Toronto: Returning Impressions of a Multicultural City

Yesterday was my second day in Toronto and I got quite a bit accomplished. I woke up refreshed after sleeping a good 7 hours from 2AM to 9AM. The previous 72 hours I had slept a combined 8 hours!
I went downtown to meet up with some of my old Bell Canada co-workers and get a couple of errands done-namely to get my driver's license and public health insurance card renewed.

What a shock to the system when it came to the lack of red tape. I went into both the ministry of health and ministry of transportation offices in the mid-afternoon and there were few lines and the people at the desk were-gasp-helpful and courteous. They even 'looked' busy and were doing their jobs.

Anyone who has dealt with a Chinese bank or any other Chinese bureaucracy at any level-including overseas Chinese embassies and counsulates-will probably have experienced the cold, unhelpful, and uncourteous treatment. I'm shocked when I don't receive this kind of treatment in China actually! In general, restaurant workers and those who work in department stores and malls are very courteous though, not sure why they are trained to be helpful/courteous but not the bureaucratic types..anyone have any ideas why this is?

It was nice to walk downtown in the business district in shorts and t-shirt while everyone else was wearing skirts, shirts and suits. Just a short 2.5 years ago that would have been me! I could never return to that life again, after I've experienced and learned what I know now. God bless those who put up with it..the money was good though but it still wouldn't pull me back into that life.

Riding the subway was a lesson in multiculturalism. I rode the subway every business day from when I was 14-24. In that time, I usually read the newspaper, listened to music or slept. My first ride on the subway since I got back yesterday was an exercise in 'people watching'. I think it was great to see people of so many different ethnic groups and cultures. In Toronto, we have people from everywhere it seems: Greeks, Italians, British, Chinese, Koreans, Indians, Russians, etc. It was a great sight for me and I'm glad that Canada has an open door policy when it comes to immigration. All intentions from the Canadian government seem to point towards easier immigration in the future, not more difficulties for immigrants. I'd vote for that.

If time permits, in the next few weeks I'll try to visit the various ethnic areas around Toronto: Chinatown, Koreatown, Little Italy, Portugal village, Russian, Jewish, Iranian, Indian and Islamic areas to name a few.
How multicultural is Toronto? There is a street in the the Toronto suburb of Thornhill, on Bayview Ave north of Steeles Ave, where a Chinese Buddhist temple, a mosque and Jewish synagogue coexist side by side in harmony. Amazing.