When I first moved to Canada I was lucky to have some contacts through my mother's best friend. This family in the Brazilian community helped get in touch with this lady that could rent a room for me in a very convenient place. This is the beginning of my residence in Canada, at 557 Dovercourt Avenue. For some reason things were not suppose to happen the way we all had planned. The day before I landed here, my host-mom-to-be had some misunderstandings with her boss, and since she was afraid that the problem could escalate, she decided to move out of the city. Lucky her I came to cover her 60-day (or a little less than that) notice, otherwise she would have to pay her rent in full amount without living in her basement apartment. So my first week was awesome, since I had a full furnished apartment for myself and not much to do. If I were bolder, I would've made friends sooner so I could take advantage of that, but I didn't. The second week my host-mom-not-to-be got most of her furniture, and I was left with an old mattress and an old computer. The month that followed I arranged with the landlady to share that apartment with the tenant from the other basement unit, who was also moving out in one month. Those days were not the happiest, since none of us was very skilled in cleaning habits.
Then I managed to find my second residence through Craig's List. It was a furnished room not too far from there in the house of a lovely half-aboriginal family - a mom, two kids, a cat, and a dog. My life at 168 Salem Avenue was also short, but I enjoyed my days playing The Sims at my host-mom computer, and eating homemade cinnamon buns with the whole family. The area was nice, but not very convenient, since I had to depend on a very annoying bus (26 Dupont), or go south on 161 Dovercourt before taking the subway to go north again. I lived there for just "first and last" months, since things changed in my life.
So I moved closer downtown to the Annex, on 276 St George St, Apt 502. It was quite a small unit for two people, but at that point none of us were suffocated by one another. That apartment brings me many interesting memories... A party with Vasil, Ray, Rachel, Nate, and others where I played Canadian party-games for the first time; visits to Rachel apartment for some wine and laughs; dinners on a small table with delicious recipes that somehow worked out fine; the beginning of the end through Rodolfo and the not-so-legal nights at the pubs... It's a shame there's not much of it logged here, but hopefully the best will stay in the back of my mind.
And then the lack of space becomes an issue and we decide to go down to 276 St George St, Apt 106. I spent a really long time at that place, compared to all my other addresses. It wasn't big enough, but we managed to get by. The very first day started very wrong, and that snowball kept growing through the year-and-half that followed. The best moments in that place were (obviously) when I was the only tenant for a period of time (weekend, week, month, and once a whole summer). I started couch surfing using that address, with Alexandria from Australia as a first guest. Then Marc, Pancho, Junior, Ivan, and Sigrid. I had so much fun with my queerosexual friends, and we used that unit to gather before going to the Wreck Room, Church Street, and even Montreal. Those were really fun times. There was the whole issue with Noel cooking me lunch one day, but that was the tip of the iceberg since beneath that was encounters with Pancho, Thiago, and even Scott. In that washroom I took famous pictures, and also burned the lid of my brand new laptop. In that fridge I collected donations from Daily Bread, and in that oven I started to cook vegetarian meals. My last days in that apartment were filled with Mareks' presence, who is in part responsible for taking me out of that nightmare.
That takes us to a shittier place, that at least I could call my own, located at 164 Close Avenue. It was the only place at the only downtown neighbourhood that I could afford, among the options I had (and considering I have at least some standards). It was bright purple, had an everlasting smoke smell, and not everything there worked well. I was lucky to have a nice superintendent who put up an air conditioner for me when the weather became unreasonably hot. I was living in fear of catching bedbugs, and afraid my locks weren't secure enough, but luckily I didn't have to stay there for longer than "first and last". My relationship grew and conflicts took place in that unit, and Zulema and Lilian were the only friends who actually visited me there (except my mentor Kevin). I didn't have internet there, so I used the nearby library for my basic virtual needs. The first month I was working at Ontario Place, and the next I was already decently employed. I started cooking by myself and taking food with me to work, and Mareks made my life in that place feel even good, whereas without him it would be completely pizdec.
And finally I got out of there to come to a much more pleasant place. My unit at 206 Fairglen Avenue is the best I ever had in Canada, and my only complaint is that my landlord bugs me too much about strict rules that he makes about noise and other stuff. Mareks is here with me, and this time there's enough space for two people to live without getting on each other's way. I started having my own furniture here, so I could get rid of everything that was stuck on me from the past. Now I'm building my memories here, but I can already see myself moving out soon to a better place without a rigid landlord living upstairs. This concludes my living summary in my new country - perhaps one day I'll make one about my homes in Brazil. Take care.
SeeYa,
Feliploko, who's singing Vegan Dessert
No comments:
Post a Comment