Que bec pour quois?

It was another day, another hostel and it was flippin freezing. Honestly we are heading further towards the arctic and the don't turn the heating on, so I was shivering all night with my little blue blanket. The blanket was provided it was not a comforter that I take around with me, honest. In fact this blanket was made with the finest French Cotton. Talking of French many people in Quebec can't speak English and boy did that make ordering things hilarious. I tried my best to integrate with the French culture of course. Actually within five minutes of entering Quebec I had seen my first Frenchman spit. Ah continentalism. Seriously though Quebec is a very attractive city reminiscent of olde worlde Europe. It had great views over the St Lawrence River (see photo) and generally had some nice little shops to see. We went to an interactive museum with a great Quebecois guide who used to teach in Birmingham of all places. He said he could understand a bloody word they said. The museum showed how the British conquered Quebec and so out of protest the French dumped 4 tonnes of tea into the river. When tea soc finds out I don't know what they'll do, but you can guarantee blood will be spilt or at least of couple of cups of tea. I can see Stu now crunching a chocolate hobknob with his bare hands in disgust :D We also travelled on a vernicular and went down an ice chute on a sledge, great fun and very very fast. We then stocked up on cheap Canadian CDs for the ten hour journey home!

Mont (real) Olympia

When I said we went to the biosphere that was in fact an accident. We were actually looking for the biodome. The biodome simulates 7 different ecosystems and also acts as a zoo. Most excitingly it contains penguins from king to gentoo all the way to macaroni. The Biodome is housed in what was the velodrome used for the 1974 Summer Olympics which were held in Montreal. Unfortunately Canada did not win any gold medals that year, or the time after, better luck next time.

Next to the biodome is the huge olympic stadium which seated thousands upon thousands of people. Nowadays it is used for conventions and the odd rock concert. However, the last time it was used as a music venue was in 1997 by U2. Today you can only enter by guided tour and that is exactly what we did. Towering above the monstrous stadium stands a huge tower which provides a centrepiece for the Olympic park. All in all an amazing attraction and well worth a visit. Do you think if I keeep saying stuff like that I could get some sort of commission? The following day the road to Quebec began and we stopped of at yet another impressive church. It is so old it has ye olde escalators in lol! Very impressive nonetheless.

It looks sort of like the world with holes in...

Next Stop on my whistle stop tour was the biosphere situated on a very hard to get to island between Montreal and the mainland. For those of you who don't know Montreal is like a island in the middle of Canada surounded almost entirely by water. The biosphere is very near the Formula 1 track in Montreal although it was hard to see as it was covered in a lot of snow. Inside the spherical structure was a mini science centre illustrating the importance of water with hands on exhibits and interactive shows. It was fine fare for a couple of hours. We even found a large collapsable ball, which get us amused for nigh on minutes. Check out our frollicking fun. The balding duded is Steve, a top man!

Later that same day...

I have to say there aren't many old vuildings in Canada. However, when they build a church, they really build a church. The Notre-Dame Basilica was phenomenal! Here is a few facts for you chaps and chapesses:

Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica has nothing in common with Paris's except the name. It's a neogothic building dating from 1829, constructed on the site of a much older and smaller church which had been outgrown by its parishioners. Notre Dame is noted for its lavish and beautiful interior - stained glass windows, gold-tipped polychrome carvings, paintings, statues, and especially its lavish altarpiece. It also has a notable Casavant organ and its big bell, le Gros Bourdon, is the largest bell on the continent.

The photo above taken by my own fair hands showcases its beauty and unusually arabic feel. Also above is a photo of my on the Montreal metro (albeit artily slanty). Montreal to demonstrate its French roots has copied exactly the French Metro style using the same subway train design. How bout that!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland...Crikey!

