The city

My first impressions of the city

I’m starting to really like Toronto. It’s not “like Chicago” as a lot of people told me. It’s quite different actually. My Citibank banker said they call it “Mini Manhattan”. That’s TBD.

The streets are a mix of North American and European cities. For example, it has just as many one-way streets as Paris. It also has its fair share of small euro-style alleys and roads (e.g. Cumberland St - more on this later). It makes the streets more “intimate”, since you’re not so far from the people on the other side. Then you have the highways like the 401, with three express lanes and two local lanes similar to I-94 in Chicago.

The architecture of downtown Toronto is a mix of “traditional”, high & medium-rise buildings if I may say so. There doesn’t seem to be an overall theme, and it makes each building quite different from its neighbours. However, there aren’t nearly as many skyscrapers here as in Chicago or NY. It competes more with the likes of Minneapolis (yea Gaddie!!!).

As of mid-late August, I was still unstaffed so I had a chance to explore the city. Toronto is the real melting pot of today. About 46% of the population is foreign-born, compared to 36% in NYC and 22% in Chicago. So far I’m loving it. Walking down the block and hearing up to 5 different languages has some strange coolness. Once I leave here, I will probably increase my list of ‘random/useless words/facts in many languages & cultures, which makes you think you’re cool when you meet a foreigner and know something about their culture’. So far I’ve seen Africans (mostly Ethiopian & Nigerian), lots of Asians and all kinds of Europeans. It’s strange not seeing Mexicans here but there are other Spanish speakers who migrated North (from El Salvador, Argentina, etc).

On Yonge street (the main North/South street), you’d easily find 20 different Asian restaurants serving different cuisines. There is such a huge variety of food to choose from. I even found a Jamaican/Mediterranean restaurant. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me, but they seem to be pulling it off. Despite all this food, Torontonians are slimmer on average. I’ve had to re-calibrate. And I’ve definitely had my fair share of eating out. But recently I’ve been craving some Nigerian grub. So I made my way to the 3 Nigerian grocery stores in the burbs (about 20 mins away) to stack up and I’ve cooked on several occassions. I call my mum & sis for recipes sometimes, but I’ve been pretty good at freestylin’ on the stove.

Up next: Olympic soccer review - my reaction to Nigeria's silver medal; Some interesting experiences & more

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