A Lovely Visit to Canada, Eh?

Work sent me up to Canada for about a week; I just got back on Wednesday. It was a really great trip--I got to work with my former colleagues, hang out socially with them, and see a bunch of friends from outside my work group, like Dan & Daniel, and R. The trip was striking in reminding me how odd it is to have multiple places that feel like home--even coming in on the shuttle bus from the highway, "Yep, there's the bank that puts up the temperature in degrees F instead of degrees C."

It was great going to all of the familiar places--the local cafe, the research test hut, walking down familiar streets, my favorite bakery... plus it was nice to have loonies and toonies in my pocket again. And hey--they were worth $1.026 and $2.052 USD (respectively) during this trip! Hmmm... I should probably keep my Canadian bank account, just as a hedge (well, admittedly a uselessly small one).


But I'm getting ahead of myself. My first night there, I got to go out to Oktoberfest--I went to one during my first October in Canada, so it was neat to go to another one; R. bought a bunch of tickets and had a spare. Beer, schnitzel, and cabbage rolls abounded, as well as folks in lederhosen doing their chop-a-log-in-time-to-music-and-then-dance-around deal. A very fun time.


It was great to enjoy the hospitality of many friends--Dan & Daniel put me up for a few nights, and we went out for sushi; Chief Grad Student had me and a coworker over for dinner; the group went out to dinner at the New Fancy Restaurant In Town; and I got to even crash in my old apartment (which is now R.'s place)--I'm hoping the 8-pack of beer was adequate payment.

Among the other Canadian moments, at one dinner, I ordered a Caesar (the drink): A Caesar, sometimes referred to as a Bloody Caesar, after the similar Bloody Mary, is a cocktail popular mainly in Canada. It typically contains vodka, clamato (a blend of tomato juice and clam broth), Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, and is served on the rocks in a large, celery salt-rimmed glass, and typically garnished with a stalk of celery and wedge of lime.

Dude, it's a country where they normally drink Clamato! How could I not feel at home?! (for those of you who don't know my history, I have liked Clamato, much to the horror of my friends, since college. I didn't realize before coming to K-W that it went to well with vodka).

I unfortunately had to spend all of Sunday writing up the report on the work from a few weeks ago for a Monday due date; however, at least I got to have lunch at my favorite local bakery/cafe (my historical refuge and "Must-get-out-of-house-while-writing-thesis" place).


Like I said, it's very nice to have another place that feels like "home," even if I don't live here anymore--similar to the type of happiness-of-just-being-in-a-familiar-place from being in the Bay Area.

So I will probably need to add K-W to my list of "places I need to go to once or twice a year to see folks" (like the Bay Area). Fortunately, I believe that work will tend to cooperate with this plan. I have plans to be back up here in February (I know... really clever--come to Southern Ontario in the coldest month of the year) for Iron Ring--we'll see if everything works out all right.