On Saturday I switched accommodations to Marina’s shoebox apartment. It has an amazing view of the CN tower, which I somehow forgot to take a picture of (oh well). It took me awhile to get up the energy to leave Corinne’s and go over there, but I managed with a little help from Corinne (she helped me carry my stuff to the bus stop, bless her). At Marina’s, we got ready to go out to Lee’s Palace.
First, Marina and I stopped into her friend’s place, Erin’s, for a beer. There were a couple of rad women already there: Holly and Shelina. The 5 of us took Holly’s car over to Lee’s to grab our tickets, then we went to restaurant to grab some eats and drinks. [picture]
We were joined by another couple of women, Megan and Andrea, and 3 dudes, Justin, Fraser (Erin’s husband), and ? (third guy left early, I didn’t talk to him and hence don’t remember his name). Erin’s brother was in the opening band, Dearly Beloved, so we headed over to see that. It was actually pretty good; I was duly impressed. The headlining band was Juliet Lewis’ band, which is hilarious and totally not my scene.
She really has some die hard fans including this guy.
He brought her flowers and was extremely chuffed when she took them. Note: Please excuse the quality of the photos, it was difficult to take any decent photos in that place. I tried to take some pictures, but they were all really blurry. Luckily, I had Megan by my side who managed to snap a few which are actually pretty good (certainly as good as it gets given the circumstances).
Juliet was quite the performer and she gave it her all! I really couldn’t stop giggling at being there, this is totally not the kind of think I would normally do. I think I was also a little scared of her, I mean Natural Born Killers is a pretty terrifying movie, in my opinion.
Anyway, after the show we went to another bar, where Holly amused us all with her wit and charm. Then we went for some much needed late night food.
Sunday, Marina and I went for brunch at School, where I got (irrationally) irritated by the incompetent hostess, that’s not to say I did or said anything about it. It just really irritates me when I’m in a busy place that is not being run as efficiently as it could be, rather, it’s not being run efficiently at all. Marina was very nice and made me feel a bit bad about my bitchiness. Nevertheless, I was right and that hostess was useless.
We went to yoga later, which was really really good. Then we went for a swim in her apartment complex pool and had an early night. It was a super wholesome (and welcomed!) day.
Monday, Marina took me to the bus station so I could store my stuff. We went and grabbed some breakfast by her work and then said goodbye. I decided to go check out the art gallery before I left, but it was closed (stupid Mondays). I walked around this labyrinth for a bit and laughed at these pigeons… sounds kind of crazy, but it was entertaining. Then I went and caught the bus to Ottawa.
I sat beside this man who asked me if I was Russian. I thought it was a bit strange, since when I asked him if I look Russian he replied “no.” Huh, anyway, he was Armenian but grew up in Russia and he was a doctor. He told me about his struggles with taking the exams in order to transfer his medical license over to Canada. He seemed quite disheartened over the whole experience, as he has been living here for 6 years now and is still not able to practice. It must be hard, especially with the language barrier and then all these timed tests. He didn’t seem to understand much of what I said, which does not bode well for him either. At the end of the trip we exchanged email addresses, I am not really sure what for, but no harm done. I am hoping he was not feeling any sort of romantic connection.
Laura met me at the bus station and we headed to her and Jason’s (NICE) place. We had wine, bread, cheese and olives on the patio, which Jason had graciously picked up for us (good man). Then Laura and I went to a little French restaurant nearby and had a delicious meal of duck and lamb. It was fabulous!
Tuesday, we both did some work in the morning and afternoon. In the evening we drove out to Kanata to go to a bbq hosted by one of the owner’s (Mike) of my old workplace here. It was great to see the people I used to work with: Mike, Judith, Nic, and Sarah. Some of the new staff came too, which was a real treat. Mike made awesome tandoori chicken, samosas and pakoras. Yum. I love food. Seeing as it was a Tuesday, we did not stay too late.
Wednesday (yesterday!), I got up fairly early and went to a yoga studio Laura recommended to me. I ended up buying the special 1 month pass because it was cheap. I had a really nice class. Afterwards, I headed to the India visa application center and got all that stuff submitted (a little more complicated than that, and took some time).
I had lunch with Bob Burk yesterday at Carleton. We went to the grad pub and he bought me lunch and a beer. It was so nice to catch up with him, and I’m not sure the two of us have ever had lunch alone together before.
After, I went and met up with Chris Drumm, who I had not seen in at least 3 years. Of course, there were drinks, there was dancing (and a bit of falling); we had a blast. I had poutine, not just any poutine, but phillie-steak poutine! That’s serious business, let me tell you!
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