Adjusting to Big City Life

I forgot how big and diverse the city of Toronto can be. And, because I've lived in smaller cities for most of the past seven years, I feel like a country bumpkin. Here are a few things I've noticed in the past few days ...

Apartment etiquette

If you are in an apartment lobby and you are trying to get into the apartment, ideally, you should have the main door key. If not, is it expected that a person in the apartment lobby should open the door for you (even if the person does not live in the apartment)? Well, this scenario popped up twice in the place I will be moving into in November. Personally, I think no one should open the door for another person unless they know they live in the apartment. There are cases when people have come in when they don't live there ... and that person could be looking for something to steal. My sister's condo had signs up about a person caught on camera ... as an intruder who broke in and entered into one of the apartments. Anyhow, these two people who thought I should have let them into the apartment were incredibly and needlessly rude when I didn't let them in. Maybe I had an invisible sign on my head that read "doorperson" or something. Please slap me if I ever get that rude!

Crazy Traffic Toronto

As part of the family vacation, usually I end up being the navigator (by default). This can be quite stressful - especially when the driver doesn't quite hear the directions correctly. For example, I instructed my father to drive past Sheppard and then he would find the 401 West exit. Instead, he turned right onto Sheppard. Sigh. Anyhow, we usually didn't get too lost ... we didn't end up in some strange state! It was advantageous to be the navigator as I was exposed to the street names. Hence, when looking for places to live, I recognized some of the streets and realized I wouldn't want to live that far out in the boonies (i.e. Kingston and Meadowvale ... which is located nearly in Scarborough!)

Cheap Outlet Shopping Malls

I don't mind this part of living in bigger cities. However, it is still a trek to get to these outlet malls. The one my parents and I went to today was ... still pretty far out there. However, I scored a couple of good deals: a jacket for $15 (normally $60) and a cute bag for $3 (normally $30) for my sister.

I must admit, there are some really friendly people here in Toronto too, thankfully. So, I guess things balance out in some weird way. It's kinda strange moving back to Toronto because, although I did used to live here four years, that was seven years ago. So much has changed. But I guess it's better than starting from scratch.