Thanksgiving in Toronto

I spent Thanksgiving holiday in Toronto. Not with my family, since my parents were in Wiarton and my brother had plans with his friends. We don't really do anything for Thanksgiving anyway. Koreans have their own version earlier in the year. Come to think of it, we don't really do anything for that one either. Our family really is apathetic about these things.

It was my first train ride ever in Canada. I was so excited. I had my bags ready and I got on the bus to go to the train station. There was a little kerfuffle about the bus running only during rush hour and me being momentarily confused about the 24hour clock on the bus schedule (15h does not mean 5pm), but it was all cleared up and I had everything planned out perfectly. I got to the train station, got my tickets and lined up for the track. I thought I was really far behind, but it was obvious later on that I was actually in the first quarter of the line, which snaked to the far end of the station and doubled back.

I got on the train with a countless number of other students who were all going home for the holidays. I looked around the car about an hour after we left and everyone was either doing readings or typing away on their laptop. Readings. They never end.

We arrived in Toronto around midnight, so by the time I got to my parents' condo, it was around 1am. I called Robert, took a shower and went to bed.

On Saturday, I went to visit Jenn's condo, the first time since she and Jon got married. They had kittens! Dizzle and Grace were oh so adorable and floppy and flatulent. Jon tells me it's the wet food they're eating and that I shouldn't squeeze their tummies, but how can I resist snuggling them? Jennifer and I had Thai food near her condo called "Thai Spoon". They gave us so much food. Urgh but yummy. After that, we hung out at her condo and I played with her kittens until Robert picked me up to have dinner with his family. I got to see Julie and Randal, who've just come back from teaching English in Japan for a year. We played Mario Kart.

On Sunday, I went to Josh's graduation party with Kevin, his father and Bryan. It was nice chatting about nothing and everything. (Everything and nothing? Nothing and anything? Anything and nothing? Ah, who knows.) Afterwards, Josh, Kevin and I had a sushi dinner near Kevin's place (NOT the Yonge Ichiban, which failed a health inspection some weeks ago). I hadn't eaten sushi for so long. Since Bryan was being a poopypants and didn't want to do the Traumathon (Korean revenge flicks!) with us, we watched Old Boy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance in Kevin's bedroom. We were suitably disturbed. They're violent films, but there's more to them than just clobbering people with hammers and shooting off people's hands. It makes one think more about pain and suffering and whether revenge can really be a catharsis to all of that. (The answer is: NO.) I liked Lady Vengeance better. It touches me more because it's somewhat more realistic than Old Boy. I really can't say anymore without giving out spoilers, so I'll stop here. We stayed up until 4am, talking more about everything and nothing.

Monday was Thanksgiving at Robert's house, with a giant turkey and stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes/yams and desserts. Oh so many desserts. Robert's mom, Lilian made pumpkin maple cake and two different versions of a dessert with chocolate cookies covered in whipped cream (one with lactose free Cool Whip and the other with homemade whipped cream). I brought Korean rice cakes, traditional cookies and Japanese chestnut snacks (none of them homemade, obviously). Everything was oh so delicious and I told myself that I probably wouldn't have to eat for three days afterwards. (Yeah right.) After dinner, Julie, Robert and I played Palazzo, a board game about building palaces. It was designed by the same person who made Princes of Florence, which I like (and also spilled a giant glass of water the last time we played). Then Randal came down to play Mario Kart with us, because we pestered him even though he was studying for a job interview.

My train left at 7am on Tuesday morning, so I took the first subway train down at 5:40am. It started pouring rain when I was right in between my parents' condo and Finch station, so I got soaked. It wasn't a fun train ride, trying to sleep with wet clothing on. When I got to Montreal, I said screw it, I'll take a taxi home (even though it was only 2km away). I told the directions to the driver in French, but when we got there, he spoke in English. Why do people keep doing that? I speak French well enough! Practice with me, goddammit!

It was sad that I couldn't see everyone this weekend, but there's only so much time. I barely saw my mother and brother. Hopefully in the Christmas holidays, I'll be able to see more people.

Oh, and this is a little wooden cat that Julie and Randal gave me. I haven't named her yet. She sits on top of my bookshelf in my apartment, ready to pounce on someone's head!