Colorless M and her week of pilgrimage

I went to Canada last month. I hadn’t been there for longer than three years since my last brief trip to Montreal, when I was living in NY.

One of my close girl friends was getting married (Helen and I lived together in Malawi), so I decided to combine attending her wedding and visiting some of my other very close friends.

M. FR joined me in Toronto (as he was on his annual back-packing trip in wilderness.)

I have been living in Asia for the past six years working with the UN, and I never had a chance to visit this now a very far but familiar country, which I call my second home.

We spent three nights in Toronto and then made our way along the highway 401 where I took greyhound buses numerous times when I was a student in Guelph. I never lived in Toronto, but here I was able to get re-connected with a friend whom I knew when I was living in Ottawa many years ago. M.FR and I were invited over to their home, and it was just amazing to see her and her partner.

In Montreal, I stayed with my Japanese friend whom I've known since the very first year when I moved to Canada as a student in a French class. She is now a mother of two beautiful boys. We had long catch-up sessions to fill a gap of three years of not seeing each other. 

It was special to show M.FR around the town, which is filled with my sad and happy memories just full of emotions. I pointed out the streets where I used to live and workplace, my school etc. We went to my favorite ice-cream place, ate at a thai food stall in a mall where I frequented, also ate poutine, walked around in Mont Royal and Old Port. It was surreal.  

I happened to walk by a church where the women’s organization where I volunteered was housed when I couldn’t find a job in my field. I just walked in to see if anyone I know was there. There I found my colleague, and I was so happy to see her! It was really this volunteer work that got me a job in Ottawa, and this led to many other following jobs.

I also saw a few other very close friends in Montreal (my French girlfriend and her baby!) Toronto (another friend from Ottawa who now lives in Hamilton. She drove to the airport to see me with her new born daughter) and Ottawa (friend from Guleph), traveling to places and tracing my history in Canada. This was such a special trip. These are friends who knew some of my most difficult time and supported me. So, being able to come see them after many years and introduce M.FR meant a lot for me. It also reminded me again how many friends I have who truly care about me even when we don't see each other for a long time. 

Surely, I wish I had much more time to spend with each of my friends. I got to attend Helen's wedding and also was able to see some of my most important friends. It was busy going from place to place, but I was just so happy that I could go on this trip with M.FR.