Renata

According to the Groundhog, winter was supposed to be shorter this year, and I almost believed it because last Friday was 10 C and sunny outside, I even went for a bike ride, despite the heavy winds. Silly me, today I woke up to minus something and snow showers again.

I have some nice pictures of the so called Snowpocalypse, and the days after. And me properly dressed for cold days, for your pleasure, the day we moved to our new home under HEAVY HEAVY SNOW SHOWERS.

We moved during a snowstorm. But the boxes arrived safe!

It’s cold, but it’s beautiful.

I have a new house. I have a new job. I have a new year. I’m also experiencing real winter for the first time, and, to be pretty honest, it’s not that bad. You just become a bit lazy because you have to wear all these layers, like Photoshop, and snow boots, but you kind of get used to it.

You might have seen me complaining about crazy snow showers and the cold, but to be even more honest, I think it’s cute and I like to go out in the snow and I become sort of disappointed when the showers end. Like “meh, it’s not snowing anymore”. I can hear in my head the Waltz of The Snowflakes (yeah, I went to the Four Seasons to see the Nutcracker and cried like a baby) during a heavy snowfall.

Of course, I’m in Toronto and the cold here is not THAT cold and the snowfall here is not that heavy. I’d probably be utterly bored and horrified if I were living in Yellowknife.

Oh yeah, you might be curious about the new place. When we moved here, we didn’t have jobs or anything, so we moved to a junior one bedroom. Now that things are going well, we decided to move to a big fat 2 bedroom. Because, you, know, we need space.

(Note: the title is a quote from the amazing movie “Les poupées russes“, the sequel to “L’Auberge Espagnole“. You should watch them. Really. )

When I arrived here, six months ago, I thought my accent was really bad and people would recognize me as a brazilian instantly. Silly me. Toronto is full of immigrants from everywhere in the world and people have no idea where I come from. And it seems my accent is not as bad as the tiger from Creature Comforts, or at least I look, I don’t know, more european, because people try to guess I’m from the craziest countries, but never, ever, from Brazil.

At first I was unemployed and bored, so I decided to take some English classes. The teacher, a polish lady, asked me a few questions, asked my name, and came to the obvious conclusion I was also from Poland, and thought I was kidding when I said I came from the warm south american paradise. Another eastern-european moment happened at Starbucks, when the barista for some reason decided I was a fellow russian and even tried to speak russian to me.

I have also been mistaken for italian (well, at least I’m half-italian) in Little Italy, and, the most common one, I’d say it happens almost all the times, for some weird mystic reason, people here believe I’M FRENCH. MAIS OUI. Mon Français est horrible and even thought people just say “but you’re French, right?” at least two times per week. I’m going to change my name to Renée De La Roche, buy a black hat and a red scarf, a baguette and make a sad face, and claim my Frenchness. Parce que j’aime omelette du fromage!

After my test week with the N900, I was pretty sure that I just needed a basic smartphone able to do Google Sync. I’m a dirty cheap bastard, and I don’t like long-term commitments with carriers, so I decided to buy the HTC Snap. It’s Windows Mobile 6.5 based with qwerty keyboard and it works on the 100% unlimited plan from Mobilicity.

This phone surprised me in a very good way. I was expecting the worse from a Windows-based phone, and the interface is very good, the connection with Google works wonders, everything is very intuitive and easy to do. Doesn’t look like a Windows OS at all :)

The downside is the AWFUL Windows Marketplace: the apps are expensive and, yeah, totally uninteresting. I just gave up on trying to find apps after a while, don’t even bother.

Guilty pleasure: playing Solitaire on the subway. Gotta love this!

I was happy with the phone, just having problems with Mobilicity coverage. THEN SOMETHING HAPPENED: exactly one month after I bought the toy, I fell asleep on the Trinity-Bellwoods Park and had my purse stolen – yep, with the phone. Is it strange to say that I miss my Windows Phone? Microsoft has done something that I like and I’m not afraid to admit it.

I spent more than a week deciding wether I should buy an Android, like Fabio’s, or use some old phone on a prepaid carrier. After being stolen, the cheapest solution seemed wiser and I’m just a crappy prepaid phone owner now.

I’ve used a bike to commute before, and after summer arrived in
Toronto, I couldn’t resist and got another one. It’s the worst bike
I’ve ever had, heavier than me, without any kind of comfort like “OMG
SHIMANO PARTS” and “AWESOME BRAKES”, but does the job of taking me
home to wherever I need.

So, what’s the problem? Good bikes are expensive. Awesome bikes are
inacessible. The day I arrived home, I shared the elevator with a guy
with his Cervélo. Now, THAT’S A FUCKING BIKE. I felt humiliated. The
guy could lift it with one hand – probably it’s ridiculously light.
And it’s oh so beautiful!

But I have a plan: I’ll save money until my birthday. If I keep
improving my rides with the crappy bike, I’ll buy a very nice bike to
ride more professionally. By that time I’ll probably be able to choose
more wisely and give it some maintenance myself – at least I hope so.