Goodbye Toronto!

That’s right! I’ve now officially left Toronto, at least for some time, and am on my way home, with a bit of a detour along the way! I’m back in LA, in the same hostel I was in before, and although it all looks pretty much the same, I am amazed by how much more comfortable I am now that I recognise many of the stores from Toronto, and actually have a liking for many of them!
Anyway, the last few weeks in Toronto seemed to fly by. As it became apparent that the strike was not going to finish before I left, I suddenly had lots of work to do in contacting lecturers and doing the work for the rest of the semester! It is now all done (I hope!) and sent in, so hopefully it will all work out and the entire semester won’t have been a waste of time! At the same time as doing these assignments I was trying to sort through some of the stuff in my room and find homes for many of my things, and do all the final Toronto things that I had been wanting to do! Luckily I got most of this done before I headed off to Christmas Camp!
The camp was put on by the group of people who ran my Friday night group for international students. As such, there were always a few English lessons happening at the same time of other activities! It was lots of fun though, and we had LOTS of snow and so I got to spend some time tubing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowman building and of course throwing snow! Many of the other campers weren’t as keen to fully immerse themselves in the snow as I was, but I managed to find some people! There were also lots of Christmas carols and sharing of cultures and foods; I got everyone singing ‘Christmas in the Scrub’ and eating Vegemite, but most of the other cultures had slightly more serious and authentic things to share which was great. There was also some basic introduction of the Christmas story which was fun, and also came with the always fun questions like ‘but why did he have to die?’ Overall, a really fun few days and I was very sad to leave!
Once I got back to my room however, I only had 24 hours to pack up my room and head to the airport! There was almost noone left on campus, as they had all gone home for either Christmas or the strike, but I got my room all packed up into 2 bags (one of which weighed 58 pounds, and the other 42!) After spending way too long standing in lines with my bags I finally got through the airport and made it to LA, with lots of aches and pains from not being used to carrying a heavy back pack and dragging the suitcase! Tomorrow I will meet up with the group flying in from Sydney and we will drive down to San Diego, before heading into Mexico on Tuesday! The full itinerary for the trip is:
Monday 29 December:
• Meet at Sydney airport at 12:30 at/near Air NZ departures for 15:30 departure on Air NZ 718. Arrive Auckland 20:35 and depart Auckland 22:45 on Air NZ 2; arrive LA 14:00.
• On arrival in LA, transfer by coach to San Ysidro (USA – on Mexican border).
• Overnight San Ysidro staying at Americana Inn & Suites, 815 W San Ysidro Blvd, San Ysidro ph.0011-1-619-428-5521
• Group dinner at Coco’s next to motel

Tuesday 30 December:
• Last minute shopping before checking in with Amor at 1pm to cross the border. (For emergency contact: Amor office: 1664 Precision Park Lane, San Diego ph.0011-1-619-662-1200)
• Travel in convoy across Otay border crossing and to campsite, unload, settle in.
• Dinner at campsite

Wednesday 31 December:
• House building day 1 – dinner at campsite

Thursday 1 January:
• House building day 2 – dinner at campsite

Friday 2 January:
• House building day 3 – dinner at campsite

Saturday 3 January:
• House building day 4 – dinner at campsite

Sunday 4 January:
• Attend church service in morning
• Lunch/afternoon – activity TBA; dinner at campsite

Monday 5 January:
• House building day 5 – dinner at campsite

Tuesday 6 January:
• Breakfast at campsite, pack up, visit/bless houses, say goodbyes to families
• Travel to Rosarito, Baja California Coast (15 miles (approx 28 k) south of Tijuana)
• Staying at Quinta Pacifica, Blvd Benito Juarez #25500, Baja Cal ph.0011-52-661-612-1145 or 0011-52-661-612215
• Time for clothes washing at local Laundromat
• Group dinner

Wednesday 7 January:
• Sightseeing/free time – TBA; Group dinner; overnight Quinta Pacifica

Thursday 8 January:
• Sightseeing/free time – TBA; Group Dinner; overnight Quinta Pacifica

Friday 9 January:
• Check out and load luggage on van.
• 10:00am: leave for LA via factory outlets at San Ysidro
• Lunch at San Ysidro before continuing to LA
• Staying at Super 8, 415 West Katella Avenue, Anaheim, ph.0011-1-714-778-6900

Saturday 10 January:
• Free day – eg Disneyland/California Park; overnight Super 8

Sunday 11 January:
• Check out and load van
• Attend 11am service at Crystal Cathedral
• Lunch in the park followed by final group reflection.
• 3:20pm – leave Anaheim for LAX
• Arrive LAX 4:30pm for 7:30pm departure on Air NZ 5 for Auckland. (except me of course!)