When they say Canada gets a lot of snow they weren't kidding. After a fine nights sleep at teh hostel we took to meandering about town, grabbing a fantastic breakfast and simply marvelling at the amount of snow. Check out that car. He is going to need a fair few kettles of hot water to get all that snow off. Maybe there is people still trapped inside, who knows. To put things into perspective Montreal had the amount of snow shown in the pictures in just 2 days. Now that is cool!

the (Mont)real deal

Eventually we all rolled into Montreal and our accomodation lay before us, the Auberge de Jeunesse. I had never stayed in a hostel before and was shocked, in fact visibly shaken, when I found out we had to make our own beds. Luckily it was all okay and I got the top bunk :D The room we were given was shared with this Aussie dude. Now this man was a colourful character, lets just say his previous night on the town had involved crazy strippers and mexicans. He had some great stories! The next day we went into Montreal to explore what it had to offer. The city heralded huge basilicas and cathedrals alongside the modern stylings of the traditional American skyscrapers. We stopped off in a little restaurant for brunch before endering through the French-Chinatown! We covered much of downtown before heading out in the evening to check out the nightlife and this is where the real hilarity begins. To cut a long story short we got confused and ended up in the gay district. Seriously, the village people were wandering round, oh and the leather chaps! We wandered further, until finally we found a 3 storey French bar. I decided I would use my superior language skills to integrate myself within Montreal culture. Thus I ordered deux biere sil vous plat. Well I ordered that in theory, but what came out was a mish mash of random strung together syllables that was as much French as Japanese. The barmaid replied "What?" However, not giving up I tried again, this time with even less of an accent. To which she replied "what?" So finally I said "could I have two beers please?" To which she replied "No problem mate."

A French Folly!

An Englishman (me), a Scotsman (Joe), a Canadian (English Teacher Steve) and a German (Cosi) walked into a car. We then set off on a journey to Montreal and Quebec, a land where all our wishes would come true. Hang on thats Oz. Straight after my economics exam we all bundled in the car to start our 7 hour journey to Montreal. Joe and I had made a mix CD to entertain the foreigners, introducing them to bands such as Coco Rosie and Jamie Cullum. KT Tunstall went down especially well. I also included a comedy podcast by Ricky Gervais completely forgetting the skit at the end about dirty Roman inventions, Cosi gave me a few funny looks. On the way we stopped off at a McDonalds and what a McDonalds it was. They had some kind of crazy production line set up and a very strict uniform. The large fries and dink were huge. Check out the drink, it was the same size as my head and as we all know I don't have the smallest head lol! Not only that, but I was also called a divine religious sign by a strange uber religious nut. Remember I am still in McDonalds. She asked me how church in England was? I said "people still go from time to time!" She then proclaimed I was a sign from God to show that she must take a job in Europe. How bout that. I have never been a divine sign before!

Snowflakes at Dawn!

Tis nearing that time of year, yes that is right folks, Christmas. I am experiencing another Phil first by spending my first Christmas away from home. My sis won't be prodding me at 6 in the morning to open our stockings. Actually its usually me prodding her but thats beside the point. No familiar Christmas tree drooping with the weight of the baubles. Instead I will be in Canada, consoled by the fact that Santa lives closer to Canada than the UK. I hope everyone has the best Christmas of their lives. Thats right, I said Christmas, not Happy Holidays, take that political correctness parade :) Outside it is snowing, a sure sign of a white Christmas! Just in Toronto we have had a foot of snow, thats a heck of a lot for me to see. Merry Christmas one and all and I hope Santa brings you everything you asked for!

My exams are almost over with just one more economics to go. Whats more Christmassy than economics! In the Spirit of Christmas, Joe and I concocted a plan to turn the top of Parking Complex B into an advert for our house, the Kaiser house. Sure we are losing the Stong Spirit Cup, but you have to admire our spirit. The photo above is the view of the top of the parking complex from the 14th floor in Stong.

The Innovation of the Bowling Nation!

