Monday, 19th of February. Canadiana Backpackers Hostel, Toronto.
The weather was just too good. January was one of the warmest in history, with no snow and lots of sun. It felt more like Spring. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and last week it did, dramatically. A snowstorm blew into town and in the space of 12 hours left 10 inches of snow and mightily cold winds. Toronto, at the moment, looks like a Swiss ski resort and feels like Siberia.
You know it’s really cold when the hair in your nose starts to hurt and your ears feel like porcelain about to crack. Woolly hats and long johns are essential. Not surprisingly it’s difficult to get people to participate in pub crawls, walking tours of Toronto, anything involving the outdoors. So for the last few weeks most of our events have been in-house with movie nights, chess tournaments, and a poker tournament. We did roam outside the hostel to go bowling last week.
Our chess tournament was won by Nilesh (proud winner of a box of chocolates, see picture), the poker by Romain from France, and a group of Dutch students rang rings around everyone at the bowling. The weather might be cold outside but it’s warm and personable inside.
The beginning of the chess tournament.
Brazilian Tiego (left) was the runner up of our chess tournament with Nilesh (from Canada) the winner.
This is the winning team and all are from Holland. Why are the Dutch such good bowlers?
Hey mates, sorry for the tardiness. My? start in Calgary, wasnt as ez as I thought. Aint that easy to find a place, and took a while to find a job as well. Now everything seem to be fine. I met a couple of lads here in Calgary. I found a place and few jobs. Im working @ the Flame\’s dome, as a beer vendor, so if? you\’re watching the Flames game, check in the seats for your friend. Today they play against the Tampa Bay, I think. In april, Ill be off to north, to work as a tree planter, till July, then back to the Canadiana. Hail to everybody, and tell Teresa Im working hard, so hopefully we can get married in this Summer. later folks