Summer Solstice at Lough Gur

Below is an image taken by my father at Teamplin hill, Co, Cork, looking towards Lough Gur in Co. limerick. It shows sunset on the summer solstice.

Canada - Now THIS is what I call a "Storm"!

On Sunday (9th) Maria and I went out to the Central Islands on Lake Ontario. They are only a 10 min ferry ride out, and you can see thew whole city front. The islands themselves are a very nice mix of parks, kiddies amusments, yacht marinas, etc. Unfortunately it was quite humid, and the mosquitoes were out in force! I got et' alive, so I did.

However, when we were coming back on the ferry there was a HUGE thunder and lightning storm! Loads of rain, and absolutelly incredible lightning! We made some vids from the ferry and when we got to land, it was pretty intense! Enjoy!

This video is from when we had landed and were runing up the streets towards Union subway station.

If you look at the elevated highway on the right you can see the sheets of water from car traffic streaming over the railings!

Canada - Now THIS is camping (part I)

Hello All!

Becuase of the long abscence of posting I think y'all deserve a few moving pictures!

The following vids are from a trip Maria and I went on up north to Algonquin Park, with our friends Kyla and Aaron, and great times had by all! More info to follow, but for the moment enjoy the vids :) Sorry about the jittery/shakiness, I was using my camera phone.

Canada - Now THIS is camping (part II)

Canada - Now THIS is camping (part III)

Sudan - Marje tries the camel hoof soup...

More from "Our Mam in Sudan"... Words in [ ] are corrections/info supplied by me.

"You are correct we are back from Darfur and all is well. It was extra-ordinary. I don't know where to start so the days have become a blurr so jammed. Working backwards may be best.  Last night we were invited to dinner by a local ophthalmic surgeon. He was the only Muslim who refused my hand shake.  He has a lovely and very accomplished family. 3 daughters.  On arrival the men went immediately to the "good room" and his wife usshered me to the "ladies room" which was a bedroom.  We chatted and her daughters were bubbling for information about living Ireland. Mam is Indian - boss Pakistani. Girls have excellent English. Aged 16 14 and 7. All future doctors.!   There was a table set with Pakistani food in the foyer and if the men were out there we stayed in - when quiet I was encouraged to help myself as the rest of the females did. A very dull house no personality expressed, no creativity expressed, in fact the children were like clones of their mother. All too old. The food was lovely, she had toned down the spices and credit to her she filled any silences which broke the flow. All were dressed in the Shalwar Kemeeze. No question of head cover though all wore scarf. They just did not meet the men.

 One of the guests, Ibrar told me, was the chief engineer for the latest dam on the Nile!! I would have enjoyed the evening if I had not been locked away.  So sad, she does not drive. The girls want to learn. There was no music and no one could play an instrument, though one said she would like to try the guitar. No shortage of money.. so sad....

 Before that the Sime no 2 brought us sight seeing,  to experience the sunset over the Nile, then we had Tea in one of the newest hotels (like the sail in Dubai). It was fun  and best of all was the manager of that floor was brother to No2 (Ahmed) so we got the spiel/ tour. The presidential suite costs 8ooo per night. !  I chose the special tea made from petals of a red flower - had a touch of current and jas just as red. delicious.  Before that they brought us to see the [Al-Shifa] Pharmacutical plant which was hit by an American Tomahawk Missile in [1998] because it was believed to be producing chemical wepons..... The site is as it fell as a monument to that.  A man lives on the site and showed us part of the bomb. Interesting.

 When we had rested we were picked up in a hired car with really good air conditioning. At this stage the group is Boss doc from Pakistan, the journalist he brought with him, Ibrar,  myself and Ahmed.   Gotta go - Breakfast is sorted."

Btw, for anyone interested in the above missile strike, check out this debunking/critical analysis of media reportage at the time. - CM

Sudan - Marje meets the natives.

Extremely interesting first person view of Sudan.