Its time to get excited peeps and peepesses! I am proud to bring you another phil first, being the ever so popular trend setter we all know and love. Get ready for a revolution that you can all be part of. We all love bowling, but I think it is time to re-think the game and boy have I just done that. I was on the Stong bowling team, but it is no longer about how many pins you knock down, its how you do it. First of all we started of with simple trickshots, behind the legs, bowling from further back and we built up into the craziest bowling ever. For example four people lined up and one person slid through all our legs releasing the ball; we got a strike with that one. We also did human limbo bowling, bowling on a chair, a swivel one, bowling whilst having a piggyback, bowling on the same lane as other people, criss cross ballroom bowling, trick shot pool bowling, bowling from 1 metre away, bowling backwards, bowling with a cap on the ball, human swing bowling, techno bowling and bowling upside down, no joke! Join the revolution. The trend spread down the lanes as more and more people became innovative with blindfold bowling and fireman carry bowling. Free your mind next time you are at a bowling alley. The alley is the tunnel of dreams. If I get the photos sent to me be sure to check them out and spread the craze. STONG BOWLING FOREVER!

It's Christmas, no wait thats still a few weeks away, then what's Santa Claus doing over there?

Last Sunday was the big Santa Claus parade held every year in Toronto for the past 101 years, yes thats almost as long as Canada has been around. Billed as one of the seasons premier attractions featuring 20, yes 20, of the worlds best clowns, and the big red jolly man himself. The parade was cold, but a traditional North American fare with big floats, golf carts, people dressed as peanuts, people dressed as post boxes, the list is endless. While sipping my hot chocolate I imagined how great it would be to relive those childhood days. After seeing santa, who spoke to the kids with the help of a tannoy system, I grabbed lunch at the Black Bull a charming pub on Queens Street West, before going clothes shopping. Yes, like many a man this fills me with dread, but I handled it well I felt and even found some stuff that fit me. The Scotsman had a more disturbing clothes experience when he bought a pair of pants and got a free rainbow spandex headband with it. Now that is weird! Also on the way home went to a mini XBOX 360 expo and got to play it. Not bad, but could have been better I feel. Well I'm off to write a paper, catch you later!

No, your kidding me, no you are, no you must be...woah that looks amazing!

Well last night night I was downtown in the big T dot once again and if you ever thought that the Philmeister (I figure if I keep using this expression the eighties are bound to come back at some point) was not connected then you be wrong. I'm talking exclusive night out, I am talking hidden bar, chandeliers, the works. I went to the Panorama and this is how cool it was. For a start we found ourselves in a shopping centre, an average one just like the Shires and we could not find this bar. Eventually we, we being an Englishman (me), the Scotsman, a German, two Swedes and a partridge in a pear tree, found our way onto the second floor. We walked down a long corridor with a bouncer at the end. I flashed him the swanky pink driving license, why is it pink? and he showed us to a lift. I stepped in and it was all mirrored, but get this it only had two buttons on, floor 2 and floor 51. 51 thats high! We zoomed up, ears popping and arrived at the top. Greeted by two lovely waitresses and a fine cocktail menu we settled down in the leather, yes leather, seats. They even had pillows. However, the best bit was the view, check out the photo above. I took that from the balcony. Click on the photo and make it bigger then gasp. It was amazing! In the other pic is the Scotsman and Cosi the German gal!

Eclectic Society!

The fun did not stop when the gig was all said and done. While walking home and missing every single subway entrance the Scotsman and I were approached by some, well...shady misfits is probably the best way to put it. I guess walking around downtown Toronto in a deserted area is not the wisest thing to do, but i live for danger. Anyhow the first of these strange people approached us along with his girlfriend. He looked me straight in the eye and asked me where the nearest strip joint was. My first reaction was probably not the wisest, I burst out laughing in his face. He was however being deadly serious. I then told him I had no idea. I mean do I look like someone who would frequent stripclubs...comments please people. I think I might be setting myself up for a fall there actually. Anyhow, he and his girlfriend, emphasis on girlfriend, meandered off. I wondered when his girlfriend first got into stripclubs. I mean I know that kind of things goes on from documentaries on channel 5. Personally I regard burlesque as an art, women's bodies are a beautiful thing and...I'm not sure where to go from here really. Girl Power!

Anyhow the stripping fans wandered off and we walked about ten metres, when I hear this voice, "Yo Homeboy." Yep this rapper with a bandanna on stared straight at me. I thought, hmm shall i play it cool, speak back with a little, hey man West side rocks, but what if he was from the East side. I just said hi trying to avoid the higher pitched helloooo I'm am known to do from time to time. Turns out he just wanted directions and I was happy to help except I didn't know where the place he mentioned was, so we politely parted our ways. I hope he got there alright!

