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Woah!! So a month has flown by! It has been a bit of a joke that I am not leaving here, my intentions were originally to stay a week and a month on, and I'm still here!! But alas, it's time to get my butt in gear and move on and I'm leaving tomorrow for Ottawa!
So I arrived to Marlena and Wyatt's home on the 28th September. Instantly I was welcomed into their home. They live in a lovely home about 10km outside of Guelph which is about an hour and half south west of Toronto.
They are a very laid back couple and after working on the farm this was heaven. I was here to help out with their property, cutting back bush, burning it and generally clearing up the area. I would mainly do this when they were off on holiday or at the weekends when they were home, so I had a lot of time to chill out and do the things I wanted to.
This made a nice place to chill out, most of you think this is a holiday, but on a holiday you have all the money you want to spend on anything you want, you have a nice hotel room to chill out in and someone to spend time with. However with travelling it's hard to know where I will be staying next, if you are feeling a bit rubbish you have nowhere to just hide under the covers for a day and just slob out, it's all go, all the time. But here I had my own apartment which was attached to the house, my own room and space so that I could have some good down time.
So at first I was helping out with Marlena's mum who was recovering from surgery and couldn't walk far, so I would get her breakfast and lunch and keep her company, I even took her to hospital for check-ups, get prescriptions and shopping for when she went home. She was great to talk to, she had travelled around Europe when she was younger and had many tales to tell.
While I stayed here I went to Toronto a few times, I had been passed a number for a guy called Tyler who lived in the city. So each time I went into the city, I would catch the local go train or go bus as driving into Toronto is a nightmare. Tyler would meet me, show me around, go out for dinner and drinks and I would stay the night at his and head back the next day. It was great to have someone from the area to show me around as Toronto is massive!
Wyatt and Marlena took me to an ice hockey game in Guelph which was great fun, lots of beer was consumed and we were right in front of the fighting when it broke out and most of the team ended up in the sin bin. We then proceeded to a bar where more drink was bought and this was the night I ended up sleeping on the kitchen floor in the apartment wrapped in a blanket as the room kept spinning too much!!!
We spent many evenings burning fires in the garden and eating pie irons, a great device for making hot dogs and grilled cheese sandwiches in the fire! I even got to experience smores (not sure how they are spelt). As my friends know, I have an addiction to fire, so this was perfect for me and I need a place with a fire when I get home!!
I also got to experience my first thanks giving here! The US has their in November but Canada's is half way through October and it's a great holiday with friends and family, lots of food and you don't have to worry about the buying of gifts or anything like that, it's a holiday we need back home, I ate my weight in ham, turkey and pie! I then made bubble and squeak the next day for them to try with the leftover food!
Marlena then took me to meet her friend at the nearby gun range where we spent a few hours shooting all sorts of guns, it was brilliant. I need to work on my stance but if the zombie's come, I'm sorted and I was an ace shot with the shot gun. To be honest if there was a zombie apocalypse, I'm coming back to Marlena and Wyatt's place as they are so set up for a takeover!!!
I also went to Niagara Falls, it was about an hour and a half drive from where I am staying. I got lost when getting into Niagara, wondering where on earth the falls where, I turned off my radio and could hear a roaring noise and realised that I was driving near them and just followed the sound. The city of Niagara is the weirdest place, it's like Great Yarmouth with amusements, hotels and tourist traps. There was bus after bus of tourists arriving and leaving all the time and everything was so expensive. The falls however where amazing, such a sight to behold and the sound they make is amazing. I watched the maid of the mist get pounded by the falls and decided to go for the walk under the falls, it was a great experience and I'm so glad I got to see it.
I then headed up north to South River with Marlena and her friends to spend a couple of nights in a cabin beside a lake and out in the country. It was great fun, we drank far too much, lived on pie irons and I experienced by first lot of Canadian snow! So when I arrived here at the beginning of September I was still in shorts and t-shirts getting sun burnt and suddenly over the last 2 weeks it has got wetter and colder. I am not equipped for the cold climate so that's another reason I have decided to move on, I've still got a few more things to see in Canada but I need to head south and follow the heat!!!
So with my time here I have met some amazing people, I have loved it here and would love to come back, I even got proposed to so that I could stay in the country if I wanted to! But still so much to see and do so I need to move on and carry on with my travels. It's been a hard decision as I have it really good here and my flights booked in December have been a great motivating factor to keep me moving!
I want to thank Wyatt and Marlena for their generosity and welcoming me into their home for so long, I've had an awesome time here and I didn't want to leave and will be back in the future to see you, thank you again and I will miss you x x
- comments
Kim Pratt I agree with introducing thanks giving here Marie-Laure! When you're home we'll make it a tradition, sounds great! Keep safe, miss your laugh xxx