First thoughts

And now, after months of fantasizing about brilliant things I was going to post on this space about Toronto architecture, Canadian culture, about the meaning of whatever I could lay my deconstructive hands on, I find myself completely stumped as to how to begin, or what to write about, or how to describe the experience of the last 72 hours.

Blast.

I'm currently sitting in the rooftop lounge of the Chestnut Residence, the converted luxury hotel that now serves as Toronto's international and "other" dormitory. Back when the building was a home for tourists, this room housed a restaurant featuring a 360 degree panoramic view of the city, made more dramatic by the slow rotation of the entire floor. Nowdays it serves as the space for makeshift ice-cream socials, like the one going on around me as I write this, and as a study space for students who can put aside the massive incongruity between the space's form and function. (Harder than you might think, as I'm discovering writing this post.)

Looking out from up here, it's hard not to spend a good moment thinking about the kind of hubris necessary to put up skyscrapers. Chestnut is a very tall building in a city of very tall buildings, all with comparably novel tricks. Ahead of me, for example, is the CN Tower, for many years the world's tallest free-standing structure and now yet another world landmark surpassed outside the developed world. There's a beautiful light show that they project on it at night, with alternating bands of red and white running up and down the whole length of the structure and circling the saucerlike viewing platform suspended midway to the top. It was surpassed earlier this year by the Burj Dubai, still under construction in the UAE, and will likely be surpassed again once that buildings exact height is announced. Soon it will be just another new world landmark like those possessed by most major cities; something to remember the city by, a reminder of past efforts and a place by which tourists can validate their experience of a place, but no longer a thing adequate to the purpose for which it was built. A monument to the game which has now forgotten it.

Laying negativity aside though, Toronto has been a fascinating place so far. It's definitely the most multi-ethnic place I've ever been. Just getting off the plane at the airport, I heard no fewer than eight languages being spoken, and saw some representative of most of the major ethnic groups of the city. Toronto International itself is like most international airports, huge and built to give the impression of enormous motion and importance; vast spans of steel thrown up at odd angles, blaring apocalyptic voices, well-dressed business people straying anonymously across the tarmac, etc. It made me incredibly nervous and I was glad to escape. I hoped a bus and a subway to Downtown Toronto, where Chestnut is located, and promptly got myself lost for a good hour, eventually arriving home and checking in.

It's probably too soon to be trying to describe this place in too much detail, since I've only wandered around Downtown and I have the feeling there are large and amazing parts of the city I'm neglecting. Still, the sections I've seen feel like a strange combination of San Francisco and Chicago. Lake Ontario shapes the geography of the city much like the Ocean does for SF, with huge highrises dominating the coastline and buisnesses becoming more prominent the further inland you go. There are not a lot of green spaces, sadly, but the feeling is definitely not cramped. There is room to breathe and people will not run you down if you cross the street to early. Their manners are also very friendly, much like the Midwest, though I did see a tiny man on a tiny bicycle screaming "Go to hell Toronto, you're terrible and I hate all of it!" (I muttered "I love you Toronto" after he was out of hearing range. A little premature maybe, but also completely called for.)

Anyhow, I suppose that'll have to do till my next post. Welcome to all the new readers who have hopefully gotten my email or hopped over from facebook. Keep your fingers crossed I don't die once the schoolyear starts.