Asian Adventure: time out

First trip home!  Left Jeff behind working 24/7 (even on May 21st - celebrated as the Buddha's birthday in HK, Andrew and Shelly's birthdays in Canada).  The non-stop flight from HK to Toronto follows the "coolest" route ever: north over Beijing, Harbin, and Irkutsk, across the International Date Line, over Ellesmere Island (about 150 miles from the North Pole), and south over Hudson's Bay (La Baie d'Hudson for our Quebec readers) to Toronto.  When I checked the outside temperature near the Pole, it read -72 C, almost as cold as Julie's ultra-deep freezer in her lab at UM.  I peeked through the porthole and saw bright sunlight, and cold, hard, snow-covered ground.  In between napping, eating, and reading, I watched Cooking with Stella, a film about naive Canadian government expats living in Delhi who get robbed by their housekeeper.  The best part about the movie was Ellen's cameo appearance in a diplomatic reception scene!  Ellen's husband is with UNICEF, and at the time of the filming, they were posted to Delhi.  They are now in Turkmenistan (it took me a while to find it on a map).

Montreal was my first destination, and it was wonderful to see and hug family and friends (and my sister's super-cute dog, Sparky).  Skype is great, but it sure doesn't replace the "real thing".  I ate my fill of Yagel cheese bagels, St. Viateur bagels, smoked meat, and steak (thank you Andrew, it was delicious!).  I also ate at the Yangtze (the food is better in HK).  The weather was beautiful - eastern Canada is at its best in the spring when the air is fresh and everything is green.  Thanks again to my parents, Helen and Lou, who hosted the always delicious and fun family dinner.  How many octogenarians do you know who can cook a feast for 15, do all of the preparations and 99% of the clean-up, and still have the most beautiful smile on her face!  Ma, you are an inspiration!  May is a busy birthday month in our family:  best wishes to Mom, Andrew, Shelly, Jeremy, and Sahra.

After 4 days in Montreal, I took the train to Toronto.  Blogging allows me to vent (you may skip this paragraph if you've heard me whine about this before):  train "service" in Canada is terrible.  The first problem is that there are no porters at the drop off in Gare Centrale.  I had to shlep my very heavy bags inside the station to find a porter.  (By comparison, at the HK airport express drop-off, attendants wait at the taxi stand to remove the luggage from the trunk and put it on the free carts.  They also remove the luggage and take the carts away at the high-speed train.   Amazing what service you can offer with abundant cheap labour.)  There was mass confusion when we boarded the completely sold-out train.  Since no-one had an assigned seat, we were directed to different cars depending on whether we were travelling alone or with others.  I was told to go to car 6, but I actually went to car 5, because the porter had stowed my luggage there.  I think I messed up the total seating "plan".  Would it be too expensive to print a computer-generated seat number on the boarding card?  Ma, thank you again for packing me a delicious lunch of Snowdon Del party sandwiches.  Sure beats the ham and cheese sandwiches that were for sale on the train.  Mercifully the train was only 15 minutes late in arriving at Union Station in Toronto.  More confusion:  I stood outside on Front Street searching for Bonnie, who was 100 metres down the street searching for me.  It's quite a traffic zoo when the train from Montreal arrives, especially on a holiday weekend.

The week in Toronto was very busy.  I seemed to be on the go all day, every day.  Spending quality time with everyone was my mission.  Thank you to everyone who treated me to coffee, lunch, and dinner!  (We would love to reciprocate in HK).  A special thanks to Bonnie and Joe for their hospitality.  My apologies to Jeremy for not getting together (I owe you lunch on my next visit).  Saturday the 22nd was spent making myself presentable for the Sax-Malach wedding.  A relief to have my hair cut and coloured by Margaret and Kathryn at Jalouse on Yonge Street, and my nails done at Bayview Nails (Bayview and Soudan).  I was tempted to walk by the house on Merton St., but since it was raining and I was taking the TTC, I passed.

The Sax-Malach wedding was superb - Julia and Michael sure know how to throw a fun party.  We danced all night to Go Freddie Go (http://www.gofreddiego.com/), a rock 'n roll band who play 60s and 70s music.  One of the bonuses of attending the wedding festivities was spending time with Carol and Ivan who came in from Bakersfield.

The last part of my trip was spent in Ann Arbor with Julie, Eric and Kyle.  Their neighbourhood, Ann Arbor Hills, is the epitome of suburban beauty.  Tree-lined streets with a diversity of beautifully landscaped homes set way back from the road.  The "little boy" talks, knows his letters, numbers, and colours, and understands both English and French.  I was amazed at the change in him since I last saw him in December.  As for Julie and Eric, they seem to be thriving at the University of Michigan.  Julie showed me around her current temporary lab, as well as her new lab, which is almost completed.  Impressive!

This week is Jeff's turn in Canada.  He is attending a week-long, work-related workshop in Toronto.  He's also hoping to go to Canadian Tire to buy some essentials that we can't seem to find in HK:  CLR and picture hooks.

See you all again on our next visit in August!