Wednesday August 2nd, 2006

I am hoping today is the day that I find myself in tune with the time. The past few days have been a bit of a write off as I've been quite tired throughout the day and quite awake throughout the night.


Yesterday, Brother J and I went out around Hamilton. He took me to Battlefield park which doesn't seem nearly as massive as I remember it. It's been years and years since I've been there ... I mostly remember going as a little girl. I did get some photos but the day was almost too bright for me to get anything good.


The weather has been at an all-time high, temperatures are in the high 30's. To me, it feels like a very dry heat ... I am quite enjoying it. We get this heat in Taiwan for months on end, but with it we get this amazing humidity that keeps you soaked wet with sweat for most of the day. I'm not sure I even broke a sweat yesterday.

Dad has been laughing at me since my arrival. He leaves his air on all the time which means I'm in pants and a heavy sweater while inside ... usually with a blanket on my feet to cover my cold toes. He can't believe I feel chilly, but I don't think he understands the heat I reside in. Taiwan homes don't have central air, so it's a very different thing over there. I live in the hot, hot heat with two fans and a great cross breeze ... one just gets used to their environment.

After Battlefield Park, Brother J and I proceeded to Value Village ... one of my favourite places to shop! For $22CAN I was able to buy two tanks, two long sleeves and a pair of surf shorts ... what a deal! I love that place! The clothes in Asia, for me, aren't a great fit ... I am shaped quite differently than that of a Taiwanese girl.


After Value Village, the fun continued on to Stoney Creek Dairy. I had two scoops of tiger stripe ice cream on a cone ... another treat, indeed!


I hung around the house last night with Dad and Freda. We watched Canadian Idol ... it's pretty funny and not nearly as exciting as the American version. The talent seems to lack in comparison. While watching TV, I was able to indulge in some Lays Ketchup potato chips that Freda had bought for me in the afternoon. Thank you, Freda! I was considering having some more for breakfast this morning, but I think that would be pushing it.


Brother J is moving into his new apartment in a few short hours. The earlier the better as we don't want to move in the high heat of the afternoon. I am, once again, reading The Alchemist. This is my third time through. I am only a few short pages in and it's already a breath of fresh air. I will leave you with some words from the book for thought:

“To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation. Whenever we do something that fills us with enthusiasm, we are following our legend.”

How true, those words ...

Monday July 31st, 2006

225am ... it's been almost a full day since my arrival in Canada and let me tell you, things seem a bit weird this time around.

It was a long travel day ... my flight left Taiwan on Sunday at midnight. I arrived in Vancouver at 830pm on Sunday ... funny that ... and the first thing I noticed was the sun ... it was still flying high in the sky. Taiwan doesn't participate in daylight savings so it's always dark by 7pm. In the winter, it can get dark as early as 5pm. I must admit, I do miss the long summer days.

I stated in my earlier post that I was looking forward to the 15+ hours I'd have in the air. I completely take that back. I wasn't able to get any sleep on the first leg of the flight ... the flight out of BC left at 11pm. As my timing was off and I was starving, I decided to eat a meal which means I wasn't able to get any sleep on the second leg either. I arrived in Toronto at 6am feeling very tired.

What can I say about Canada? The empty streets are shockingly eerie. Gas ... 108.9 ... what is that? I wonder how one can afford to drive. I don't know exactly what the gas prices are in Taiwan ... I've never really considered taking the time to look. It only costs about $4CAN to fill my scooter and I can run on that for 4 or 5 days, depending on my schedule.

Tonight a group of us went to Hess Village ... six of us to be exact. GST 6% ... PST 8% and Liquor Tax??? Our bill contained $23 in taxes, then a $15 tip on top of that ... ouch. Living in a country where taxes and tipping don't exist, it seems a bit outrageous.

It's nice to be back in the world of western food. I've already had nachos and salsa and sour cream and lasagna and red onions and roasted peppers and baby carrots and dip and a Five Alive ... all things not easily attainable in Taiwan. I found myself drooling over the abundance of candy and chocolate bars at the airport tills ... Coffee Crisps, Wine Gums, O'Henry Bars, Licorice, Mars Bars ... mmmmm ... the list goes on.

Recently, I've been teaching my kids words like yard and fence and hedge and staircase and driveway and garage. My thought is to take some video of the streets here which can allow them to see the homes and properties that are kept by families so they can relate a bit more to how it works here. I'd like to show them the space that one family is allotted which normally goes unused. I know we have the space to spare and it can afford to go unused, but it also seems a bit unnecessary.

The roads ... it's an amazing concept that red lights really mean stop and wait ... yellow lights mean slowing down instead of speeding up ... that changing lanes means turning on the ticker and doing a shoulder check before crossing over. One can't compare it to the madness of Taiwan. As I said earlier, eerily quiet.

Although I know Taiwan is a foreign country ... to me, at this moment, Canada couldn't feel more foreign ... I find myself looking around in amazement at such a different world from what I know and live. I'm glad to be experiencing it all, of course ... but it certainly is being seen from different eyes.

One last thing ... a few months back I entered my favourite photo from Cambodia into a contest. I didn't hear anything back so I hadn't really thought anything of it. As it turns out, a letter was waiting upon my arrival stating that my photo has been chosen to be published in a book which my father has already purchased for me. I don't have the actual book in hand yet as it's still being published. It's all very exciting but more importantly, it's inspiring ... inspiring to want to continue to bigger and better things with some of the photos I have taken over the past while.