The following text is several successive emails from my mum Marje, who is in Sudan/Darfur as part of a NGO aid mission. I forget the name of the organisation but doubtless Her Highness will correct me soonest! Marje works as a nurse in an eye theater in Limerick Regional Hospital so her interest is especially focussed on the already blind or those losing their sight to accidents, disease or other causes.

"> ---- marjeobrien wrote: (24 May PM)

Khartoum is exactly as that woman wrote, everyone is courtious and do not
seem to mind if my scarf falls off, In fact but for Ibrar I would not bother to
wear one. He has admitted that he admires the attitude of Sudan towards women,
we passed the university and there were as many woman as men (students).
everywhere we went women had positions of authority.
 I'm in the foyer of the hotel and you would hardly believe the surroundings -
straight out of a Humphry Bogart film. Noisy fans click and clack as they whirr,
people talking in a constant murmer, the tone is soft and the volume moderate
(not the harsh gutteral Arabic I remember from Madrid).
 My room has to be seen to be believed. The loo has a a square bowl but a
standard oval seat. Top flush - only after a loooong push on the button. ( The
heat here has fried the flush system also) On the subject of heat- 30 degrees at
3AM I don't ask anymore..... enough to say I have adopted the Sudanese walk.
There is heavy polution from the buses, cars amd trucks creating a smog which is
noxious if one is in a car without AC.
 On arrival, after a 4hr flight from Istanbul,(1 hr delay and 5hr from Dublin
to Instanbul with a 2.5 wait between flights)-we passed through customs and
passport control without difficulty, being Irish is a good thing apparently. The
head of SIMA conducted us through and finally left us at 3am. Was I tired? ....
felt as though my eyelids were glued unside out. Slept like a stone with ear
plugs in due to the rattle of the air conditioning. (same smelt strangely of wet
wood or mud and stale cigaretts!.  The SIMA guy was very attentive and kept up a
banter with Ibrar who he had met on his previous trips. Ibrar suggested to me
that he has government contacts because no one could do what he does without
such power. He told a joke to qualify. When in Russia no need to worry about
agents following your car, ( your driver is the agent)!

 This am his no 2 was waiting to breakfast with us and drive us to the SIMA
office. Then to the school for the blind. That was another relevation -run by a
woman and accompanied by 3 blind teachers. They have some plastic frames one
braille typewriter and one electric braille typewriter for 80 students. Boys
and girls aged 4 to 18 all are 50% or more blind.  The schoolhouse is little
more than sheds which is normal housing around here unless you live in a hotel/
bank or oil refining company office. This was just an introduction meeting on
Wed we will be back for a press conference, present our gifts and raise the
profile of the school locally. The chldren listened to some speeches and asked
questions when I asked the translator to invite them to do so. They were
confident and forward in their questions.
> > Then back to the hotel through downtown Khartoum. The town center is
unusual,.... only the main road/streets are tarred. All the side streets are dust
and when it rains -mud, so- lots of potholes and the suspension of the car
bounced and scraped on the bends.For a while I thought I was in Cuba.!!
> >  We headed to the hotel for lunch, Nile river fish which was fresh and
delicious, they reckoned the fish were Blue Nile as these are sweeter than those
from the White Nile. Both rivers converge at Khartoum and then form THE Nile.
 Downtown Khartoum- I dont know what to write - I saw nothing familiar-
shops /boutiques/ restaurants/ I'm not sure if they were there but disguised, in
behind or not there at all. By the end of the week I expect to have a better
idea.
 After lunch -siesta until 5pm when I arrived down to the foyer there was no
one there so I tried the internet and you are the lucky recipient..  the plan
for the evening was site seeing around Khartoum with our trusty minder-but where
is he? ......  more later    Marje.