Next up the Scotsman and I nearly got run over, not by stampeding Buffalo, this is Ontario not Alberta, but by a taxi. The traffic lights are odd here. There is no buttons to press and it was dark, however we got across okay, there was no papping of hooters. Then this dude with a hoody who was smoking something that I think was very suspect, shouted "what the hell are you doing?" randomly at us. I thought 'he must just be talking to himself and muttering as he goes along, I'll just smile' and sure enough he...well, he staggered more than walked down the street. Another potentially dodgy situation handled well I felt.

Now this final guy, I told you there must have been something strange in the air that night, well he was actually very helpful and he seemed charming. A little odd, but charming. Amazed by the cool big buildings, and they are big and amazing, we stopped at the side of the road to look at one that particularly caught our eye. This man then approached us, he was only little. "Thats the insurance building," he said, a couple of times. We thanked the man for this snippet of information and continued on our way. "You need a clean debt record to get in there, took me three months," we then heard from behind us. So we stopped and walked back to the man to once again thank him before discussing the merits of home insurance. You couldn't make this stuff up. Finally we found the subway after about an hour and all was well again! Huzzah!

Have you ever seen a monkey shiver?

Coincidently while writing this it has just started snowing outside for the first time. Flippin fantastic! After the curry I made my way to Lee's Palace, a famed cult music venue on Bloor. I had tickets to see the Arctic Monkeys, gigging it up! If you have not heard of the Arctic Monkeys the were number 1 for 2 weeks in the UK before Westlife knocked them off the top spot, they are that good lol! All the best songs get to number 1, crazy frog anyone! I have to say I was pleasantly surprise, they had a really unique sound and were from Yorkshire. Although for some reason some drunk crazy guy kept asking them to play something Jamaican! I have no idea what that's about! The lead singer is apparently only 19, just legal over here then!

Oooo Mr Bond...

Last Monday was another day, another crazy adventure! I found myself in downtown Toronto with the Scotsman (thats Joe, but I feel this new name sounds edgier). After getting off the subway, we meandered through Chinatown and went to Kensington Market. You could buy all kinds of crazy stuff from whole pigs to the obligatory black fungus; yes that is its real name. Eventually we found ourself on Bloor, a very nice part of time, populated by shops selling fine China and diamonds from Cartier. The Scotsman and I decided that it was time for food, so after wandering up and down the strip, we settled on the Thai Basil. The restaurant was really nice inside and was designed in a traditional Japanese style except it had sliding glass as opposed to paper doors. I myself ordered a Thai green curry drizzled in coconut and not just a martini, but a lychitini. Thats right folks, a martini made with lychee juice. Phenomenal! We also grabbed a glass of lemongrass juice, which is supposed to cure a bad mood!

Where are the horses?

Last night I believe I was grossly misled. I was invited to watch a game of water polo. I thought great, never seen water polo before, this will be fun! It was York versus MacMaster. Imagine my disappointment when I realised water polo does not involve swimming horses. I have to say I shed a small tear, I was gutted. Hopefully a York win would raise my spirits though, so the game started, the ball bounced, goals were scored, cheers were sang and then we lost! 5-1.

Dude wheres my car!!?

A couple of nights ago I went to a halloween house party in some random downtown neighbourhood. The whole thing was last minute though and I was stuck for a costume, I had ten minutes to come up with one and then it hit me. I could be a ROAD! Yes thats right a ROAD! Have you ever seen anyone dress up in such a unique costume before? Not only would it be unlikely anyone else would be dressed as a road I would also be safe, should I get lost in a dodgy neighbourhood because I would be streetwise, geddit, streetwise :)! Should my streetwiseyness not have protected me and I got injured I was prepared to have a heart bypass, geddit, bypass. I'll stop now, well maybe just one more. If I was taller I would have been a highway, geddit, okay I'll shut up now. Now stop frowning it was funny at the time. However, this halloween story has a tragic ending. That night I had taken my car, sure it was from a kinder surprise and as such a toy, but lets remember people its a convertible. I had taped it on me to really enhance the whole road costume, but it was knocked off at the party. It was very crowded. Somebody might have stolen it. Nevertheless I lost my car that night. If you see it please report back to me. You can find a description of the car below:

White Convertible,
4 Wheel drive,
1.5 inches long approx,
just under an inch wide,
would suit smaller driver,
silver seats (retro stylee),
no engine.

