoke early, as lee had to work that day. I went outside for a walk in the dense fog. there were mosquitoes everywhere and i was attacked about 9 times. we drove back into the city and stopped to get one of the best croissants ive ever had. i normally don't like them.

one day we were informed that george bush and bill clinton were giving a lecture at the convention centre. those who wanted to go bought tickets for $200 and went through intensive security before sitting down. needless to say there was a protest organized outside. we went, but it was extremely disillusioned, small, and no one (including myself) knew why they were there. later this day was critical mass. what a strange critical mass it was. the police were protesting bicycling laws, and made us stop at every stop sign, every stop light and obey every law, or else fines would be given out. this left the mass in groups of twenty or so at a time, weaving in and out of traffic, rather than owning the streets. how bizzarre it was though, riding down younge street with hundreds of people stopping and staring as hundreds of bikes replaced the cars on the road. people were getting tickets by the handful.

oh on younge street there is an all cross street. meaning you can cross regularly, or diagonally to the other side. so every few minutes when the "all cross" sign appears there is a swarm of people all over the place.

the night before we left toronto we made a wonderful dinner, had wine and watched twin peaks.

we caught a ride share in the morning that took 15 people in a van. obviously an illegal business and one that rakes in a lot of cash. he drives daily to and from montreal and toronto. it was cramped, and it sucked.

arrived in montreal, and immediately i cannot understand anyone! i went to the bathroom at a drug mart and was chased out by a clerk who was yelling in french, things i did not know! so we are having a hard time, but are managing the language barriers. everything is in french.
the metro is amazing, but expensive. we table scored some food after we ate ours, it was a very odd textured brown circle on a croissant. i turned out to be frois grois. horrible, i will never eat it again.
its funny people come up to us blabbering away and dave and i just nod and walk away. we will try to learn as much french as we can.

trying to find a couchsurfer to stay at tonight. the hostels are expensive.