Buenos Aires 1
Monday November 13, 2023
We arrived 45 minutes before schedule so we hung around the airport for a bit, cleaning ourselves up before heading to the Airbnb. The host wouldn’t let us have an early check in because of previous guests, but he let us drop our bags so we could walk around the city. We had some issues trying to get Uber to work; apparently the Argentinian government cracked down on it by banning credit card payments, so we opted to walk around instead. We headed towards Palermo, the Italian neighbourhood and walked through the Botanic Gardens and the Ecological Park where we spotted some wild maras, some flamingoes and a tapir.
We were wondering what to do next; we tried to use the subway but couldn’t figure out where to buy a card from. My poor Spanish skills were unable to find out from the transit operators, and we didn’t have cash, so we decided to stay in the area for lunch.
Since we were in the Italian neighbourhood, I decided to try this pasta restaurant which was pretty decent. The group was tired so we walked back and dozed off for a bit at the Airbnb. Eventually I decided I wanted some time to myself so I left the group and wandered over to Centennial Park where it was buzzing with activity. Locals were sitting on the grass, enjoying the beautiful weather. There was a busy flea market, a lot of dancing and people playing soccer, it was really cool to just walk around and people watch.
I ended up in Caballito, where I got dinner from a local burger chain. It was not great. My Spanish skills were really struggling and deep down inside I felt anxious about committing to spending so much time in Barcelona. But I know it’s a much more international city, especially with all the different European nations, so I should be okay. I made up for a disappointing dinner with a ball of chocolate ice cream with a dulce de leche center!
Today has been a slow start for the group, but we’re heading to Caminito and San Telmo Market.
Posted by Jeremy at 12:00pm on Monday November 13, 2023 :: 0 comments :: 
A man. A plan. A canal.
Sunday November 12, 2023
Panama surprised me. It’s the thirtieth country I’ve visited! Our Uber driver, José (Phoebe pronounced it Josie), picked us up from Tocumen International Airport and we drove straight to Miraflores Locks, the Panama Canal Visitor’s Center. I thought there were no ships scheduled to pass through the canal today but we saw three; two on the old canal and one in the distance, on the expanded canal. The ships take around ten hours to complete the 50 mile journey from one end to the other, so things move very slowly but extremely precisely. On the old locks, eight locomotives drag the boat through each section as it provides more control than a tugboat. Once inside, the locks are filled with water to raise the ship to the next level, or drained to lower the ship, depending on the direction of travel. The process is fascinating to watch, and it truly is a marvel of modern engineering. After watching a couple of ships pass by, we saw a film about the construction of the canal, narrated by Morgan Freeman.
We rushed for dinner in one of the trendy neighbourhoods by the waterfront. The food was interesting, it was unlike any flavour profile I’ve experienced, and it was very rich. We had a bit of time to walk around before taking an Uber back to the airport. One of the places we passed through was a seafood market, very much like an open air hawker stall you’d find in Malaysia, but full of salespeople desperate to fill a seat. The market was suspiciously empty for a Saturday night, but since we’d eaten already, we didn’t need to bother with them. I thought the drive to the airport would take longer and security would be a while as well, but we were very early and now we’re just chilling before our flight to Buenos Aires.
Posted by Jeremy at 10:32am on Sunday November 12, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Southbound
Sunday November 12, 2023
This year, I’m not flying south to spend the winter. Instead, I’m flying south for only two weeks, to four new countries, to explore some of the most beautiful parts of South America. Our first stop is Panama for a seven hour layover, where we’ll go see the canal and grab some food before getting back on the plane to Buenos Aires. I’ve been preparing for this trip for a while, and it’s required a lot of planning and organisation. I’ve been learning some rudimentary Spanish too - this’ll help me for this trip and hopefully my three months in Barcelona too.
