Canada baby!

I went to Niagara Falls and Toronto in September of 2009 but I never properly wrote about it. I think it was the best trip of my life so far. There's nothing like seeing the raw power of nature and experiencing another country. It was my first (and hopefully not my last) trip outside of the US, so now even though I'm months late I'm going to give the trip the spotlight it deserves.

It was a spur of the moment trip. My sis was taking a vacation from work and decided that she wanted to go somewhere. Naturally I couldn't let her go alone so she graciously paid for me to tag along.

Anyone who's ever been there will tell you that Niagara Falls, Ontario is a touristy place fills with horror houses, wax museums, overpriced gift shops and casinos. Had I been a person with more money I probably would have fallen into the trap. However, I am a broke person and I hold onto my money quite tightly so the only thing I invested in was a Cuban cigar. None of this touristy stuff takes away from walking down that ridiculous Clifton Hill and seeing the Niagara Falls. It's in your face and all around you, bombarding you with mist and the roar of the water. It's overwhelming and beautiful and somewhat terrifying. Everyone looking at the falls are either just standing there staring or snapping fifty-million pictures. As for me I stared and then I snapped fifty-million pictures.

Maybe it's cliche to say that people are nicer in Canada but that's really how I felt. For four days I was able to detach myself from my iPod and engage in human interaction. Complete strangers talked to each other and went beyond the usual "hey can you take a picture of us?". I spent an hour in the pool of my hotel talking to a woman about life, about how her granddaughter was born on September 11, 2001 and could never really have a nice birthday, and about things one could do outside of the tourist area. While chatting with a friend of mine on the IM he said to me "L you seem much more pleasant now that you're in Canada". Hey what can I say, the niceness rubbed off on me. All these pleasantries made it somewhat hard to return back to Chicago. Suffice to say I had Canada withdrawal for quite some time.

But back to the trip. My sister dragged me on the Maiden of the Mist boat tour. I freaking hate being on the water. I always think that the boat can tip over and me being unable to swim, I'd die. However, I was much more interested in seeing the falls up close then I was in being anxious over boat accidents that would probably never happen. So we go up to this boat and it goes right up to the American Falls and the Horseshoe Falls. These falls are beautiful from a distance but they are absolutely awe inspiring up close. There's nothing to do on the boat except get wet, look at the rainbow and marvel.
I still kind of can't believe that I was actually in this place looking at something like this. I can't thank my sister enough for making me get on that boat.
My sister isn't one to stay still so it was off to Toronto for us, to go to the Royal Ontario Museum. Our purpose? To see the dead sea scrolls. The theology minor in me had a geek moment when I read that the dead sea scrolls were at the ROM. They are one of the single most important discoveries and I never thought I would be able to see them. It took hours to get to Toronto and my legs were killing me from walking so much but it was so worth it. I wish I could have taken pictures but it wasn't allowed. The dead sea scrolls are such tiny little things it makes you wonder how someone could have sat down and wrote them. There was a psalm and of course a legal document (the most intact of the all the scrolls...).

Exploring the rest of the museum was fascinating. Memories were conjured up in a most unexpected way. There was a copy of the Egyptian book of the dead; a seriously long scroll that I couldn't even get in one shot. It reminded me of my grandfather, he liked to talk about how he had a copy of that book sitting in his bookshelf. There was so much at the ROM that I couldn't talk about it all, no matter how many blog entries I write.

Our visit to the ROM ended by looking at an exhibit of precious stones. Some were carved into detailed statues, others were placed in jewelry, and still others were left in their polished state. My favorite piece was the tiny carved statue of a man. I can't remember what it's carved out of but when I saw it I couldn't look at anything else. It is so expressive, I wanted to stare at it for hours.

I wish I would have had more time to explore Toronto and see what it had to offer. Maybe I'll go again some day. For the brief time I was in Canada I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It wasn't the most elaborate trip ever but it was all that it needed to be.

-L

Credit or Debit?

Anyone who knows Chicago knows that though it is a highly diverse city this diversity comes in the form of concentrated pockets around the city. There are places in Chicago where you can go and hear no English. It's kind of a cool thing, I don't have problems with it. I personally live in what used to be a predominately African-American neighborhood and it is now changing and becoming a more mixed neighborhood. It's great for me since intermixing means that the city gives more benefits and allows new business to grow. Gone are the days of having only liquor and corner stores! Head a little further south from my neighborhood and you run into a predominantly Mexican neighborhood. I go there a lot since they have the nearest grocery store (more on that in another blog) plus I'm a foodie and the store inspires me.

So I head to the grocery store because I'm in serious need of Szechuan sauce and yogurt. What fascinates me about this store is that a lot of Asians come there. I think it's because the store contains such a variety of products that you can't really get at the local Jewel or Dominick's. So it's check out time and I'm waiting behind a Chinese woman (yes I know she's Chinese because I heard her speak and I know she was speaking Mandarin!) and chatting with the woman behind me as we wait. The cashier is a Hispanic woman with a seriously thick accent and she's trying to talk to the Chinese woman who also has a seriously thick accent. Both women are trying to figure out how to use the credit/debit machine but they can't really communicate well because neither understands the other. After some struggle the friend of the customer takes notice that it's taking a while for her friend to complete her check out and comes to see what the problem is. She proceeds to explain how the machine works and the rest of the checkout process runs smoothly.

I was so amused by this interaction because it was so odd yet natural. I want to have some insightful political thought about what happened at the store. The truth is...I've seen it before. What happened between the two women didn't make me stop and think, really I just went on and paid for my stuff and went home. It wasn't remarkable but for some reason it stuck with me.

I said before that this grocery store inspires me and this trip was no exception. This particular one didn't inspire me to cook but it did inspire me to break my 9 month writers block. Really it was just what I needed.

-L