May 11-13, 2018
May 11.
My apologies that isn't going to be a typical "travel blog entry" since in a way it was more of a personal trip and less of a touristy one or a trip for travelling's sake. I'm still debating whether to actually publish this or not for this reason. But I'll type it up anyway to see where it goes.
I actually started this blog when I was living in Toronto with my parents in 2011. They were working as managers for a youth program with our missions organization that handles 18-20-year-olds from Germany who used to be required to do military service, or in the case of abstaining, could do a volunteer year. Our organization set them up with programs with inner-city or other cultural communities in Toronto and my parents managed them. Military service is no longer required, but many kids still use the organizations to do volunteer work in the time between high school and college. I didn't have a job, couldn't find one since I graduated in 2010 at the height of the recession and so I went to spend some time in Toronto with them. Got involved with a German family with our organization who worked with the Bangladeshi community there, as they had spent time doing missions in Bangladesh and spoke Bengali. It was truly an eye-opening experience for me and I can definitely look back on that time and say that I learned a lot and it was overall a good experience to have as I could at least be somewhat productive despite the fact that I couldn't work, having no work papers or even having skills necessary to even apply for a work permit (story of my life, really).
One of my brothers was with us as well, and he volunteered at a local house for refugees, and ended up meeting and falling in love with a Peruvian-Canadian girl and married her, and he lives and works in Toronto still in a tailor shop. Being as the last time I was in Toronto was in November 2011 for his wedding, I felt it was high time to head back up there for a visit. I took my travel buddy, and had a great time. Tickets to Toronto from New York are super cheap, and the airline Porter is perfect for short or long trips, as the flight itself is only between 1-2 hours max (usually an hour and a half), as opposed to an 8-hour drive and dealing with immigration at the border. Immigration at an airport is a far easier process.
So we headed to Newark after work, had a slightly delayed flight, and landed in Toronto around 10:30 pm, and my brother came to pick us up. Billy Bishop, the city airport of Toronto, is super nice and convenient since it's right in the city, and it's small enough that immigration is a cinch. Porter even gave us Lindt chocolate, offering high-cacao bars plus dark chocolate Lindor truffles. So yeah, Porter is pretty awesome. Anyway, my brother lives in the Parkdale neighborhood off King Street, about a 10 minute drive from the airport. We got caught up for a bit because I hadn't seen him since January when he came down after Christmas with his wife, and then went to bed on his pull-out couch.
