Weekend

I went to the Algonquin park this weekend. It is a really large park and I realized that the US has a lot more protected areas than Canada. We only protect like 7% of the country compared to like 25% in the US. Canada is such a bitch sometimes. This park was awesome though with lots of trees, rocks and lakes. True Canadian wildlife at its best. I even saw two moose. I went there with the Chinese student association of the University of Toronto. It was a bit odd because I was the only non-Chinese in the group of like 160 people. It is a bit odd how cut off from Canadian reality a lot of these students are. At the same time they are not quite your typical Chinese in the way that they are living in Canada. I think it was my first time really getting out of the city since I came back to Canada a month ago. The outdoors in this country is really similar everywhere you go and a lot of it reminded me of my youth. at the same time it is odd to rediscover your country with a group of foreigners. I think they have a different view of things. It is mostly focused on taking a lot of pictures. But that might have something to do with the nature of the trip. One day, a bus over a hundred people, 20 minute break everywhere we go, shoot a picture, go go go.

I had a good moment of epiphany sitting next to a lake with hundred of Chinese kids taking picture of each other. It was getting cold outside, this being October and all. I was looking at the sun and realized that it was cold because we are a tiny rock in the universe, and if the sun doesn't heat us enough we get cold. I felt small and I think that is good for me. It puts things in perspective. I am worthless, work hard, be strong, enjoy what you have. Is this a Chinese view of the world? Probably not.

Today I had a strange encounter on my way to school. I cut off a pedestrian on my bike by cutting a red light. I didn't think too much about it. Then this car drives next to me and he's like "hey why don't you respect the law, you almost hit that pedestrian" and I was like " no man, I just cut him off". Then he was like "bullshit!" and he drove off. I kind of respect that guy, and I guess he was right. I kept on biking and I was thinking about these cool answers I could have given him like "why are you driving your SUV? Cuse you are selfish and so am I, start biking and I'll respect the law" or "because I have a strange sense of entitlement about not being from Toronto. By burning the reds I am establishing my identity as an outsider". Anyway, I guess I will be more careful from now on. People in Toronto really respect the rules. As they say in China 入乡随俗 (enter the village, follow the rules) when in Rome do as the Romans do. Toronto is no Rome though... 
 

Biking

I was biking today and I saw the most intense thing. This guy passed me going crack cocaine fast. Crack cocaine fast is a demonic dangerous speed as opposed to just normal bike messenger or racer fast, the crack cocaine fast biker will tend to have a bad bike and horrible biking technique, his speed also seems to be unsustainable over a long period of time. So this guy passes me by and after like 5 seconds he slipped on the tramway rail and fell right on his side. His head sort of hit this car that was parked next to us. I immediately stopped to ask if everything was alright. He got up really fast and looking at me was like "Yeah, that was really intense. WOOH! That's a lot of adrenaline! YEAH!". He then jumped right back on to his bike and started going super fast again. I think after a while he realized he was hurt because I saw him get off his bike. Maybe he just arrived where he was going. It was really intense.

For a while Toronto was making me feel inadequate. I think it had to do with Rob Ford. He is this mayoral candidate that is leading the electoral race. I saw a video of him online where he was saying that bikes shouldn't be on the roads because roads are built to accommodate trucks, buses and cars. I was pretty insulted and I was seeing him everywhere. I thought that Toronto drivers were really rude to bikes and hated bikers because they wanted to vote for him. I think now I am feeling a bit better about it. I am getting used to the traffic here and I seem to get in a bit less trouble with the cars. I still jaybike a bit to much though. Them Torontonians don't even walk on the red, noneless bike.

I have been interacting with the city on my bike. Slowly discovering. It is nice and my superior speed and versatility make me feel superior to cars and pedestrians. I hope I won't have to walk this winter.