However from handing back my apartment keys and to saying cheers to Jambles and Flo the reality of leaving starting to sink in. I have been planning this trip for as long as I can remember - but actually packing up to leave Canada has been a little sad as it has been a wonderful and hugely beneficial time here for me.
So I thought I would write a memoir of the 4 months that has been my time in Canada, even if it is just a reminder for me about some of the little things that made this home.
I arrived in Canada completely wet behind the ears and remember feeling so overwhelmed arriving at Pearson airport, getting my work permit stapled into my passport and trying to figure out how to get a 'limo' which work had recommended we use to get taken to our apartment 45 minutes away. From realizing that I had forgotten all work shirts on my bed in South Africa, to setting up a cellphone contract (which is more complicated than I thought it would be), to opening a new bank account and learning what the different coins/ notes were - a 25 cent coin is something I was not used to back home. Looking back now, I feel like I have grown so much as a person.
Things that will always remind me of Canada:
1. Tim Horton's French vanilla coffee and chocolate chunk cookies. Canadians are very good at baking cookies and Timmies takes the cake on this one. Their cookies are so moist in the middle and are completely addictive. I'm still not totally sure how a coffee/ donut shop like Timmies survives as there literally is a Tim Horton's within 2km from where you at any given point in time, but they do survive and are incredibly profitable at that!
2. Driving on the other side of the road. I remember during my first week of having my car, I got into the passenger side multiple times when I wanted to drive anywhere. I also very vividly remember turning into oncoming traffic and am very fortunate that generally Canadians are friendly and forgiving. Thier road rules are also a little different, and I I have loved all right turns being yield turns even though robots are red which basically means you can turn right through a red robot (traffic light I beg your pardon) and this 'breaking of the rules' hugely appeals to my dislike of authority. I will also not forget the fine we got because we parked within 3 meters of a fire hydrant... Note to self, not all rules are general knowledge.
3. I wont forget Being pulled over by a traffic cop. I think one of the prerequisites of being a traffic officer in the Northern American countries is that you need to be built like a brick shit house, and this officer was not exception. I got pulled over because he thought I was driving peculiarly - which I was. He was driving an unmarked car with dark tinted windows and it felt like he was following me (which he was) and my paranoid cautious South African self decided to loose him on the height way. Needless to say, when his blue flashing lights came on, I was more nervous than Bill Clinton finding out that he had actually had sexual relations with that woman. Another thing about traffic officers that I will not forget is their large weapons that they wear one their hip, which seems to be the only thing you can see in your side mirror as they approach your vehicle. I was sweating and could hardly tell him that the reason behind me trying to dodge him was largely similar to the reason why my handbag was in the boot (trunk I beg your pardon). Nevertheless my South African charm got me off the hook but judging from the way he spoke to me I think he thought I was completely insane.
4. Hot room yoga with Trish and other great instructors from Kula yoga Burlington. Many a great self realization came about while I thought I was going to pass out during her intense detox yoga classes which became my weekly staple.
5. My colleague, Andy, sending me "awesomeness" motivation emails (Barney quotes from how I met your mother) to get me through the busy season craze.
6. The choice of products in the very big retailers (think PnP on steroids). I'm going to miss almond milk and chocolate almond milk especially. I won't miss the massive genetically modified chicken breasts that look like turkey breats and taste like cardboard - but having such a wide variety of healthy products have been amazing.
7. Filling up your own gas tank. I have a new found respect for full service and the poor guys back home who fill up our tanks in winter!
8. Healing course and the amazing new friends I made through studying chakras, meditation and the power of the mind up in the lake simcoe District.
9. Wireless and Internet available so widely. Canada is a country that is massively connected on all levels. I know this point may seem different but RSA could take a leaf out of the connectivity book.
10. This is my most favourite thing that I will not forget. Canadians are proud about being Canadian and this can be seen by the number of Canadian flags that fly proudly throughout the Ontario area. My wish is that we start flying the South African flag as proudly. The biggest flag that I saw was the size of a small truck... It was beautiful.
11. I wont forget Morning runs along the promenade all the way to the opening of the harbour. The sun rising over the Great Ontario Lake and the freshness of spring in the air.
12. Canadians friendliness. I am yet to find another nation as friendly. The hospitality and kindness that I have seen has been heartfelt. Canadian will just randomly strike up a conversation with you - anywhere, anytime about ANYTHING!
Thank you Great White for healing me and preparing me for this new journey. I leave here a new restored person. I realized that I knew my way to the airport through their snakes of highways and that even though we technically speak the same language I was able to communicate with most people in their Canadian way today. It felt good to be accepted as part of new community even though it was just temporary.
And now from my chair in the airport, watching the sun set in the Canadian sky I realize that much like the changing seasons it's time for my spring to take shape with the new that lies ahead for me, and I realize that now is time and so the journey continues...
C'est la vie
