Once upon a time in Toronto... 1st update

I landed in Toronto on Wednesday August 6 at around 9:15am aboard United Airlines flight 1100. I didn’t have much sleep over the past two days and I was very irritable. The flight landed 10 minutes early, probably a first for me. I didn’t bother to question why an international flight from Chicago should take off and/or land on time, while domestic flights are so unreliable. I slept the whole flight and woke up to the sound of a flight attendant saying “please place your seat in the upright position sir”. And I really wanted to reply, “ma’am, does it really matter if my seat is relaxed? Do you realize that other airlines have actual seats and not these brick things you call seats? Is it not enough that your people charged me $225 just to get my 2 huge overweight suitcases on the plane?” But then I realized that I shouldn’t expect 5-star luxury when I paid only $228.80 for a one-way ticket. This is probably also not the right time to mess with anyone in the airline industry. So I obeyed and went back to bed, while freezing on the plane.

My immigration officer in Toronto was a first generation Canadian of Pakistani descent. He explained, much to my disappointment, that the lingua franca is English and that I would hardly learn French in Toronto. Then he started looking through my documents with a very stern face. I tried palling up with him using the “Muslim bros” line just to make sure he didn’t mysteriously find any reason to delay me further. From the look on his face, the “I have many Pakistani friends in Chicago” line didn’t register. I waited for a while, then he welcomed me to Canada and told me that Canada “needs more people like [me].” I knew right away that I would love this country.

En route to Muskoka (2 hours north of Toronto) the first fast food restaurant I saw was Quiznos. Then I saw a construction site for CBRE (the same realtors who own the building housing the Chicago office). Then I saw a Hummer, Audi A5, Maserati, Lincoln town car, Acura TL, Saab, Ford, Honda, BMW, Jaguar, Nissans, Chevy and even a BUICK!!! No Peugeots, Renaults, Fiats, Alfa Romeos, etc. The car selection here is pretty much the same as you’d find in a big US city. Although they do have some models you wouldn’t find in the US, like the Acura CSX. Few minutes later, I saw a Jaguar dealership with the maple leaf flying high. My year in Canada had begun.

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