The wheather conditions ins Toronto are different in comparison to Hamburg.
Yesterday we watched the game in our flat....no commend!!!
Toronto is back online... and this is my new home...I was told yesterday that I am an internet addict. I strongly denied that but have to admit it is not so wrong.
How many things do you nowadays do via the internet? From banking over communication (VOIP and email) to looking up things in dictionaries. So I have to admit that my modern life is somehow based on the internet.
The other important thing is obviously my blog, which I was supposed to keep updated. Now I have finally moved into my new condominium and I am expecting my furniture and things today but I will be without internet at least until the weekend…
So I hope I can post something in the beginning of next week. Obviously my podcast has to wait a little as well.
Take care!
As you can maybe see it is about South Africa. You find names of plenty of SA towns.
The car smashed right into it with the airbag exploding *BANG* and the guy crashing into it *BOOM*! We saw everything in detail because it happened right next to us!
He was then back to life and saw us. That's when he pointed at us and came for us! I am not too sure if it was my South African training or pure fear but I didn't wait for the fight. This time it was me accelerating right into upcoming traffic! I took a chance and speed up a couple of 100 meters onto a turning lane. It led to a huge shopping centre and I turned into it because the guy was still running towards us.
What a crazy story! My heart was racing and I yelled at Lütke that this was not supposed to happen in Toronto, Canada! Johannesburg, yes I know but here...
All Torontonian we told this story were extremely upset, it was the first time they heard of something like this. Maybe that is a good sign!
We believe the guy was high! Somewhere on a trip... but anyway.
Last night at about 5pm I just looked out of my window (from where I can see lake Ontario in a distance…) and noticed many white spots on the surface. First I wasn’t too sure what it was but then I realized it had to be white crests. That again meant there had to be a lot of wind.
The very same moment suddenly to colorful spots could be seen in the distance as well. – Kite surfers!
Since Lütke and I had basically finished what was necessary we decided to call it a day. So I ran around grabbed my kite, board, wetsuit and my new bought pump and made my way to the elevator. 3 min later I was in my car fighting my way to the beaches. The only big hassle was the traffic at this time of the day down town Toronto.
But I made it to the Cherry Beach and saw 2 kiters on the water and some others rigging up on the beach. So they did exist! There are kite surfers in Toronto. I got a chance to talk to some of them and got some very useful insider info. But that wasn’t enough, now I got my stuff and 15 min later I was kiting lake Ontario for my very first time. First time Kiting in Canada in general!
It was so great to surf on the water and to constantly have the beautiful view onto Toronto skyline. I mean the water was incredible cold – probably about 14°C so that you don’t want to be in it, rather on it. So jumps and funny things I stopped and exchanged it for a loose ride on the lake
The moment the sun touched the city and went down, turning the entire scenery into a red glowing picture it was just heaven on earth…
Last Wednesday Lütke and I had to travel to North Carolina, USA. Since it is quite a distance we obviously booked a flight to be there a bit quicker… It turned out that driving the 1400 kilometers would have been as fast!
4:30am: My alarm goes off and pulls me out of a sleepless night
A quick shower and a Coffee and off I go.
5:15am: I meet with Lütke at the car and we leave for the airport
5:45am: We arrive at the airport and park the car.
6:00am: Right on time at the check in.
6:10am: A long queue at USA border control.
(Travelling to the US is different than to any other country.
Leaving your parting country you will go through US border control!
So they don’t wait until you arrive there…they check you right there.)
6:45am: We are still lining up and the line hasn’t moved at all.
Meanwhile we hear that the system is down.
6:55am: We inform one of the ladies organizing the queues that our plane is boarding NOW!
The reply is that we must stay in the line.
7:10am: A lot of people were pulled out of the line to get a quick route…not us!
We contact the person again: “You stay in your line…the plane will wait!”
7:30am: I contact another officer: “Oh, you’re too late, you plane has left already!”
7:45am: Back at Check-In. We rebook for a later flight at 2:30pm! More than 6 hours from now!
8:00am: We go to a little coffee bar and have breakfast because the queues are still extreme.
10:00am: Finally the lines are shorter and we risk it to go through the controls again.
10:30am: With the system back it took less than half an hour to get through.
Now we are in the launch and do a little bit of work.
2:00pm: We leave for boarding.
At the gate we get told that the plane will be delayed by 30 min due to technical problems.
2:10pm: Back in the launch. We get told that our flight has been completely cancelled.
We are booked on the flight at 5:30 this evening.
2:15pm: We are back at the gate to ask about our checked in Luggage.
It was dumped onto the normal conveyers so we have to find it in arrival hall!
This means we have to go through Canadian border control and then customs!
And we never ever left the country…
3:00pm: After queing up again at Canadian border control I suggest to Lutke to apply for his visa at immigration.
We are not in a hurry so why not take a chance…
3:30pm: Lutke received his visa without any hassles! That is the first good thing that day.
3:45pm: We find our luggage and go through the same procedure again:
Check-In / US Border Control / Security
4:15pm: We are back in the launch and have 2 beers each.
5:15pm: Finally we are boarding. 15min late but we are I the plane.
5:30pm: After nearly 12 hours we finally leave the airport!
8:15pm: We arrive in Atlanta.
9:00pm: The rental car is there and we have our luggage.
11:45pm: We do arrive at our final destination after 2.5 hours of driving.
12:00am: I don’t remember if my head ever touhed the pillow…
This is the magic paper that guarantees me a 3 year stay in CANADA!
So I am almost a Canadian now! :-)
