Living Toronto: A view from inside out
During the past ten years
of my life, I have been travelling around the world. To be more specific, I
have lived in Spain, Mexico, France, Cameroon and Brazil. Besides these
countries where I lived for at least 3 months each, I visited many more. Looking
for what? Not sure. Some said love, others a purpose, I just felt like I wanted
a place that felt good, that I could call home, as many life events had removed
the home feeling from my hometown Montreal. Well, as a girl who grew up in
Montreal, I never imagined that the place where I would eventually settle would
be Toronto. THE Big City/Economic Center of Canada Toronto. And yet, that is
the city where it was written that I would spend an undetermined amount of years
of my life. Well, it has been a year since I arrived here now. I have spent a
great deal of time analyzing this city, comparing it to my hometown Montreal,
writing articles about how Montreal is so much better than Toronto. Yet, today
I decided to publish this new article, celebrating Toronto and explaining how
this city has grown on me and how I have come to call it home.
When I first arrived in
Toronto, I was dropped off downtown, right at the foot of the CN tower. Because
it's so big and imposing, it's actually quite fascinating. You can spot it pretty
much from anywhere in town, whether your are nearer to downtown (like my house)
or at the North part of the city (like my work). The most impressive is when
you are actually downtown and you see it reigning over the city, feeling quite
small next to its "grandeur". It's not noble or chic like the Eiffel
Tower, it's just a modern characteristic of the city. Perhaps one day I'll go
inside, when I'll wrap my head around paying 35$ just to go up and down from
it.
Unlike Montreal, Toronto
has its own major NBA team and baseball team. Funny fact, when I was 15
years-old, I developed a peculiar obsession with the Toronto Raptors team,
which started with a giant crush on its then-star player Vince Carter, and
which enfolded in a passion for NBA Basketball in general. It lasted about two
years, during which my family had to endure my occupying the living room for
hours watching NBA games. I even bought a couple of NBA jerseys, the first one
being of course one of the Toronto Raptors #15, none other than Vince Carter’s.
I eventually gave it to my cousin in Cameroon after the fever passed, and now I
must say I wish I had kept it! Who would have imagined that 15 years later, my
first job in Toronto would be downtown, right next to the Air Canada Centre in
front of which I passed every day for 6 months. To this day, I have never gone
inside, unlike my local Bell Center in which I've been at least half a dozen
times to see my favorite artists' shows and once to see the Toronto Maple
Leafs' worse enemies, the Montreal Canadians. I yet have 2 things in my to-do
list: 1-buy a Montreal Canadians t-shirt that I would flaunt around Toronto,
especially during NHL playoffs (I've
always loved to make statements with my clothes, that one is just priceless),
and 2-see a Toronto Raptors games, during which I would absolutely not mind
supporting the Raptors, as they have no Montreal opponents and because of the
history we have together. Here in Toronto, people
walk around very frequently with Raptors, Maple Leafs and Blue Jays gear. I
recently bought my first Raptors sweat shirt, but I haven't worn it yet, as I
hadn't tried it on and it turned out to be much too small. I am looking forward
to getting one my size, though!
When I first arrived in
Toronto, I stayed at the house of my Shalom Catholic Community, the reason why
I am here. I started looking for a place not too far, and by the Providence of
God, I found one a few streets away, in a part of town that is called Corso
Italia. Basically, it's one the places of the city with a high ratio of Italian-descent
population. It is pretty much mixed with what we call Little Portugal, which is
called this way because it's full of – you've guessed it – Portuguese and
Brazilians. It is where our Shalom Center is located. So if you live around
there our near my house, there is a 95% chance that your house is
Portuguese-owned.
After my arrival, as the months and the winter passed by, I started
looking forward to summer, to walk along the quite animated St. Clair Boulevard
and spending long hours in the beautiful park near my house. At some point I got
a new job and was supposed to move up North, but thank God I didn’t. Had I moved,
I wouldn’t have been able to do those things, and to witness some pure and
precious Word Cup Moments, with everyone cheering their country and waving
their flags in the streets. It’s actually at that moment that I realized that
there was more than just Portuguese and Italians in my hood, there are also many
Latinos from different countries. I not only noticed that, but also tasted that
and danced that during the Salsa on St. Clair Festival, in July. And for a Latin
Lover like me, that just multiplies the charm of Corso Italia.
