[Observations made after our trip there for the American Psychological Association Conference, at which I presented a poster or two].
1.) Really skinny. Our friend Nick made this observation last time he and his friends went to Toronto, and I found him to be accurate. I did not see a single overweight person (that wasn’t American) in the entire city while I was there. Some young women looked too skinny though. As John put it, “Is everyone in Toronto anorexic?!” I wonder if that is because portions are smaller and people eat healthier, because they walk a lot more, a combination of both, or some other reason. At any rate, this was kind of a struggle for me because in America I am “skinny”, but in Toronto, I was “average” or even “above average” in weight.
2.) I also want to say “rude as f*@%,” but that really applies to my experience of only one woman. As we were walking back to our hotel, this lady comes up behind me and literally shoves me out of the way with her arm, so that she can walk by me without having to look up from the cell phone on which she was texting. Unbelievable. I didn’t realize what was happening at first, because when I felt the shove from behind I thought it was John joking with me until I see this lady’s arm right in my face. Too bad, or I would have exchanged some words with her more directly. John said, “Wow, that’s really rude,” as soon as he saw what was happening. Once Nick figured it out, in my defense he started yelling all sorts of stuff at the lady (“Yeah, just keep texting, cause it is SO important”…) but she was pretty far down the sidewalk by then. Crazy.
There are a few reasons why I really do like Toronto though:
1.) It is very clean (except on trash days, where local merchants just pile bags and bags of trash on the city streets until it is removed; this smells repulsive).
2.) The buildings are all modern—glass, artistic, etc. Not really ghetto whatsoever.
3.) People recycle. Everything. Everywhere. There are recycling bins in every place where there is a trashcan.
4.) Signs are in both English and French. I like French. I know some French. Being able to read the French was super cool.
5.) Tim Hortons restaurant is amazing. Tim Hortons (a cross between Subway and Dunkin’ Donuts) does not exist in northeastern Ohio.
6.) The Canadian versions of American stores are adorable:
Borders = Chapters
Best Buy = Future Shop
Bed Bath and Beyond = Jynx (or something like that)
Petsmart = Petmania
And there were lots of others in the mall, but I was not able to remember them all! They still have Starbucks’ on almost every street downtown, but there is also a Tim Hortons on every corner. Amazing.
Nick came with us, and since he had been to Toronto before, he had a couple of funny things to tell us:
1.) On the way in, we drove through Buffalo, NY. Nick said, “Take a good look around at this bullsh*t, and then compare it with Toronto when we get in the city.” He was right--Buffalo was amazingly run-down and ghetto in comparison.
2.) Last time when Nick and his friends were at Tim Hortons, one of his friends asked, “Who is Tim Horton, anyway?” Nick replied (completely joking but in a very serious voice), “He was the first prime minister of Canada.” I think his friend believed him, but the lady behind the counter thought he was nuts.
3.) The donut holes at Tim Hortons are called TimBits. Nick shared this with me before I ordered some, but it was so loud in the store that I couldn’t make out what he was saying right away, so we were yelling back and forth but trying to be discrete:
Me: “What are they?”
N: “TimBits!”
Me: “Tidbits?”
N: “TimBits!”
Me: “What?!”
N: “You can go ahead and ask for ‘donut holes’, but they are going to look at you like you are a retarded American.”
I finally figured it out once I saw Nick’s box with a label. But I still felt retarded ordering “Ten TimBits.”
