Niagara

OK, before I get to the details about our cool day trip, I'm gonna bitch about something. Today I learnt something: who I can and cannot trust while I'm overseas. Last week you may recall I had problems with my email and as a result I couldn't get in touch with my Mum. I had asked someone we knew if she could pass on a message and tell my Mum to check her email coz there were a few urgent messages I wanted her to get. This friend calls and passes the message on, but goes on to tell Mum she wasn't happy that she was playing messenger and asked that I not send her anymore emails. WHAT THE FUCK??? She is a fucked up freak. What I sent was urgent - I don't have access to a phone so I couldn't call Mum and the email was screwing up on me and all I asked was if she could let Mum know to check her email, I didn't ask for a kidney. I regarded this person as family but after pulling a stupid stunt like this, I had decided to send her an email basically telling her to fuck off. It took all of my being to get me to stop and to think about it rationally for a second. I was ready to send off that email to her, but then thought she was just going to cause more trouble for Mum who is innocent in all of this. I decided to send an email to my Mum instead letting her know that I was going to tell this bitch off (after getting back from Niagara). When I got back I was ready to send it, but Mum got back to me and told me not to. So I am begrudgingly keeping quiet because I know the psycho will make my Mum pay. She's always saying that she is upfront, but if she can't speak to me about this then she is just a fucking idiot. I am cutting her loose and no longer want to have anything to do with her. I told my Mum that I would like her to do the same, but Mum will probably keep seeing the freak. I just won't be kind to her - after everything that my family has done for her she takes offence at calling my Mum to pass on a simple message. I have zero tolerance for people who involve my Mum in ridiculous issues like this. So here's a lesson for you out there - mess with me and you're screwed anyway - but if you mess with my Mum in any bullshit like this, you'll have me to deal with. (Can you tell that I am protective of my Mum? Ask O!)

I've been wanting to get that out of my system all day. So now I can move on! We left just after 8 to go to Niagara On The Lake. At the halfway mark we stopped at a good ol' trucker's diner with a 24 hour buffet. I hadn't eaten any breakfast and wanted to have something, but just seeing the buffet made me sick (the sight of the eggs and bacon was enough to block anyone's arteries) and I wisely didn't want to have anything except tea. (Honestly though I was still cut at the bitch and was just thinking about sending that email to her). I ended up drinking 4 cups of tea in one sitting.

Niagara On The Lake is a small historic town just before you get to the falls and has become a touristy area. It's like Williamstown, but with more history. There were some cool bakeries and food specialty shops (the amount of candy apples and the variations to them - normal ones, chocolate coated ones with smarties, rocky road candy apples, etc - were phenomenal - and I think that's a typo!) even an ice-creamery called "Cows" where they sold cool merchandise all to do with cows and filled with all the parodies they could fit with the word cows (iCud, Mootown Music, Hello Cowie. Had to be seen to be believed - it was HILARIOUS!) Dawn and I posed for stupidly funny shots (I'll upload them another day) and it turned out to be lots of fun.

We were about to return home, but it was still quite early, so we made a detour and headed for Niagara Falls! Something I wasn't expecting but was glad to be prepared for. I didn't realise the Falls were at the US/Canadian border (Italian was my strongest subject at school, not geography!) and everybody kept pointing and saying, "See over the bridge - that's the US!" We were driving and went past the US falls first. I thought they were so impressive. Drive a minute further and you get to the Canadian falls - the better of the 2 (even though I was quite chuffed with the American ones!) There was so much mist and fog covering the Canadian falls. The American one just didn't compare to the Canadian ones. It was quite cold - glove-worthy weather - but there were still so many people there all rugged up and all on the Canadian side trying to get the postcard-perfect shot. The cascades were truly remarkable. We went walking up and down to stake out the perfect spot for pictures. In Winter time, they shine lights on the Falls so they lighten up in the dark. We will be returning for an overnight stay to see them. I also want to go down to the bottom of the falls for a closer look, where there has been a lookout built to take a closer look at the Falls. All for next time though! I have a feeling that will be something I will be doing on my own, as the others suffer from claustrophobia. I'm up for it! After a little while - and after we got our shots we made our way back to Oshawa - 2 and a half hours by car.

A few things I've been having trouble with during my stay:
1: The prices of things. I had my little rant yesterday that I was only going to buy things if the tax was included in the cost. Today I got a $2 deal on chocolate and I only bought it because I saw my 2 favourite words here in Canada: "Tax Included"!
2: North American 'family restaurants'. The menus are huge. Too many things to choose from - and none or very few healthy options. We didn't feel like making dinner, so we popped by "Teddy's", a restaurant that has a 20 minute wait for a table - on a good day. I just wanted something with white meat. It was just the fish they had but it was fried and I knew my stomach wouldn't have been able to handle it. Even the salads had big chunks of red meat and other shit. It seems to be a common theme in all restaurants. I really do miss my Lygon Street (The Italian restaurant district in Melbourne, also known as Little Italy) or just any place where I can get fresh food. I struggled and just pointed and got the healthiest thing there, which was an open mushroom burger with a big chunk of beef, a side of mushroom gravy and 2 onion rings on top. Needless to say I was not impressed and just ate the mushrooms dipped in the gravy and had half of the sandwich. Usually I like to leave room for dessert but the servings are so huge I just don't want to have them. But I spied on some other tables and saw they had huge portions of dessert. We have been going out a lot for dinner and I'm just going for the tea. Actually being here makes me understand the obesity epidemic a little bit more. Yes you hear about it but actually going into restaurants, seeing all the portion sizes and the very limited healthy options (There aren't even any vegetarian options in the menu, my failsafe if I can't choose anything is to go straight for the vegetarian dishes), watching TV and just seeing all the commercials for the fast food chains (and not just the usual Maccas and KFC, but other chains that are exclusive to North American and Canadian shores), it really brings it home as to why there is such a problem with obesity, non insulin dependent diabetes and heart diseases. It's gotten to the point where I just want to stay home and cook coz at least I know what I'm putting in my meals. And I'm the only one here who has a green salad with every home-made meal (It's the wog in me and I wouldn't change it for anything) I just cannot wait to get to South America and Europe for a decent feed!

Down comes Andy from her soapbox! We all got home and retired to the telly and computer. I watched The Amazing Race and was happy that the blonde bimbos got booted off.

I have been doing stuff almost everyday since I arrived and tomorrow I'm on my own for a bit. I'm wanting to cook dinner for everyone but it's hard to accommodate people. I'm going to have a green salad with tuna and beans for me, possibly a macaroni tuna thing for Dave - and something for Judy...haven't figured it out yet. It'll be good to take it easy for a bit. I've decided to fly over to Chicago and get a bus to Madison as it still works out to be a pretty cheap deal - even with Air Canada - which is known to be the more expensive of the airlines. So very happy :)

Am going to go to bed and sleep in! Although I did sleep 9 and a half hours last night. I'll be hoping for more now! Thanks for letting me rant, it has made a world of difference. See ya later :)