If anyone happens to see this car in their neighbourhood please leave a comment on my blog, so I can chase it up. You can just make out a picture of the aforementioned car on the photo above!

P.S Joe did not go as an accompanying sidestreet, but was in fact a crazy scientist! Also girl in red in pic is Sylvia who showed us how to get to party, but not how to get back, we got horribly lost. Oh well!

Spooky Goonies!

Aye, tis that time of the year when all ye ghosts and ghouls come out to haunt those unsuspecting people. In fact halloween is a massive deal in Canada, scarily so in fact. See I got a pun in! Apparently they have a big problem here with people who ritually sacrifice cats on halloween night. Thursday is pub night, which is actually club night, but we'll forgive them for desecrating the traditional english pubs' name. It was the night where everyone dressed up and boy were there some crazy costumes, from nutty ninjas to playboy bunnies all the way through to THE GOONIES! For those of you, like me, who have no idea what goonies are they are the stars of the popular Disney film of the same name. I was roped into being one of them, which actually involved dressing like I was from Grease, so that was no big deal. Apparently my name was mouth and my character was always looking in the mirror. I would be lying if I said I found it hard to get into character lol! In fact a group of us dressed up as the entire cast of the goonies with Don Donald as the scariest of them all, Sloth.

Mole Men!

Joe and I have discovered a secret tunnel that leads from the Chemistry building right outside Stong to the coffee shop in the mall. It takes about twenty minutes to get there as opposed to the 5 it takes if you just walk outside, but its really cool. Do something interesting today, try and find a secret tunnel near you and see where it takes you! You never know, you might find Narnia!

Swedish Pancake!

I tried my first Swedish pancake last monday. Canadians put jam on their pancakes, pass me the maple syrup anyday. Right now I am revising for my economics mid term, not too exciting, but heck it has to be done. Halloween is coming up and everyone is decorating the common room. Ingeniously they have fixed giant spiders to the lift doors which raise and lower depending on whether the door is open or closed. This evening I went to the Absinthe, a homely english type pub and grabbed myself an all day breakfast, you can't go wrong with that!

Taking photographs at 1 in the morning by the bins!

Yes you read that right and it was all in the name of art. Joe and I meandered downstairs, James Bond stylee, we could have just walked but I had to find some way of celebrating the announcement of the new James Bond. I am very excited that he is blond because it paves the way for future blond bonds, like me perhaps. If the Broccolis are reading this when I am in my late thirties give me a call. Anyhow back to 1 in the morning. Joe and I left Stong and tried to find a suitable arty place to get some good shots for his film project. Naturally we were drawn to some bins and a plastic patio chair. I got some good shots of Joe in a very casual suit in front of rotting rubbish. You see it creates a contrast.

In other news chocolate milk cartons have been seen mooing around campus. No joke, everything you read on these pages is 100% true. When you open certain milk cartons they moo to signify you have won a prize, however you just get a prize voucher in the carton and no milk. Meaghan was the lucky girl who won a personlised phone cover. However, she doesn't have a phone. Oh well!

Check out that fantastic pic photoshopped by none other than Canadian Caitlin herself!

Nee-nar Nee-nar!

That my friends is the familiar sound of a fire engine or as the Canadians would say a fire truck. Yes, not one but two nigths ago the fire alarm went off at 4 'o' clock in the morning. We then had to stand outside for half an hour while they checked the building. Good news though the student fire warden system works. I'll admit I had my reservations. It's always good to get some night air, although I appeared to be one of the only ones in my pyjamas. Maybe Canadians don't sleep and they are in fact a race of robots. Perhaps not, but who really knows.

