O Canada!

The streets of Toronto

That's it! I've used up my one chance to use the blog post name O Canada. I guarantee there will be many more posts about Canada in the future of Chez Cothran but there will only be ONE O Canada post - and here it is! (By the way, if you are looking for the lyrics of O Canada, you can find them here.)

Over the weekend, Boyd and I traveled to Toronto to be tourists in our future hometown. In case you missed it, Boyd will be joining the History faculty at York University in Toronto next year as a tenure-track professor! So, over summer we will be moving to another city and another country. It's daunting to think about. But this trip was all about seeing the city and meeting future colleagues.

Here is the report:

Boyd at the Queen's Quay by all the big fancy buildings.

• So many fun parts of the city! There's so much going on everywhere, which is both exciting and a bit overwhelming. The transit system is great and so we were able to get around pretty easily.  
• Really liked the neighborhood The Junction. It had a town kind of feel, even though it's only a few miles (and a few more km) from downtown. We had some good Thai food at a cute place for lunch here.
• Explored High Park - a really nice park just south of the Junction. I could definitely see myself walking in the park regularly. It was a really nice get-away from the skyscrapers and see the many birds along the marsh shore. 



Boyd on Spring Break!



Me in High Park. I'm sure that garden below me is stunning in summer!

• Visited the Textile Museum of Canada and saw a fascinating exhibit of a collaboration between Canadian fashion designers and an aid NGO. The project was to design high fashion with African cloth. Not only were the clothes amazing, it was also a good sign for finding other internationally-minded people in Toronto!



Awesome African cloth dresses



Family Planning cloth from Kenya



I wanna make a dress like this one with the cloth I bought in Malawi!

Amazing Turkish prayer rugs

The scene in The Barns.

• On Saturday morning we caught the Wychwood Barns farmer's market. This was definitely one of the coolest parts of our visit. There was amazing bread, vegetable samosas (our lunch), local cheeses, local meats, and even a carrot juicer in action. It felt the most like "home."

I'm still processing everything. There's so much to think about with moving to another country. The little things (milk comes in a bag for some reason), the language (bathrooms are called washrooms), the big things (work visas), and the confusing things (taxes in two countries??). 

It was reassuring to meet other folks who had made the move from USA to Canada in the past and I'm sure they'll be great resources in the coming months. 

Finally, from O Canada: "With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free! From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee." Good to see patriotism is the same the world around!