SO! I’ve been in Toronto for two weeks now. The initial blush I felt for the city has cooled slightly, however I’m still digging this town.
I’ve been sampling the patios in Kensington. Finding fresh local produce there as well. Cruising the city’s rail littered streets on my shiny red bicycle ( a temporary ride while I’m here, I hooked it up through C-List in the first two days I was here.) Meeting a boat load of fantastic people and enjoying a very different lifestyle from what I’ve been used to out on the west coast.
One of the best aspects of my adventure here it that the team I’m working with is amazing; they are all incredibly motivated, passionate and energetic. It’s invigorating to be around these kinds of people. Strangely it’s something I forget from time to time. The power of being part of a team. Truly, the energy of others is the wind in my sails.
The work I’m doing as part of our pre-departure training is challenging and thought provoking. Every day is an adventure in experimentation, followed by feedback and criticism. This is the goods. Learning hard skills in project management, getting a handle on tools for project development and application. Speaking with people that have really been living and breathing this kind of work. Lots of eager ears for ideas, and more than a few pallets thirsty for a good pint to smooth out the conversation.
Perhaps my best night so far was last week when I caught Elliot Brood at the Phoenix. They opened for Calexico. Both bands were fantastic but Elliot Brood played an amazing show and the vibe was fantastic. Intimate venue, everyone up and moving. I couldn’t help but feel giddy with banjo riffs like their’s vibrating my slightly chilled moosehead (beggars can’t be choosers). The night got even better when on the ride home I fell in love with a gorgeous young women peddling this lovely little blue cruiser. She was resplendent in here summer dress and sandals, her steed, vintage, adorned with a wicker basket, and she had these amazing eyes to match her cruiser. We had a rambling conversation about the east coast, the friendliness of people who are not from Toronto, and the funny moment we let pass us by. I was smitten. I left her at a major intersection close to her destination with my best chivalrous kiss on the hand. At least that’s the way I remember it, anyway.
Non the less this is a fun city and one I’m doing my best to enjoy for the brief time I am here. Two weeks of four already in the bag. Still an unmanagable load of information to wrap my head around and a great deal of stuff to organize before I leave for Malawi. What’s around the corner is still a bit too big for me to comprehend. On the other side of the planet. a place I only know through symbolic statements and lensed images lays a continent I’ve never been to. A year in Africa…
That my friends, deserves an ellipses.
I promise to write more, bu’ tin the mean time I have two presentations to prepare and a three hour facilitation to organize for tomorrow. When I get the chance to look back at my time here, Toronto will be known as the city that never allowed me to sleep.
G’night y’all.
Love Devon