I have finally finished my Korean History essay, time to revise for the mid terms! I did however watch mean girls yesterday, which was very entertaining and one of the main characters is a girl who graduated from this very university, Rachel McAdams. You may have also seen her in Wedding Crashers. Apparently Caitlin had to watch mean girls as part of her film production course. Well I'll have to admit it is very cerebral lol! Heck, homeworks homework and it is popular cinema.

Welcome Brand New House B!

Hello Baz, Stu, James, Nick and a whole host of new additions. My name is Phil and I lived with that crazy bunch last year. I just wanted to say Hi to Lauren, Sara, Michelle, Daniel and the two other great freshers who I have yet to learn the names of. I hope you guys settle in well and have a great first year. I will probably end up meeting some of you guys next year provided Stu's tea doesn't kill you. Keep an eye on him when he makes it lol!

I wonder if they sell HP fruity?

The next day I explored Cambridge downtown. They had some lovely little shops including a British treats and giftshop, but it was closed! Downtown there are some old buildings (NB old for Canada is anything more than 50 years old). Nobody believes me that my house at home is over 70. I also went to Kitchener and Ayr. Kitchener is just a big town with a mall and houses, not forgetting of course the customary Tim Hortons and Wendys. I also bought a winter coat to prevent myself freezing to death when the hweavy snowfall sets in. Ayr is a small country town; more like a village, though it has nothing on Long Itchington. As it was the holiday weekend most stuff was closed. That evening I checked out the local cinema and saw 'history of violence'. My advice, don't see it as it is terrible. The dialogue is bad and the violence is extreme to say the least. The coolest thing about it is the music though as it is by the same guy who did Lord of the Rings. Viggo is good, but better as Aragorn. I have also seen the Corpse Bride, which is much funnier. The following day I grabbed myself a nice thanksgiving dinner at Caitlins house. Caitlin is in the pics above. Now you can put a face to the mysterious commenter on my blog lol!

Out of the house and into the fire!

Well what a thanksgiving weekend. I spent my time, travelling surburbia and experienced the local Canadian Malls, plus some amazing countryside. First things first I caught a GO train to get there. It was an hour and only cost me 8, yes thats right 8 dollars. That is only three of our English pounds! My first stop was a small town called Cambridge; great houses; great scenary. After that I went for a walk in a really cool forest after passing the Niagra Falls enbankment. The leaves on the trees here turn an amazingly bright red. Check out the now world famous pics! Everyone who lives in Cambridge has huge houses with basements and heated swimming pools. Its crazy! I also went to a nice portuguese cafe!

Thanks for Thanksgiving!

We get a couple of days off for Thanksgiving, so I am going travelling woohoo! I am off to Cambridge in Ontario. Something tells me they may have copied that name from somewhere. I might do a little hiking, but we'll see. Photos will be up next week, so I will fill you in then! Keep having fun and good luck to all those starting/returning to uni.

Teabag man!

Also in the past week I was fencing again. Boy do they work you hard. They even have a life size fencing scarecrow to practice your lunges on. Kim, we need to get one of them for fencing back at York or better still invite Stu to one of our practices! Only kidding Stu, although it would be funny to see you wearing a huge protective suit padded up with teabags. I got two days off uni this week because of Jewish Holidays. Happy Rosh Hashanah everyone :)

Just like a Kit Kat I appear to have taken a break!

Apologies for a lack of updates over the last week or so, but I have been so busy with essays coming out of my ears. At the moment I am writing a paper on the Canadian Military. What military I hear you ask? Exactly I say. I even had to go to the library for it. Its crazy in Canada you take up to 50 books out of the library at a time. How crazy is that! So what have I been up to in the last week or so. Well I went to see an intramural hockey game yesterday between university teams. It was great fun and a cool place to get out of the blazing hot sun Toronto seems to have all the time. I thought it was cold in Canada lol. I also went to a kegger. Its like Ziggys on a bad night! Basically they have 8 kegs of beer and you pay a cover charge to get in. The party is held in a random persons house and that is pretty much it. Joe and I just sat on the nice leather sofa and let the world go by. We were not impressed by the beer at all. Joe after a couple of glasses was found clutching his stomach and yelping in pain as it really hurt his tummy. Ahh lol. While me and Joe tried to find the kegger we had to walk through a really rough neigbourhood. Apparently it is where everyone gets shot, but we did not realise this at the time. I thought it seemed great despite the blood stained pavements. Just kidding about the stains. I best say that before I get a hurried call from mum.

