DATELINE TORONTO
Toronto-Canada
December 5, 2021
When you look at the horizon in this city, your gaze will be met by a jungle of concrete skyscrapers. Yet Toronto is a popular destination of most Pinoy immigrants. It's probably because Toronto is not as cold as Montreal or Edmonton. Pinoys also prefer to speak English which is widely spoken in Toronto.
But...and that is a big but. When wanting to live in Toronto, one must be prepared to live on the, for example, 28th floor. One must not be afraid of heights. Then there are rumors of tenants moving out of these condos because of creepy crawlies, rodents and other kinds of pests. Mice, cockroaches, bed bugs and the like frolic in their condos.
One acquaintance of mine has a disagreement with her daughter so she went to live with her girlfriend and suffered from nightly bites of bedbugs in her neck. My hands-on experience with these creatures was when I was having my nails manicured by a Pinay manicurist. She is living on the ground floor of an apartment building. I saw mice playing with each other under her dinner table! Then they ran back and forth on her kitchen floor. I almost threw up the meal she hospitably served me. And when I mentioned their presence, the woman in her 80s who was living with her said that these rodents are also God's creatures so she feeds them occasionally.
Some Pinoys also make extra income by doing manicuring in their spare times, or rent extra rooms in their condos to other Pinays. Note: I use the words condo and apartment interchangeably to mean the same thing.
Many times we see utensils, small furniture, brand-new mattresses discarded and thrown outside these condos. On garbage days, the curbs are littered with what look like brand-new items which can be used by those who just arrived to live in the city. However, beware as these.might be infested by bedbugs and the likes.
Living in a city like Toronto, one must be prepared to change one's mindset. People here have a different set of references when it comes to directions,
When you want to go downtown, people will send you to the south, like the birds, lol. You either live in the east end or the west end, not the name of your street. And north is almost out of the city.
It takes time to acquaint yourself to this thinking but you will soon get used to it. One thing is sure, don't try to walk to find your street, you will be there by tomorrow. Numbers your condo do not help either. People here are used to asking you the next intersection of the street where you live, like Yonge and Bloor or Yonge and Davisville. Then they can assist you with directions. The street where you want to go is simply not walkable.. period.
I am reminded of two incidents with my cousin who arrived in 2009. We agreed to meet each other in the subway. Coming from midtown, I told her to get off at the west end of Yonge street. She could read that on the subway platform. Half an hour later, I still could not find her. Luckily, there was a subway cleaner who told me that a woman kept popping up and down on one end of the platform while I straining my neck to find her.
Another incident was even pathetic. The subways have either 2 or 4 entrances or exits. And as usual you exit or enter at the south, north end, etc.
I was going to wait for the same cousin at a diner on the west end. It was so simple, or so I thought. You exit, walk left to a building and presto, you see the diner where I will be sitting! Forty five minutes later, my cousin has not shown up. Since she was carrying a cell phone, I tried to guide her to where I was sitting. She was hopelessly lost so I asked her to read the name of the street where she was standing. She was reading the ads on top of buildings! And the diner where I was sitting was just infront of her. Embarrased, she just wanted to go home saying her feet hurt from walking.
What is walkable are the small parks at the end of most streets, named after the city heroes. Torontonians are dog lovers. They walk their dogs in these parks day and night armed with "doggie bags" to pick up the poops. That is a word you will not want to use in a restaurant anymore.
These parks are also popular during summer. They are a bit of consolation to brighten up the boring zones in the city. Since they are equipped with benches, people spend their days sitting in these parks instead of staying in their condos.
Joggers also congregate in these parks which make the city alive. Behind my house is a jogging line which they call the Beltline. This stretches from six to eight kilometers so the avid joggers enjoy this line daily.
For me, the best things in Toronto are the Pinoy stores that dot the city. Since there are around 20 K Pinoys living here, they cater to a large number of customers. It is so convenient to find bagoong, adobo, dinuguan, turon and halo halo. Likewise, it is also nice to give your orders in Tagalog at the nearest Starbucks or Tim Hortons as these coffeeshops are womanned or manned by Pinoys. And recently, Jollibee is trying to corner the resto market so if you crave for palabok or chicken joy, there is one not far from your street. Although it is not an acquired taste for me as I left the Philippines before Jollibee was launched, it is a treat for those who love Jollibee.