---- marjeobrien wrote: (25 May AM)

The late arrival of our chief meant we are a day late, but now we are a team of
4. Last evening we walked heough the Arab market. It ia possible to walk around
here and not be molested at all -unlike in Tunisia.  The air temp is a constant
battle for me.  I have yet to hear a call to prayer-not sure why -will ask
Ibrar. Dinner was at the hotel and not too spicy.  Just going for breakfast then
to the office to pick up the 4 others, then airport and flight to Genina.
 Marje

No time to send other messages - could you forward my emails to all please
 Marje

---- marjeobrien wrote: (25 May AM)

 hi  -just a few mins as we wait for the car so I grabbed the opportunity to make contact again.  Khartoum. There is an obvious absence of wildlife,(even the trusty sparrow seems to have difficulty with the heat in the city perhaps they are out in the countryside). I have seen one skinny cat and no dogs yet.

 You could not design a film set to match the airport lounge and passport check, also the hotel. I have been trying to find words - whenever possible there are multiple geometric patterns and the main foyers are more than spacious high and wide. When there is pattern, it is gold or at least reflective.

 Yesterday we opened the net and the recycle bin was full, when I opened I found letters and CV The letters referred to the purchase of Cessena planes from a Polish company..... What daft ioiot would leave such detals as passport -social security and identity card numbers on the desktop !!!

 I wrote that because the guy is sitting just opposite!!!

 Back to the present. Breakfast is a simple affair- in fact so far that could be said of all meals. They had an interesting dark bean option this morning- a strong (feta) cheese omlet with peppers and onion, sweet bread, and cake - very European.    The car is here but they are talking so I'll carry on. I am accepted as an equal and everything is translated if I show interest or not. The team is crammed with energy and now ready to go."

Canada v. Ireland: Ads killed the Radio star...

..Or at least, my enjoyment of Canadian radio.

Yup, round 3 of the Can v. IRL comparison. Right now Canada is whupping Ireland's ass, with its one-two of Employment and Decent Frickin' Weather.  A couple of digs about racial diversity and some under jaw jabs about the range of ethnic foods available have knocked Ireland right into the corner. Now,  Ireland's gonna fight back and pick apart that sparkling Canuck defense. Time to float like a pig, sting like a horsefly!

Canadian broadcast media is a shameless mimic of American TV and radio, doubtless due to a lot of cross-border ownership. Advertisement dominates over content quality and volume, with a particularly horrid emphasis on brutal repetition of a few key ads. The idea seems to be to take turns with each ad and ram it down listeners ears until their waking consciousness is saturated with this vapid, low-IQ satisfying, commercial vomit. Do this for a few days (or weeks!) and then switch to a different set of ads and repeat ad vomitus. If I hear one more goddamn ad about Lowes Garden F**king Furniture...

Lets take this problem apart in a Scientific manner; and, in celebration of the media frenzy that erupted and died around the Swine Flu epidemic (which is still happening), lets use a biological metaphor.

First, its not a 'problem' - rather a disorder, or better yet: a disease of the Body Median. The host victims are the various Radio Stations, while the viruses, hemorrhagic diseases, pus-inducing infections and debilitating brain-eating bacteria are the Advertisements (of whatever length, type or media). In a nice similarity to actual people some Stations are fairly immune to some or most of the aforementioned afflictions, and some of those afflictions are more virulent or pernicious than others. The Stations are always vulnerable to a new diseases as they suffer from a permanent lack of a vital nutrient - Money. Unfortunately the viruses (sorry, I mean "Advertisements") offer a never ending stream of money - dirty, used, intellectually suspect and possible mafia-related, but still money.

I should describe the Stations themselves. As befits a city as racially and culturally diverse as Toronto there is also a good variation of stations. I've found 1 Chinese, 1 Indian, 1 Tamil (I think), 1 State Radio, 1 South Asian, 2 Classical, 5+ Rock/Pop/Indie Music, 2 French and 1..Slovenian? Not sure about that last one but I heard "Slovensk" muttered a lot. Most of the foreign language stations require ads on their station to be in their particular language, so you will rarely hear an ad for above accursed Garden Furniture on Thai Radio. Well, you might, but only if you understand Thai as, in order to save money, most of the ads in anything other than French or English are usually just rapid fire reading of text, with little "dramatisation". Also, as the minorities tend to be poorer than the main white middle classes there is no point spending a lot of money on them. The invisible voice of the market, eh.