One of the reasons why I
love my neighborhood is because it’s full of churches. I come from
a province that also has lots of them, yet sees them close one after the
other, and watches its priests get older and older. However and perhaps because
of these factors, the Montreal Church is small and united, everyone knows each
other. So I was sort of estranged to see how here, parishes are full on
Sundays, but then, each community stays on their side, there's no mingling between
the parishes. The most “central” event I went to is when St-Francis-Xavier's
relics came to the Cathedral. Everyone came from their respective parishes to
venerate them and the Archbishop celebrated a Mass. The same thing will happen
this week as one parish will receive the relics of Saint Padre Pio.
In the Shalom Catholic
Community, we sort of live this reality, as most of the people we reach are
from Brazil or Portugal. And so, we try to use any occasion we find to get closer
to other churches, other cultural groups. We are rather close to the Catholic Charismatic
Renewal, with which we have a special relationship worldwide, as we are a
Charismatic Community. It is hard though, to get out that "ghetto"
dynamic", especially considering our location right at the heart of Little
Portugal, as well as the important amount of Portuguese and Brazilians arriving
in Toronto every day. Our Youth Group is working hard at it, trying to do our
activities in English, even when most people, including me, speak Portuguese. We
are also about to open a new Prayer Group for beginners in English, hoping to
attract new people from diverse backgrounds. We constantly must remind
ourselves to be more inclusive and speak more English and less Portuguese, which
is not an easy task when we have Brazilian newcomers arriving every day.
One more thing that fascinates
me Church-wise: Catholic Public Schools. Each Parish has a school, that is
openly Catholic. You walk in there and you see statues of Mary, giant rosaries…
something that would never happen in a public school in Quebec! That is
something that I also saw in Brazil, in school that were not even Catholic, and
I was just as mesmerized (in a good way, of course)! Everything is not so pink
though, because whoever says public says government and its laws and
curriculum, which currently isn’t at all aligned with our faith, and well there
is pretty much nothing Catholic School Boards can do about it. The new provincial
Prime Minister is trying to work on that, for the happiness of some and the
dismay of others.
My family
As I mentioned before, the
one reason that brought me here in Toronto has been my missionary calling
within the Shalom Catholic Community. Since I met them in Brazil 3 years
ago now, God had confirmed that this community would be a family for me, and he
has kept His promise. Together, we go through all kinds of trials and
tribulations that come with leaving everything behind, starting over at the
cost of past careers and abandoned goods, being away from our friends and
families... Even though, as I am from Montreal (versus Brazil for most of
them), God has allowed me to live many of the same struggles they have and
still live. But we never walk alone, that's the beauty of it.
Tangerine
Before my current job, I
hadn’t worked in the corporate field for years. I had forgotten what it was
like to work for a big machine, and to be virtually in contact with people working
in other provinces. Well, after trying to find a job in my Translation field
unsuccessfully for some months, God gave me my current job at Tangerine Bank.
It was an instant match: their open, innovative and young business culture and
my personality, non-conformism, will to always do better. We’ve been together
for six months now, which is the longest I have done working full-time for a
corporate company. For how long? As long as they keep being flexible and
opening doors for me as I work my way up! Hopefully I will get to touch my
field at some point.
I have been lucky to find
some friends and family from Montreal here in Toronto. Matter of fact, I was
just with one my oldest friends today, who also chose to live here for a couple
of years. However, since the life here is as fast can be, I don’t get to see
these people as much as I would like to. I still have to work on reaching out
and making quality time for them, which is hard when I barely have some for
myself! But each quality time spent is definitely worth it.
Since I arrived, many terrifying
things have happened in this city: terrorist attacks, mass murders, individual
murders every day the sun sets… I have never been so close to that many
traumatizing events. I have been to the funeral of one of the victims from the Van
Attack on April 23. I met her family, I sang at a vigil for her in our Parish, I
hugged her parents… A friend of mine works right where the attack happened, in
the same building as her… I passed in front of the memorial of the mass shooting
that happened in Danforth during the Danforth Festival, my legs were trembling…
Yet, as much as all of these events should have made me more fed up about this
city, it actually did the opposite: it bonded me with my fellow Torontonians.
We were, we are one now.
To conclude, I don’t know
what God has in store for me or how long I will live here in Toronto. But one
thing is for sure: while I am here I will make the best of it and keep letting
this town, my new hometown (feels so weird every time I say that!), keep
growing on me. Until the day my Quebec Health Card (yep, it’s still my only government
ID) expires and I feel compelled and obligated to get an Ontario ID!
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