Canada Vacation: Dim Sum Experience

Dim Sum is a style of Chineese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food and it usually is brought out in steamers. I don’t normally eat it but I always find it a fun experience for people who have no idea what it is. So during our time in Toronto I made sure Avon, Reagan and Maita had a true Dim Sum experience in China Town Toronto. If you go to a TRUE Dim Sum spot you will most likely get servers who don’t speak English. Thank goodness for Cantonese speaking friends (Jeanette and Ada)! Without them we wouldn’t have had a clue what we were eating.

Having Dim Sum is not like your typical restaurant. There is no set table …the servers just come around while you are seated and literally threw the dishes at you….the table was set for 8 in less than a Minute. To save time for clean up they use a plastic table cloth and just pick up the table cloth as is and put all the dishes in a dish (as if they are un-breakable). How the serving process works is different servers come around you with food on their trolly’s and just shout out what they have (not in English). You then decide if you want to order it and then they just place it on your table and you devour it with chop sticks and all. A lot of our choices were based on presentation. The pork buns and noodles seemed to be the favourite choice. Let the photos below do the talking.

The one minute setting of a table

Our husbands looking so nervous about the experience 

Ronnie and I supper excited with our Chop Sticks

An example of a Dim Sum Serving Tray

The Dim Sum Crew

To end off the experience I thought I would put a snippet of facial expressions of people eating a Tofu dessert which has the most uncomfortable texture:

Yummy Tofu dessert.....I think the best expression is Maita when Reagan was having his turn eating it (she knew exactly how he was going to react ha ha ha)

University of Waterloo Reflections

Entering the UW Student Life Center

On my Dads 58^th birthday we decided to tour the University of Waterloo campus, which is where both my dad and I went to University. I know it may not seem like a big deal to most of you but walking those pathways with my father,  husband and two close university friends really brought a peace to my heart. It was like we were all in our own world of thoughts the past the present and the future.

The general walk though campus was interesting but my emotions hit me when I walked into the Environmental Studies building. As we walked passed old professor’s doors I thought of times when I thought I could never finish a course, assignment or quiz. I thought of the tears I shed as if it was the end of the world. Holly and I stood outside of our advisors door and saw ghost figures of ourselves sitting on the floor waiting for our professors comments and reviews for our thesis. And felt that chilling feeling of “ the never ending thesis.”  But here we were both two grown ladies with husbands a career and the anticipation of starting a family. Wow it just amazed me how life moves on.

If we were feeling these emotions and reflections and we only made it to the masters level, I could only imagine what my father was feeling 30 years after completing his PHD.  It was like he was taking a moment of appreciation of his “birth place.”  A moment o thought for that time before the full blown career, before the wife and children and adventures of adult hood. I couldn’t even fathom what it would feel like 30 years later and walking these corridors with Siam. You really begin to think about the decisions you have made to be where you are today.

The real privilege of being enrolled in such an institution can sometimes hit people later on in life.  Dad said something so interesting “The students here have everything at their finger tips, all they need to do is study and apply.” It seemed so simple but yet I knew when I was there it was not so simple. Gosh thinking about it now makes me realise how we take it all for granted. At times our young hearts and mind get absorbed in things that don’t last. Do the students there know what they have? Do they really know the value of education?  Are they investing in relationships that last or are they holding on to broken ones? 

I remembered the good relationships I made and still have today. It was like this campus created an environment for investment in friendships that would blossom. I think of Guillermo who could hardly speak English when I met him but we somehow managed to communicate. I used to tell him that I was going to Africa to start a family coz I want 10 children. Ironic how the next time he sees me I am almost 8 months pregnant. Then there is Holly who stood by my side through out my masters…..would we have been friends if we hadn’t been in the deep end together? Only God knows. 

Although there were moments of connection I also felt a sense of disconnectedness. There were so many new buildings that looked so IT like. It looked like an episode of transformers in 3D. These buildings didn’t know me…..I used to walk right across the grounds they were built on. It was like going to that home you grew up in all your life and seeing what people have done to the house…..as nice as the changes are there is still a strong part of you that wishes things would have just stayed the same.

Chilling in front of the Environmental Studies Green Wall. Holly, dad, Avon, Me and Guillermo

It really amazes me how life just goes on, people move on and even buildings move on, but deep down some of us just wish it were all so simple just like how we remembered it. Maybe I am an old fashion University of Waterloo Alumni.  or maybe I just grew up. Thank you UW :)!