Now for the ads. 

Oh, the ads. Woe eternal onto whichever sonofabitch decided that a continuous repetition of just 5 ads over 24 hours made financial and advertarial sense. Sometimes they will try to clothe the virulent oral damage with "comedy" or "humour", as imagined by a creatively bereft office manager. Or they'll attempt a more personal approach, with an overly chirpy woman caterwauling to her equally over-excited, handbag-clutching "galpals" about the undoubted merits of some new shampoo, female condom (I'm not kidding) or shoe sale. Men get inundated with ads for garden tools, decking and barbecue sauces. To their eternal shame the two classical stations aim their ads specifically at older generations, selling Zimmer frames, hearing aids, subscriptions to Zoomer magazine and recently carping on about CARP. As if no-one under the age of 75 listens to classical music. Of all stations they should be encouraging younger people to listen to and enjoy classical music, but who the heck would when the ads in between warble on about incontinence pills, deafness tests and hot water bottles!? 

And all this every 3-5 minutes, every hour, all day.

My listening purgatory began when I bought a dock for my mp3 player, to allow me to both charge the player and play music/radio from its speakers. I foolishly thought that Canadian radio must be better than Irish but holy crap, it-is-Not. There are hardly any talk shows, and the ones that exist are either about shoes, fashion, Americas Next Top Model ( a Tv show) or some other short-term drivel dragged slithering and drooling from the airwaves of the United States. There is no Ian Dempsey or Ray D'arcy show (for all his flaws), no Tom Dunne  or Matt Cooper. Hell theres no Marian Finucan, Morning Ireland or George Hook. 

Canadian Radio sucks.

In amongst all this muck there is one small gem - CBC, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It tries its damnedest to educate the hoi polloi, with some very interesting chat shows, some great comedy hosting and a really interesting techie show called Spark that only the truly geeky (yes, me) would love. But it is a straw dam against a rising wave of aural garbage, inane twittering and vacuous fact-free commentary.

So, Canada has lost this round, by a heavy margin. However, it does have a small dagger up its sleeve - Sirius Satellite radio. 100% Ad free, great chat shows, superb music. The catch?  You need a subscription, and you must buy a Sirius capable radio. But it is a price I fully intend to pay. 

Canada v. Ireland: That's some mean street meat!

On a lighter note from the last post, this one will be about two things very dear to an Irish man's heart:  his Food, and (not least) his Drink!

Toronto has a heck of a lot of Chinese/Korean/Japanese Food outlets. And I mean a LOT. Most are fairly average, but now and then you can get some really great quality food for great prices, e.g. Garden or Korean Grill House; Springrolls is another chain of Chinese restaurants that also do good take-out, although to be honest I would disagree with the hype - they aren't that good, but at least they are clean. Not to be outdone by their northern cousins there are also a lot of Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai (esp.) and Vietnamese (not as many, but growing). Moving west you can find Indian/Pakistani cuisine just about anywhere, although again it can be a bit hit-or-miss regarding the quality of food and the cleanliness of the establishment. European cuisine is well served, especially Italian, Greek and French, although sadly not so much Spanish. You can also find the odd Swedish restaurant. 

One thing to note about pretty much all all Restaurants in Toronto: rarely does the exterior facade do justice to the food. A lot of them look pretty grotty on the outside, but can be quite nice and pleasant once you are in the door. Service in any Toronto restaurant or bar is always, always very friendly and chatty; if things are quiet they will quite happily sit down and chat for a few minutes before heading off again. Naturally this is driven by a desire to make decent tips (minimum wage is pretty low) but it does undeniably make for a more pleasant experience than many supposedly "classy" restaurants I've been to in Dublin. Not pointing any fingers, Yamamori. That restaurant is good, not.