The last few months have been incredibly busy. Our trip to Newfoundland was amazing, with a gruelling eight hour hike up and down Gros Morne, as well as a sneaky visit to the town of Dildo. Our trip to Kawartha Lakes for Thanksgiving was less amazing. We were supposed to go kayaking on the Sunday but due to rough conditions and the inexperience of the group in general, the rental company asked us to cancel the excursion but wouldn’t refund us. Instead they offered us a 50% discount on the next trip, which means we’d have to drive back out to take advantage of it. We did see some nice fall colours on the Trans Canada Hiking Trail, and some spectacular salmon jumps at Port Hope, but a few things went wrong that weekend and it was mildly frustrating.
Work has also been busy, with several difficult technical problems to solve. We’ve got a new programmer starting while I’m away, and I’m hoping that’ll alleviate some of our challenges. The industry is in a state of volatility at the moment, with thousands of layoffs happening all over the place. 2024 will probably be much of the same. I’m just glad my job is safe and I’m constantly reassured by our CEO that Prytania is going to be fine.
I went to the CNE this year with Hardeep. It was a welcome return to Exhibition Place, and the air show had been buzzing around Toronto skies a few days prior. The dog show was hilarious and adorable at the same time, and it was video games themed, so extra special. The food was as expected - expensive and nothing to write home about, but the most surprising experience was the audio sensory light exhibit in a dark room. It was a kaleidoscope of colourful patterns and fractals and geometry with a gentle soundtrack to accompany. A couple of weeks later, I tried to show him the salmon run on the Humber River, but we saw nothing. Instead, we went for dumplings in Chinatown and then went kayaking around the Toronto Islands. At night, we wandered around the city for Nuit Blanche, but nothing was notable.
I was at Hemingways with Emilio for the Rugby World Cup final, New Zealand versus South Africa. There were a lot of Springboks supporters, but there were a lot of black jerseys around as well. The atmosphere was fun and jovial, with a few “chaaa hooo!”s throughout the game, but alas, it wasn’t the result that the we were hoping for. Has to feel a bit bad for Sam Cane too. As soon as the final whistle blew, I was out of there.
Emotionally, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster too, with ups and downs. We had to cancel our work trip to Los Angeles because of the hotel workers’ strike. The darker days have forced me to bring out my sun lamp, to force my brain to start making the happy chemicals. We haven’t gotten our first snowfall yet, but after I get back from South America, it’ll only be a month until Christmas!
Posted by Jeremy at 1:03am on Sunday November 12, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Back in the Air
Thursday August 31, 2023
It feels like a long time since I’ve been at the airport - really only five and a half months - but it seemed momentous to be back at Pearson on this sunny Friday morning as we embarked on our flight to Newfoundland.
Summer has been busy. Just the way I like it. There’s been festivals and food and events. There’s been hikes and dinners and visits. There’s been cause for celebration, and moments of grief and reflection. I always tell people how alive the city is during summer and this year is the first year without COVID restrictions, so people were keen to get back into how things were pre-2020.
I’d basically recovered from my back injury by the time Charlotte, my old flatmate, had come to visit me in May. She was here for an academic conference at York University, but had a few days to explore the highlights of Toronto. I took her to all my favourite restaurants; there were too many to go to and she didn’t have enough stomach space for all the ice cream. We took a day trip to Niagara on the Lake and had lunch at a winery specialising in ice wine cocktails, and then did the Whirlpool Cable Car and the boat tour into the Niagara Falls in the afternoon. The next day, we went to the zoo and suffered through 90 minutes on the 401 because they’d closed all but one lane on Collectors for construction. She was really lucky on this trip; she managed to see a raccoon when I took her to High Park Zoo, and a groundhog wandering the zoo grounds, as well as my two favourite neighbourhood cats, Dobby and Lhasa.
Rohit was in from Calgary for a couple of days for work, so I caught up with him for the usual dumplings in Chinatown. I went to the Pride Parade too, which was a really welcoming, jovial atmosphere. We had a hotpot and barbeque picnic out in Milliken Park for Canada Day and stayed to watch the fireworks. I went to watch a couple of drone shows too, one out in Woodbine Beach and the other by Ontario Place.
Perhaps the most significant event in the past few months is that I’ve become a dual New Zealand and Canadian citizen. I drove all the way out to Mississauga to attend my citizenship ceremony with 100 other people, and we were presided over by Judge Albert Wong, who was born in Malaysia and came to Canada and served in the armed forces. His story was fascinating and he was hilarious, and the fact that we were both born in Malaysia made the ceremony so much more poignant. It was a memorable event, and a few weeks later, I got my passport.