Caribana Tribute

As it was Caribana WEEEKEND the first weekend of August, I just couldn’t resist writing a reminiscing blog about my experiences at such a festival. For those of you who are not familiar with Caribana it is the Caribean festival of Toronto and it only happens once a year. It is MASSIVE it is HUGE. All the hotels are booked out and everyone with a sense of adventure and the spirit of fun flocks to Caribana. It is officially Toronto’s biggest money making weekend.

Now I got introduced to Caribana in my first year of living in Canada, which is thanks to my wonderful friend Camille, who I had met during frosh week. Camille and I always laugh at how we met because we were the only black girls in the Environmental Studies department….Now remember there is no such thing as coloreds that side of the world, I was light skinned black, maybe Milado also known as 0.5s (Half breeds). It would have been strange if we didn’t talk or befriend each other….COZ we both knew we were the minority in the department…. and it was hard not to spot one another out from the crowd. I remember staring at her and wondering ….which part of Africa could she be from. Her features were very unique her face was round and her body wasn’t typical African. …well the African I knew. ..which was small waist and large hips. Anyways it turned out that Camille was from no where even near Africa, but came from Trinidad an island in the Caribbean, which I had never heard of (at that point in my life)….but ended up learning so much about culture.
Camille was the seed planter of my wannabe Caribbean persona. She introduced me to Soca music and got me loving slow reggae. It was like a culture I had never heard of that played music with a rhythm that moved much faster than Kwasa-Kwasa. When she invited me to Caribana I could not say NO. Even though I was warned about how bad such a carnival parade was. People had been shot in past years. But my thought was what is the worst that can happen to us because we were a group of over 15 girls. Plus my new sense of adventure to experience such a parade was burning deep inside me.
Camille introduced me to a whole other range of friendships with these 15 girls. I called them my Caribana Girls! These were all Camille’s sisters friends. Almost Every year they would meet up strictly to celebrate Caribana. The friendships didn’t run deep but we knew enough about each other to enjoy each others company. Together we were such a mix of girls with different looks and personalities. There was Daniel (Camille’s sister) who was daring and loud with these captivating eyes, to Layel who was Persian sweet tall and slender with long flowing locks, Nancy who was from Egypt short with curly hair that could look like an afro if she wanted it, to Ruth chocolate skin colour with a wonderful smile. That was just to name a few…but you get the gist of the group.. I was always the rookie …the newbe girl. Although most of you know me as being pretty loud….with these girls I wasn’t much. I remember Camille telling me that the girls were worried about her brining me…. Thinking what if she doesn’t like to dance…party pooper or a complainer. Mainly because this type of a weekend wasn’t the time to be stuck up.

So our typical Caribana weekend would involve all of us 15 girls sleeping in 2-3 hotel rooms. The plan was you were not going to be doing much sleeping. I would feel bad for any person that stayed next door to us because our rooms were always up late and full of music. Friday nights involved walking down Young Street. That was all that needed to be happening. Anyone who was anyone would be walking down this long street…..just walking and checking people out …or being checked out. That was it. We always had a theme for our group…Friday nights would be White T shirts and Jeans. During the parade would be a costume or colour theme.
It may have sounded childish (dressing the same) but it actually felt really good when you are all dressed in one colour. … It would be harder to loose someone and you always felt part of a family. It was always funny when guys would shout in an attempt to get our attention “yo yo, girls in pink” …and no one would turn…then they would try to pick out some feature “yo, you Alicia keys...” which would be any girl in the pink with the Alicia keys hair style. But none one would ever be interested.. It was like an unsaid rule that this was a girls weekend not a Pick up boys weekend. We would probably tease guys every now and again…sometimes it would be actually funny coz some of the girls would actually embarrass guys. I guess coz the harassment that would go on would actually be irritating.

The Parade its self is CRAZY Hot. It is full of loud music and millions of colourful costumes and masks. What I love most is that generally everyone is out to have a good time. The weather would be at its best during this weekend and in Canada when it is even the slightest bit warm you are bound to see lots of skin. Its like you might as well go extreme because it only happens a few days of the year. Even I have the shortest of shorts…just doesn’t feel right wearing them this side of the world. I look back at some of my pictures and think Wow how in the world did I wear that with out feeling revealing. But because everyone is dressed up it doesn’t feel revealing… My first caribana I probably had the most covered but it got less and less as the years went by. By 2008 I was actually in a Caribana costume. Wearing that costume made me feel as if I was born in Trinidad. I would even pretend like I was from there… but my accent was useless.