One major difference between Canada and Ireland is their respective approaches to Drink. In Ireland we regard it as our god-given right to get absolutely s***faced whenever and wherever we please. Thence there are bars everywhere, off-licences, everywhere and, on Sunday mornings, puke everywhere! Yup, 'tis delightful. In Canada it's a little different. First, there are no privately owned off-licences. The sale of all wines, liqueurs and beers is controlled by the LCBO, who have a lovely flowery logo that belies their true nature, as the *cue Dracula organ music* Liquer Control BOARD O.F. ONTARRRRIIIOOOOO!!!!  They have their own stores (imaginatively called the LCBO - oh those craaazzzy bureaucrats!) which sell wine and liqueurs, while beers are sold through the Beer Store. I kid you not. The "Beer Store". 

FAIL.

So yah, no offies, lads, plus they tend to close at 10pm.

This means all alcohol prices are controlled by the Province, which is also able to control the quality and level of consumption of alcohol. To be honest, this is no bad thing. The LCBO (and its sister Boards across Canada) was a development from Prohibition, (way back in the 1920s when alcohol was cheap, plentiful and often of a dangerous low grade) and perfectly exhibits the difference between the States and Canada- the US went all mental with an extremist, hysterically draconian and ultimately futile imposition of Prohibition; Canada tried it for a bit, then thought "this is nuts!" and developed a much more sensible and practical approach. Hooray for the moose-humpers! But it means they simply do not have the bar culture of Ireland. Weather this is a bad thing...well, the Canucks don't mind - until they get to Ireland, that is! This is not to say that there are no good pubs here - there are, e.g. the Keg or Fynns, just not as many as we might like. 

So, to sum up- there is a great variety of food here, with an equal variety in the quality and hygiene of the establishments (although naturally there are Health & Safety inspections). Bars are spread apart, and there is certainly nothing like Temple Bar in Dublin, or even Oliver Plunkett St. and its side-streets in Cork. There is good food and drink to be had, its just not as frantic, as clustered or as defined as in Ireland.

Finally, there are street hot-dog vendors everywhere. Their 'dogs tend to be a bit chewy, but generally quite tasty. They are colloquially known as 'Street Meat', and a good (relative) vendor is to be cherished, nurtured and encouraged; thence the title of this post.

Canada v. Ireland: Freedom of the City

These next few posts will deal with the main differences between everyday living in Canada and Ireland, describing literally what you can expect to see as you walk around, from the ground level perspective of a dirty Paddy job-steelin' immigrant fresh off the Potato Boat, and examining the background to those differences.

Today's focus is Race.

Racial tolerance is Toronto's greatest strength. In any conversation about their city Torontonians will, at some point, mention the fact that Toronto's population is c.50% first-generation immigrants (which is not entirely accurate). What they tend not to mention is that at least 40% of Toronto's population is also Asian. This is immediately apparent on any street; notice I said "any". The key difference between a Canadian and an American city is that Canadian minorities are a lot less ghetto-ised than their American cousins. In Toronto many minorities do have an identifiable area where they are in a lcoal majority, but by no means are they restricted to those areas. 

As I mentioned above there are Asians everywhere, on every street in Toronto; whereas I remember a much greater and distinct division of races in San Francisco a few years back.Actually, in that link you might notice that the majority Black area in San Franciso city itself is down beside the docklands, wharves and piers - ie the crappier side of SF. Oakland in particular had/has hard divisions between Blacks and Whites, and the Black areas were in a much worse condition. While Chinatown here in Toronto is very identifiable the fact is that an Asian person can walk pretty much anywhere in the City, as can a Black person, a White person, etc. There were large areas of SF that I, as a white person, could never go near. It was a simple reality that if I did enter these ares that there was a very high probability I would encounter violence of some kind. The limiting factor for Black movement to other neighbourhhoods wasn't the White population but actually the Latino (and to a lesser extent Asian) occupants. 

And this, I might remind you, was in possibly the most liberal, progressive and Black-friendly city in the entire United States! 