I hope you have all had an excellent Christmas and that all of those involved in NCYC have a great time and get to really enjoy in and not just spend all their time making it enjoyable for others! I’ll be thinking of you all!
Not long till I’m home now… see you all on January 20th!
Laura

Less than 2 weeks left in Toronto!

Isn't it amazing- barely 2 weeks later and I've already updated again! I think I'm starting to realise how little time I have left here now, so I'm trying to fit everything in! The strike is still carrying on here with no signs of ending any time soon, so I'm now trying to madly do assignments and make agreements with lecturers about what I can do to make up for the exams and tests that I now won't be here for! Seems to be working out pretty well though, so hopefully it will all fall together in the end. Amidst that, I'm also trying to fit in everything I've been wanting to do in Toronto! Last night I went to see the National Ballet perform the Nutcracker, which was absolutely beautiful and I really enjoyed! Also very reminiscent of the video that we used watch of the Nutcracker every christmas at my grandparent house! Bringing back a bit of the old christmas tradition seeing as this christmas is certainly going to be very different to all of my other christmas'!
Went to Montreal last week, which was a really nice place, although very bizarre seeing as everyone around you was talking in French! I went with a friend that I met here at uni (who lives very near me at home!) so we stuck together and also adopted 2 other Australians that we met in our hostel room! It was a really social room, with 5 Aussies and 2 british girls! Definately one of my best hostel experiences (especially when I bought breakfast on the last morning and the server said bon apetite! I felt like I was in a very fancy french restaurant, rather than the basement of a hostel). It was a beautiful city though, and we got to see some fun stuff, including going into their biodome (a very big indoor ecosystem) where you were right there with the animals, and going up the lookout tower from the Montreal Olympics! I even found a Kombi and met his owner (only my third Kombi sighting since coming to Canada)!

We're now getting snow every few days, although it tends to melt in between snows. At the moment it is just really icy, so I'm waiting for my first fall over (that doesn't happen while sledding down hills). I'm sure it's going to happen any day now. I love the snow, but would love for it to get above 0 for more than 1 day! It's especially annoying as we have to walk off campus to catch the bus because of the strike, so it makes if a bit hard (and cold!) to get anywhere!
As I was walking through the city I was struck by the number of people around my looking for support. Within 200m there was a homeless man holding up a coffee cup and saying 'merry Christmas', a man selling a homeless and unemployed newspaper (sort of like the big issue magazine in Melbourne), a man busking with his guitar, a man handing out information onblack history and another homeless man who was not asking for anything, simply staring into space. How do we choose which of these people is worthy or deserving of our help or support? It is not possible to give each of these causes and people the help that they deserve, so what is our criteria for choosing what we think is worthy? Is it how clean they look, whether they are trying to help themselves, whether they have talent or represent a cause we can identify with?
When I was at the waiters union in Brisbane,we did a bit of an experiment. First, we got one of the older guys in the group to sit on the pavement on a Saturday night in the main entertainment area, with his shirt untucked and a garbage bag next to him, asking for money, and noone even looked at him. Then i went and started asking for money for the payphone and got $1.50 straight away. Then the other guys tucked in his shirt and started fiddling with his phone and asked a guy for some money to get home cause his wallet was stolen and that guy gave him about 4 bucks in change straight away!
I don't think that I have a point in all this, but if I do it would be that we actually think about what our criteria is, and if we are making the decisions we want to make. Is it just natural to go with the people who look like us and so who's choices for spending money we agree with, and who are just having a rough day? Is this who needs it most? None of these causes are wrong and if I was genuinely stranded somewhere I hope someone would give me change to call someone, or if I was in a tough place they would be willing to help me. We all ask for support for both ourselves and for other causes at different times. It just got me thinking about why we make these choices, and I think the thinking is a good thing. So put up a post if you can just sharing what might make your choices! If you don't have an account, just send me an email and I'm happy to post it!