Yesterday was officially the first day of spring in Canada, but you wouldn’t know it! The temperature yesterday was -1, and with the wind chill factor it felt like -8. Not exactly the spring weather I’m used to. Summer will eventually get here, but let me recap the past few months of winter life in Toronto.
This past winter (I can officially say ‘past’ now, despite the -10 temp outside today) has been Toronto’s worst winter since the 1930’s, with almost record snow fall. Locals are saying they’ve never seen a winter like this before and it’s the equivalent of six winter’s snow fall all in one season. Skiers and snowboarders rejoice! Warm-weather loving Australian girl, bundle up! And that’s what I’ve been doing, gloves, scarves, insulated snow boots, beanies (or toques (pron: two-ks) as they call them here) and lots and lots of moisturizer because it gets really dry.
The snow has definitely been fun, and I have to admit to being in class and just staring out the window mesmerised by the snow falling when I should’ve actually been teaching. The good thing is most of my students are from warm weather climates too, so they find it just as exciting as me. Snow storms (and we’ve had at least 6 that I can remember) are also exciting. People go into this crazy frenzy (helped along by the media) and think they’re going to be trapped inside for days so everyone rushes to the ‘grocery store’ to stock up like it’s Y2K again. But by the next morning the snow plows have been out, the salt is laid on the footpaths and everyone is able to go out ( some will have to shovel their cars out). By law everyone has about 12 hours after a snow fall to shovel their footpath or they get fined. You can see some of my pics in the ‘Snow’ photo gallery.
Eric and I were lucky enough to escape the snow, wind and cold for a week when we went to Cuba for some much needed sunshine and warmth. Most Canadians will usually have a holiday around Feb/Mar or during spring break to get away from the cold, and generally head to Florida or somewhere in the Caribbean or Mexico. The oldies, which are called ‘Snow Birds’ and left long before Christmas and headed south are sometimes ‘collected’ by their families at this time of year and brought back to the milder weather up north. Anyway back to Cuba...
We had a week in Varadero, at an all inclusive resort on the beach and it was GREAT! It was like a warm blanket had been wrapped around us but without the bulky jackets, just shorts, t’shirts and bathers. I had forgotten what warm weather was like! We had a day in Habana (or Havana) City and saw some amazing old 1950’s American cars, Spanish style crumbling buildings, and pictures of Che Guevara everywhere. Of course we had to stop and buy Cuban cigars and rum! We also went snorkelling, Eric swam with dolphins, went on a jeep safari around the Cuban countryside, swam in a fresh water cave and spent many hours in or beside the pool – and at the swim up bar in the pool! The people of Cuba were very friendly and happy, and had only great things to say about their socialist government and the free healthcare, dental care and schooling despite their living conditions. Although, I have heard on more than one occasion that the Cubans in Miami paint a different picture of life in Cuba. Anyway, plenty of pics in the ‘Cuba’ gallery.
As you know it’s Easter weekend and that means TURKEY! Eric’s family has turkey three times a years and this is one of them. So Sunday is the big Easter dinner, my second here in Canada. It’s also Maple tapping season here, so I’m hoping to catch one of the festivals going on around the province over the weekend and enjoy some sugary goodness! Hope you all have or had a great Easter weekend and there’ll be more posts to come...
All bundled up,
Kiley