This restriction on movement due to fear of race-based violence and intimidation is practically non-existent in Toronto. I am not entirely sure why this is so, but I would guess that there are maybe 3 main reasons:

1. No history of systemic Black oppression.
2. No guns
3. Continuously low unemployment

Point 1 - To the enternal discredit and shame of any American government Blacks are still treated as a third class race in the US. The current President may change things a bit, but it is still an utter disgrace that so little has been done in previous generations to pull the Black population out of the hole they were shoved into centuries ago.  Much has been done, yes, but so much more could have been done as well. If your society is ghettoised from day 1 it will obviously be extremely hard to pull yourself up.

Point 2: Availability of guns makes murder easy. That is, any argument can escalate to killing extremely quickly. Gangs love guns because they can fire and forget, they can harm someone by moving just their trigger finger, they can shoot out the passanger window of a car and speed off with out retaliation. It also gives them a better chance against Police units. Guns enable crime. It is a simple fact.

Point 3. If their parents were regularly employed then a child is far more likely to finish school, get a job/go to college and also raise a family. Young men with no work are bored. Bored young men with easy access to guns are lethal. If you work fulltime then it is far, far harder to be a member of a gang. Plus, why bother?

So there you have it. This all points to a danger the Irish State is very slowly becoming aware of - a recent rise in gun crime in Ireland is now flowing in tandem with a terrible rise in unemployment levels. Hopefully we can pull ourselves out of the current hole within a short time, and avoid losing an entire generation to crime and unemployment. We have a lot to learn from Canada.

Canada - 15 degrees and climbing...

Trying to maintain the weekly updates is tricky! I suspect that the most "interesting" phase of my journey here is over, now that I have achieved my initial main goals. The tension of looking for work with time running out has disappeared, and these days I just keep an eye on the clock that counts down to when Maria finally gets her butt over here! 

A few last comments about starting work - everything hinges on having your Social Insurance Number (SIN). Mine was fast-tracked by SWAP, the organisation that also organised my Visa (in tandem with USIT over in Ireland). They are well organised, very friendly and quite pro-active. They have orientation classes every week for new arrivals. At my own orientation we filled out a SIN application form. Our numbers were available about a week later, and the actual plastic SIN cards about 2 weeks after that. Normally, if you came here alone, you could be waiting about 4 weeks before you get even just the number! I've heard horror stories of 6 weeks.

This matters, as without your SIN you will a) probably not get hired, and b) even if hired, you'll almost certainly not get paid! Lack of a SIN leaves you terribly vulnerable to shysters and scumbag employers who will hire staff until their SIN comes through, then immediately fire them; and, because there is no record of you on their payrolls (ie 'cos you had no SIN to give them) you are then at a serious disadvantage in terms of gettign your owed money. However, this situation has been noticed and there are procedures and help available. The SWAP organisation have a particularly good reputation in this regard. Basically, if you are over here, in trouble and stuck then they will help you as much as possible, and usually for free.

Over the next few posts I will try and describe daily life here, the big and small differences, how things work (a lot does) and where the pitfalls and dangers are (not many of those!). Weather-wise, it's starting to get really nice and warm here; the temperature is going to slowly climb over the next few months. Ha-ha, wet boggy Ireland!

See ya!

Btw, a nice little feature of this SWAP Visa Program that I am on is that I will be able to claim almost all of my tax back next April! Sweet! 

Canada - 43%

I've been away in Spain/Ireland for a friend's wedding and apparently it snowed while I was gone! Dang it, I want to see some real Canadian snow! (I know I will learn to regret that...) The wedding went perfectly, it was held in a small town called Mijas, about 20 miles inland from Fuengirola on the south coast of Spain. My friends Tony and Edwina were getting married. Edwina looked absolutely stunning, and Tony was quite the dapper gentleman himself! I was a groomsman, which meant I got a lot of (temporary)  prestige and respect, but absolutely no responsibilities - nice! Maria has some pics on facebook, and I think today I will also finally have time to upload all the pics I've taken since I got here. 

