The Countdown is On!

Hello there readers and welcome to my second to last week in Toronto! I can hardly believe that I have been here six months already but it is apparently true. I am feeling quite sad about leaving and saying goodbye to my friends here, but I am hopeful that in my role as New Zealand Tourism Ambassador I may have convinced a few that they need to visit our side of the planet! Plus this time in two weeks I will be in NEW YORK!!!!!!

Last weekend was actually my last one in the city, as I am off to drink wine and eat sugar with Meggin and Amanda in Niagara this weekend, and Quebec City the one after that. My weekend started off with possible the best game of pool of my life…I astounded the entire room by sinking five balls in a row (including one startling shot where two balls went down at the same time!) and generally kicking the butt of one of the pool competitions regular winners. Of course I got so excited by all this that I managed to totally suck during my round two match, and had to go to the pub to ruminate on what might have been!

On Saturday I had a few rather dull domestic duties to attend too but managed to squeeze in a visit to my favourite burrito spot and to take a stroll around the Eaton Centre and look at all the shops. I also went down to Lake Ontario again, to see how the frozen lake was looking and I can’t believe how quickly it all melts when it starts to warm up. We have been hovering around 0 all week so things are definitely heading towards spring! This is very exciting but does result is some fairly slushy, wet streets - I guess it is a small price to pay!

I had my first attempt at packing my bag over the weekend too – I am pleased to report that everything does go back in to my suitcase, but must admit that the parcel of stuff I am sending home is quite a lot bigger than I anticipated!! Still, isn’t that why credit cards were invented? I thought I had been quite good about not accumulating too much stuff, or buying too many souvenirs but I guess I wasn’t quite as disciplined as I thought!

On Sunday I met up with Sharon for a catch up and then we wandered down to High Park Village to meet Alison and Natalie for a lovely pasta meal at a little restaurant called Queens Pasta. It felt very luxurious having a meal out after a week of noodles and Kraft dinner and so I enjoyed it immensely! It was also great to see the girls and have an evening away from the hostel. After dinner I joined the masses in watching some of the oscars and admiring all the pretty dresses!

The highlight of my week thus far has been the very important task assigned to me by two of my co-workers, Allan and Scott. After openly declaring my love for the Oh Henry chocolate bars, they have presented me with a very similar bar called Sweet Marie to consider as a contender for the title. Oh Henry definitely still wins the name battle, and isn’t quite as sickly as the Sweet Marie. Both have plenty of nougaty, caramel, peanutty goodness but I think the big lumps of peanuts in Oh Henry take it out over the peanut butter like texture of the Sweet Marie… plus Henry is a little more substantial and filling. I still have half of each bar left so will do my final analysis today over lunch but at this stage Oh Henry takes it.

Well folks that is about all from me – fingers crossed for some sunshine in the Niagara region this weekend so I can get some decent pictures of the falls for you all! Hope you are great,
C