This is important because I’ll be travelling the to US next month for a work conference, and since I had to surrender my PR card at the ceremony, the Canadian passport is my only ticket back into the country. I’m looking forward to the event though, the company had planned to do it in Vancouver but Beyoncé’s concert was at the same time and we couldn’t get accommodation, so we shifted it to Los Angeles. I’m hoping there will be visits to Universal and Disneyland!
I mentioned in my last post that in May, Mum's eldest sister passed away. Imagine my horror when, on a Sunday night after badminton in July, I got a text from my sister that another of Mum's sisters passed away, this time the aunt that was closest in age to her. I managed to see her in December, and in my heart I knew it may be the last opportunity I had, but I didn't expect it to be this soon. This one really hurt. On the night that my mother passed away, my aunt was already on her way to Auckland from Kuala Lumpur, unaware that she was too late. She was devastated when she arrived. Because of my citizenship ceremony, I wasn't able to leave the country, but I still tried to watch what I could on Zoom. In her memory, I snuck "Power of Your Love" into the church service the following Sunday. We sang it at Mum's funeral too, its poignant first line "Lord I come to you; let my heart be changed, renewed" so rich in meaning for the occasion.
The week ahead will be a refreshing break from the busyness of summer, as we explore Canada’s easternmost province and all its rugged beauty. Like New Zealand, Newfoundland's scenery is largely unspoiled and untouched by human civilisation, so it's not uncommon for the best views to be hidden behind strenuous four hour hikes; in fact, our trip highlight is the eight hour hike up Gros Morne, the second highest peak on the island. Looking forward to it!
Posted by Jeremy at 3:57am on Thursday August 31, 2023 :: 0 comments ::
Springing
Wednesday May 10, 2023
It's finally Spring in Toronto. The plants and flowers are well and truly springing from the ground, but the weather has been bouncing back and forth unpredictably too. Last week, we had a solid run of six continuous days of rain, finally broken on Friday with some beautiful sunny weather. I was able to bike through High Park and see the tulips, magnolias and cherry blossoms, before heading down to the lake shore trail to Cirque du Soleil, now located in Mimico. I saw Kooza, which was fantastic. I had sweaty palms through several of the performances, just watching and admiring the stunts and acrobatics of the show. The good weather continued on into Saturday, but it rained heavily again on Sunday. This week is much more pleasant, with temperatures set to reach over 20C at the end of the week.
Emotions have been up and down over the last few months as well, for various reasons. I'm slowly getting back to full health with my back injury, and have started playing squash and badminton again. Gym is slowly getting there too, it still hurts a bit to bench press, but the fact that I'm able to lift things again is deeply gratifying. My friends and I have planned a trip to Newfoundland in August, which is incredibly exciting; work was supposed to have a meetup in Vancouver in September, but that got changed to Los Angeles today because Beyonce is in Vancouver at the same time and finding accommodation was difficult. I'm still supposed to go to the S Club 7 concert in London at the end of October, even though Paul Cattermole, one of the Seven, passed away tragically at the start of April. Today, I learned that my mother's eldest sister passed away at age 85. She lived a good life, and I have fond memories of her playing mahjong with my mother when she visited New Zealand. There's a nice photograph of all six sisters on her Facebook page that made me a bit emotional.
It's been nice catching up with various people as well. Lina came in from Singapore for a couple of weeks, there's been meals with ex workmates, I went and saw Avenue Q as well. I got 20 out of 20 on my Canadian citizenship test, and I'm still waiting for an invitation to the oath ceremony, although IRCC strikes may have impacted the timing on that. My social calendar has been nicely busy for the last month, and as the weather warms up, it'll get busier. There's plenty to look forward to as summer rolls in. There's been some sad times too, but heaps of my friends have banded together to support me during those times, and for that, I'm truly thankful.
Posted by Jeremy at 2:40am on Wednesday May 10, 2023 :: 0 comments ::