It is such a massive relief to finally have a job! I received the contract from Kohn Architects, via email. I was 99% certain I had the job but, paranoiac that I am, I was waiting for the contract before I could be 100%! So, I did, and now, I am. I start Monday and I am pretty psyched! 

I have been pwned by IKEA. It is quite impressive how large, well organised and efficient their operation is. This is what happens when Scandinavian high-quality design meets North American production efficiency. Bought $700 worth of goodies- a sofa/bed, coffee table, crockery, cutlery, duvets, etc. The lovely Kyla & Aaron (Kaaron!) drove me out to the store, and I got them lunch in the in-house restaurant; IKEA do some nice meatballs! There was free delivery if your purchases are over $400, so my sofa/bed and coffee table will be delivered on Saturday.

So, stage 1 is complete! I arrived, found a job and a home; now I can get my carreer back on track and once Maria is here everything will be perfect. :D

Btw, the title of this post refers to how much of my time I spent travelling over the last few days. It was worth it though, every tired minute of it!

UPDATE:

Some pics from the wedding in Spain:

Canada - Job is in the details...

So, it took 19 days, circe 55+ directed emails and countless phonecalls, about 2000 euros and an extremely supportive and positive group of friends, family -  and of course, a wonderful girlfriend! But, I did it:

I found an apartment good enough for both myself and Maria at a reasonable price...AND...

I found a job!

It's with a firm called Kohn Architects. Two days ago (Tuesday the 30th March)  I did my usual routine- get a list of architect firms from here, ring them each in turn, get a contact name and send a tailored email to that person (the intention is to ring back 2 days later and remind them about me). Kohn Architects was on the list for Tuesday, and I managed to get to talk to Sean Lawrence, one of the two partners (in this picture on their website he is the tall guy on the extreme right). I called down at 4pm at their offices, here, for the arranged interview. I was exactly on time, well dressed in suit & tie, clean and tidy portfolio. I took a taxi from the subway, so I would not be sweaty or rushed for the meeting.

We went through my portfolio, following the same timeline as my resume (i.e. BKD first, then JLA, then CCN, etc etc). I think what Sean liked was that my presentation skills are fairly developed, and I am very comfotable with photoshop. Basically, I can come up with an idea and present it clearly, quickly and to a pretty good standard. 

It is always a good sign in an interview when your interviewer stats bringing you through one of their current projects! After about an hour of relaxed chat and analysis Sean pulled out a project they are working on in Markham, which is to the north of Toronto. The project is a large Shopping Centre, with massive underground parking. He seems to want to upgrade how the various designs are developed and presented - and this is where I come in. For me in particular, with my pretty intensive background in Shopping Centre design and development (Dundrum Phase 2 anyone!?) this is an ideal introduction to Canadian architectural practice. I will be able to directly compare the regulations and methods involved in SC design in Ireland, with those practiced and used here in Canada! I still have a lot of catch-up to do, but I will be able to use my existing body of knowladge to give me an initial boost.

After an hour and a half he offered me the job. I told him about my coming trip to Spain this weekend and so I will be starting in Kohn Architects on Monday 13th April! I will be on an initial rate of $48k p/y, with a review in 3 months. This is pretty much a  greatt set-up for me- a good job, in a firm that wants to design better bildings than it has before, with a decent starting wage.

Things can only go up from here! :D

A big Thank You to everyone for your support, love and encouragement. It really, really really did help!

Canada - Housing found, but still no job

Working together online Maria and I have finally found a decent apartment, for a decent price. The idea is we get somewhere ok, I move in for April and Maria then joins me in June. Once she has a job (and presuming I have one by then!) we will look at maybe upgrading to somewhere closer to the subway, and more modern.

For the moment, this place is fine. It's $850 per month, incl. cable TV and electricity. It's right on Eglinton Rd, large enough for two, c.600+ sq.ft, seems clean enough and a TTC  (Toronto's Bus/Tram system) bus stop is right outside the building. It's also about a 5 min drive from Kyla & Aaron's, which translates as a good 30min+ walk. Theres a great park nearby, a Home Depot, Sobies (SuperQuinn equiv., here) and some other stuff. Also an LCBO! (more on that later).

