Yesterday I was walking, wearing default walking clothes – leggings, walking shoes, t-shirt, you know that stuff – and carrying my backpack. I got thirsty after some kilometers and entered the first place that seemed to sell water – a pub. I had the bad luck to go inside a pub during the Brazil vs North Korea game, but that’s ok.

I went to the counter while some very loud brazilians were cheering like crazy and asked the pub owner for a bottle of water. We had the following dialogue:
- I’d like some water, please?
- Are you from the school?
- What?
- Are you from the school?
- No, I’m too old for school. I’d like some water.
- Are you sure you’re not from the school?
- Thank you sir, but it’s been a looooooooooong time since I left school. But I’m very thirsty and I need some water.
- You look like you’re from the school.

I decided to have some water from the counter, I left a tip for him and told him I was 30 years old. I’m not sure he believed me. When you’re worried about wrinkles appearing on your face and gray hair, isn’t it awesome a random someone (possibly drunk) thinking you’re still a teen? Oh, yeah, there’s a school just across the street, and I’m very short, that’s probably why he asked. But I felt great anyway.

First of all, for all non-torontonians, I have to explain the 905 thing: there’s a slang here, about people who live outside Toronto. They’re called the “905ers” – that’s because 905 is the surrounding cities area code. It’s a pejorative term, and, according to urbandictionary,

Why do 905ers wear all that cheaply made, ill-fitting American shopping-mall clothing?

I found that really funny. I had never been outside Toronto (ok, I arrived at the YYZ – it’s actually in Mississauga, but I wasn’t there long enough)

Then today I had to go to Mississauga/Oakville. It’s a looooooong trip. Nobody gives you the correct information. It’s even worst: I HAD the correct information, but the Mississauga bus driver INSISTED my information was WRONG and made me take off of the bus in the middle of somewhere to take another bus to somewhere else. I suspected he was wrong and waited for the next bus, and confirmed that I was right and continued my journey to Oakville.

On my way back to Toronto, I was COMPLETELY LOST on the middle of nowhere with a McDonalds, and I was supposed to take the same bus on the opposite direction. I don’t know what I did wrong, but I waited, I waited, and the bus never came – only trucks. Lots of trucks. And tuned cars. Ricers.

After waiting for more or less one hour sitting on a $%% STONE, I walked until I found a russian café, whose owner told me where I was supposed to go – another long walk on the road. I finally got on the bus and took a nap until I arrived at the subway. Long ride, long day.

I wouldn’t recommend a newcomer going somewhere like Oakville without a map – preferably a GPS. The city is, hm, different, and people don’t know how to give directions – I thought of São Paulo all the time (never ask a paulista for directions!) – and they REALLY THINK everything there is “very easy”, so, my experience there was really, really awful.

And I even had to lunch at McDonalds.