Life in Toronto

Well, after many weeks of being slack, I am finally writing another blog entry! I don't really know where to start, but I think it's safe to say that I am now loving my room, and pretty much know my way around campus (or at least how to get to my classes), and am starting to work out my way around Toronto. I only have classes on 3 days, so I have plenty of time for exploration and adventures! There seems to be lots of little cultural areas in Toronto, my favourite definitely being Kensington Market, which described as 'bohemian', but is full of little stores of local designers, many of whom use all recycled materials or fair trade resources. And the best part is that there is a whole street dedicated to Vintage Clothing stores- so basically the best of op shops! So many amazing things, although it makes me miss my sewing machine, cause there are just so many fun projects there!
Having said that, I think I probably have enough projects happening at the moment... I've started my scrapbook of my travelling, got back into my knitting, and decided that it is time for me to work on my hand-sewing ability! Fortunately I don't seem to have a heavy load of work for my classes, but I am really enjoying the classes here, and the lecturers are all great. So that is all lots of lots of fun.
You'll be pleased to know that I've also finally found a spectator sport that I love- Baseball! So in the last week I've been twice, first to see the Toronto Blue Jays play the Red Sox, and then to see them play the Yankees! The first game I couldn't choose who to go for (how do i decide between Toronto and Boston?), but the Red Sox won in the last innings, and the I went for the Blue Jays and that was a great game because there were a lot more hits and getting on base (even a home run!) and the Bue Jays won 8-2! But now the season is over, so I'll go back to not watching sport...
Also joined up with a couple of christian groups on campus that I like- one being a bible study/ discussion group, and one a 'coffee house' designed especially for international students. The bible study is a really relaxed group, and we will be working our way through John, but I really like the setup of the group. We get given the reading and spend some time going through it individually, coming up with any questions or significant parts to it, and then discuss the questions as a group and see what we can come up with. Just nice, logical exploration and trying to find the meanings. The other group meets at a local church to have dinner together and have some more general guided discussion, which is nice but occasionally frustrating as many in the group have limited english, and so the discussions often switch between english and chinese, which prevents very deep discussion. They are having a camp over christmas however, which could be really good fun.
My really exciting news is that I am now definitely going back to Mexico in January, before I come home! How? Well it was kind of crazy, but when I was leaving the Amor office at the end of my last trip, I got introduced to someone in the office as 'The Australian', and she got all excited because because they were having a group coming from Australia at christmas! So I enquired if she knew who they were, and she mentioned that she thought they were a Uniting Church? So I asked where from, and she thought it was the overall office for the Sydney area (I'm like, yep, know who that would be), and that it might be called the Moderators trip? So I looked it up, and sure enough, NSW Synod had organised an all age trip! I contacted them and it's all just worked amazingly from there. Even though they had already filled all of there places, they've made adjustments to fit me in, which is sooo exciting! So that will be from the 29th of December to the 11th of January (which includes 5 days building in Tijuana, 2 days in Rosarita, 2 days in LA (Disneyland!) and attending church services in LA and Tijuana), leaving me with a week to fill in LA area before I head home!
It's been great having Arwyn here, having lots of awesome conversations with her about different things, and keeping ourselves entertained, so that's good. Going away with some of the other international students next weekend to a national park, which will also be good. It's great here- they don't just have christian holidays, but also Jewish and other holidays at Uni, which I think is awesome. And not just cause I get days off.
Anyway, hope everyone's doing well, missing you all and loving when I get calls or emails, so keep them coming!
Laura