That bowled me over!

Well yesterday I went bowling at bowlarama to help Stong win the Stong Spirit Cup. I shocked myself by getting three strikes. I haven't had a strike for years. Check out the cool yellow school bus we got taken to the bowling alley in. I also continued working on my very tricky essay, but I feel it is finally coming together. The day before I went for a nice meal in the underground restaurant, the fajitas are heartily reccommended. They also had live music in the form of the joys, a trippy, rocky band!

Work

Today I am going to get a lot of work done as I have been given far too many essays to do, but hey you have to make the best of a bad situation. If anyone asks for me I will be in the library :)

Spotlight!

Well, the story telling night was very interesting. We had this women whose name was BJ, yes she claimed that was her real name, who told us a couple of stories. We then had to hold the talking stick and tell stories to everyone else. There were a few exchange students there, but many were in fact returning students who had just been abroad. I met someone who had just come back from York, which was cool. I also got on well with a returning student from Keele. From Toronto to Stoke, interesting journey! I got up and told stories about Evil Eye in York and funny stuff that has happened to me and Baz. The crowd loved it. Loads of people told their story, but at the end a large group of scandinavians came up to me and said 'you were ze funniest'. It was fun! At the end of the night there was only four of us left and the bar staff. It was held in this campus bar called the underground. One of the staff members singing using the mic for storytelling. We then had an impression off to see who was best using the mic. He did Yoda, I did Mickey Mouse, he did the cookie monster I did James Bond and so on. What we did not realise at the time was that the feedback loop went into the main restaurant and hundreds of students could hear what we were doing. Oh the embarassment, but it was good fun!

En Garde!

Well after a hard day of lectures I thought I deserved a break from Korean History, so I went ot my first fencing meet. The coach is a lady from Russia who in her youth was a master of arms. I am looking forward to getting lessons from her. They were very confused when I turned up wearing my University of York fencing club top; after explaining why I have one they all want one. Tonight I have a story telling session with York International, which should prove interesting. I'll let you know how it goes...

Take me out to the ball game!

Well what a fun day it was yesterday. I saw my first baseball game and it was great. It was the Toronto Blue Jays versus the New York Yankees and in a huge upset the Blue Jays won 6-4. It was played out in a huge stadium previously known as the SkyDome, now the Rogers centre. Its amazing the stuff they do at baseball games. They gave away a brand new car, a years supply of ice cream and 100s of dollars worth in gift vouchers to lucky fans. They even have a FedEx van come out to the pitch and deliver the game ball. I could not leave a baseball game without getting a couple of souvenirs, so I grabbed a blue jays cap, programme and one heck of a foam finger. I have always wanted one of them. Afer enjoying the game I went to a nice irish pub in the St Lawrence District where I enjoyed a tasty meal!

Thank you!

I just wanted to say a big thank you to all family members who have sent me good luck cards/e-mails/photos.

As it is the Toronto film festival at the moment I felt it only right to include a picture of Toronto City Hall, featured in many films, to celebrate!

From the air it looks like an eye, which is supposed to represent that the council is always watching you! Scary stuff eh? (NB eh is a word, which every Canadian uses far too much!)

Happy Endings!

Lectures are into full swing and boy do they know how to work you! I have three essays each 20 pages to write in the first four weeks. A little harsh I say! Notable events that happened this week involved me winning a Kit Kat Chunky. I would just like to emphasise the chunky part. This was no ordinary Kit Kat! In order to gain this phenomenal prize we had to name as many fruits/films Julia Roberts was in until only one remained. I hear what you are saying, how did he manage to keep both bananas and the runaway bride seperate, but I assure you it can be done. Just train hard and you will be rewarded. That is not the only competition I have won this week (the audience gasps). I also managed to repeat the word cauliflower multiple times without showing my teeth or laughing. Once again I am sure you are thinking how could such an amazing feat be accomplished by one so young, but I pulled it off. My reward, half a pretzel, one of the mini ones! I'll admit that prize was far less exciting! Also in the news this week, I found myself travelling back on the bus through a rough neighbourhood. I knew it was rough because the day after I was there someone was shot. Anyhow while on this bus, laden with shopping, the driver suddenly stopped the vehicle, turned around and said, you all have to get off the bus, a cyclist has just bounced into us. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but usually the bus bounces into the cyclist, not vice versa lol. There is no need to panic though, the cyclist pedalled off albeit slowly, we all love happy endings!

