It is been 3 weeks now that I am in Toronto, it was the time to show you some pictures of this pretty city.
You will find pictures of the city and differents neighborhoods, as Financial district, Queen St West, Toronto islands, Kensington market, The Beaches …
Here is the diaporama (direct link to Picasa’s album) :
It’s almost a week since I moved into my new home and a over 2 weeks that I am in Toronto. I write from my apartment ! And yes I managed to capture a free wifi hotspot for now ! Otherwise, we are still trying to have internet on our own, but it looks quite difficult here …
It has changed a bit since the last article, I made my first days at the patisserie, it’s pretty great, plus there are tips, which can better swallow the pill of $ 9.50 per hour. And the good plan is that I can get some products for free that remind me sweet French tastes ! Otherwise I passed the interview to give French lessons, I already had my training session, and now I am able to start helping Canadian children from next week, with a pay much more attractive this time.
Hoping that this wireless stays like that I would try to post some pictures of Toronto shortly !
I moved last Tuesday in an apartment that I share with 2 Australian and one Hungarian girl ! Everything is going pretty well, I have a bed, desk, a wardrobe and there is everything you need in the apartment. Except Internet! ahah of course … So for now I’ll leech 1 hours/day the wi-fi from my previous hostel hostel just to keep contact with the world. So, actually we’ll try to take the Internet with neighbors to reduce costs.
Well, I finally opened a bank account, I have my Social Insurance Number and had an interview to teach French to Canadian children ! We’ll see the result.
Today is my first day of work in this famous patisserie, I have to start earning money !
That’s it ! I just spent the step of my first week here ! And I must say that everything is going pretty well, as I’ve said earlier, I move tomorrow in a good neighborhood of the city and since yesterday (Sunday), I got a job! I will work as a waiter/seller in a French pastry, so it’s pretty cool, although I will continue my search for a bilingual job. Everything has happened quite quickly and as I had hoped in my inital plan ! I notice that even when it is still less difficult to « do » things here with nothing, just a working holidayvisa for me and I also still don’t have bank account and number of social insurance.
So, I will proceed to the step of roommate live and work, and leave the little cocoon that is the hostel, it is a big step forward. The only black point is the cost of living in Toronto, which is rather high, especially regarding housing, transportation, food and minimum wage (which I’ll get with the 1st job) is rather low. It is $ 9.50, which is about 6 €, and I mean in gross. It will be necessary for me to find a job as supplementary, like teach French, or find another job part-time to live comfortably. We will see in the next few weeks! I would get well !
Well, I discover little by little the town with the discovery of Kensington Market, Toronto Islands, St Lawrence market … I think there are still many things to see here. I’m going to try to see up to this city before winter shows its face !
I have been fairly quiet since my arrival, because I did not have so much time to write here.
2 main objectives: finding a room and start looking for a job ! Besides that, I have begun to explore the city, take care of some paperwork stuff, meet people …
For the job, I finally get to 2 final resume, 1 for small jobs and one for a bilingual job, everything here is different from the French resume so it takes time and you need help/advices from people knowing how it work here. I will begin to give my CV for small job today (Friday) and contiue to work for bilingual jobs.
For the accomodation, it is really fresh, from a few hours! I’ve just found a roommate in downtown of Toronto with cool Australian guys. I am going to speak about it more later, but move in on September 1st ! Normally …
Toronto is a quite expensive city, especially for transport or food but it is a vibrant city with a lot of different neighborhoods. I think there are a lot of opportunities for entertainment, and every people I have met so far are generally cool. Even if I have spoken with English, Brazilian, Australian, French, German in the hostel than with true Canadian!
The rest soon.
Little message to tell you that I am well arrived in Toronto. After a journey quite long but pleasant as Air France offers a good service on board, I arrived after 6000 km across the North Atlantic to the Toronto International Airport around from 13:30 local hour, this makes 19h30 in France (6 hours more). Then, a very laborious transition to Canadian immigration to get my work visa, after that I took the bus to downtown and going quite exhausting (near of 50kg to carry) to the hostel …
The hostel seems really nice and there was a french girl at the reception so it was practical after all this transport, I
give you a most developed opinion within a week. Then, to avoid sleeping and waking in the middle of the night, eat and walk in the city !
It is currently 8pm here, almost 2am in France and is time to go to bed to face a big day of paperwork tomorrow.