Basically, it's a stepping stone. We get jobs, get organised, save for a bit, then move. 

Jobs have not materialised yet. I was getting kinda worried during the week, but I'm over that initial nervous spike. Despite the lack of a job I do not regret moving here, at all. I have enough to get me through the next couple of months (thanks Sean & Dad!) and I am pretty certain that when things do start recovering, Canada will be the first to benefit. I just gotta hang in there, keep sending out the resumes, making the phone calls and calling into firms. You get nothing in this world if you don't get off your ass and go for it.

So, things are slowly moving along, no job yet but still working hard at it. At least I can look forward to my friend Tony's wedding in Spain next weekend- with Maria!! Yup, she's coming too and I can't WAIT to see her! :D.

Tawk tae yis!

(ps. If you don't want to receive updates from this blog just let me know, tis all good)

Canada - Job hunting is the same the world over

So, no luck with a job with WZMH, unfortunately. Robert Sampson, who had offered me the job in November '08, was very supportive, and apologetic. He said he might know a few people in some other firms, and that he would check them out for me. Very decent of him, and pretty much what a typical Canadian will do for you. 

A silver lining though: Robert had asked me (previous to meeting him on Friday) if I knew about a program called Revit. It is the next development of Autocad. I had heard of it, but never used it. So I downloaded a demo and learnt as much of it as I could prior to meeting him. Not wasted time as it turns out, because it (Revit)  is already taking off here, and when I rang around to more firms after meeting Robert they all asked me if I used Revit. To which I could now say "yes", instead of "unnnh?". So, handy to have. Damn good program too.

Impressions of Canada, #2: I've met several of Maria's and Jarek's friends, all extremely sound people. I'm not normally paranoid (well, not too much..I think!) but this is creeping me out- everyone is nice? I mean, EVERYONE??  Feels like an episode of The Twilight Zone - something's wrong, because everything looks just too right! I'm not complaining though, hell no.

Looking for apartments at the same time. There are a lot of slightly older towers, 20 storeys and up, but I' m going to stick to 3 priorities:

1. Modern/Brand New
2. Within the Younge/Eglington/Mount Pleasant area (where I am staying right now, with Maria's friends Kyla and Aaron)
   
3. 20 mins max walk to the Subway

This area is quite nice, well connected transit-wise, and ok rents. Think I'll stay :)

Well thats enough for today. Gotta get apartment hunting!

Canada - Asian Radio Rocks

Well, I finally made it.

I don't think it has sunk in yet. Everything is so different that I'm distracted by all the newness, despite seeing it previously, last September.

Impressions of Canada, #1:

Flew over north Ottawa on the final leg of our flight. Landscape looks like hard cold concrete, with flaky white paint (snow/ice) overlaying a bare, dirty surface. About 30 mins later we had descended enough that I realised the dark areas were actually pine forest.

There was a lot of pine forest.

Very nice weather here, cold, dry, sunny, clear. I'm very glad, as this means I'll be able to adapt to the heat of summer as it rises, instead of being dropped into the humid scalding Venus-like temperatures of July+. 

A bit like that story of putting a frog into cold water, then slowly rasing the temperature to boiling...

I'll be heading down to the SWAP centre downtown (SWAP is the Canadian equivalent of USIT) on Thursday to apply for my SIN (ie PPSN) and attend orientation. Until then I'll be emailing firms and landlords, sorting out a phone contract, and cooking for Kyla & Aaron, Maria's friends that I am staying with. They are very sound people. 

I'll post photos once I manage to sort out the phone-laptop connection.

C

(btw the asian radio reference is that I turned on my phones radio and got an earful of some maniacal hyper-energetic Asian DJ in my ear while jogging. I nearly veered into the traffic...)

UPDATE:

Pictures from my phone:

First sight of Canada, somehwere near Montreal. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

This is the street Kyla & Aaron live on.