The Ex-cellent day

Last week I went to the Ex (NB after this post I will have caught up with myself in time terms). the Ex is the Canadian National exhibition (CNE). It is mainly made up of sideshows and exhibitions. One such exhibition was the butter sculpture corner. Yes, you heard that right, butter sculptures are in fact entertainment in Canada. There was also a giant inflatable cow and a demonstration of battery hen farming, which shocked me to be honest. There was a lot of stalls selling/giving away stuff. I managed to bag myself some free tax return software, not bad for a days work. I also got myself a little ice hockey picture thingy of Mario Lemieux, player and owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I also saw a guy getting shot out of a Cannon, went on a huge ferris wheel, which was kinda unsafe as it tilted pretty dangerously and it had no safety bar. I saw a in-line skating/bmx/skateboarding stunt show which was cool. Finally the evening was capped off with a huge fireworks display set to music over Lake Ontario. It certainly was a spectacle to behold. Check out the picture I took!

Beauty

One thing I have noticed here is that the moon looks amazing at night. It takes on a very reddish tone that makes it look just like Mars. It is breathtaking, especially when I view it from my ninth floor window. It's also nice to think that its the same moon people I know at home are looking at, at the same time. To illustrate the natural beauty of some of the areas of Canada check out these photos I took while on my boat cruise.

On the beautiful briny lake!

Last Sunday I went on a nice relaxing boat cruise on Lake Ontario. Check out the photo of me on the boat sailing past some very cool looking skyscrapers! I have started work now and it is very heavy. Lots of essays, research projects, readings, so I am going to have to knuckle down. For some reason I am doing lots of third and fourth year courses, not quite sure how that happened! I have been to freshers fair now and joined the economics society (Woohoo/shoot me!). They are like a protection racket, you get access to past papers if and only if you join them and they charge you 5 dollars for the privilege! I also joined fencing and went to an excalibur newspaper meeting. I might try and get some stuff published if I find myself some time.

Once in a lifetime!

Later in the week I went on the downtown adventure all around Toronto. Our team had to take crazy photos. About ten of us got on the bar in the hard rock cafe and danced to YMCA. Ryan would be so proud! They even gave us the indian head dress and the builders hard hat to wear, preferably not at the same time. I also had my photo taken with the hooters girls and with some rather scary looking greyhounds. We also successfully managed to build a human pyramid before a rival team collapsed us causing bruises galore. After our busy day we all met in Caseys, a rather nice restaurant downtown. After that I joined the live studio audience on Canadas own much music channel. Woohoo! I was on TV! The show involved us watching music videos and then clapping for them whether we liked them our not. Ah, how fickle television is. It was great to be in a major TV studio though and to observe all the stuff going on!

"Would you look at the wingspan on that!"

Another busy day lay ahead for me on the Saturday. First I went with the international orientation people to Toronto Islands. These are a group of beachy islands just off the coast of Toronto and are home to scenic woodland and a small themepark for little kids. It also has a nude beach apparently, but I never did track that down. We had a huge ultimate frisbee tournament which my team won. The prize was free cinema tickets. Can't say fairer than that! During the frisbee tourny there was also an amazing airshow showcasing jet fighter talent and the canadian version of the red arrows. They also had what looked like B52 Bombers flying around! After a packed lunch we then had a sand castle building competition. I suggested to my team that we build a sand sculpture instead and thus we created an alligator! Check out the photo below, we won first prize. The prize was a York University frisbee. Perhaps it was time for another tournament!