Canada – Part 3: Jana experiences her first big vacation in Canada. On Thanksgiving, he and his host family went to Toronto — plenty of time for sightseeing.
Big Thanksgiving is celebrated every year in Canada. It’s a holiday we can compare to Thanksgiving. Many people take a break and don’t need to go to work or school. Because Thanksgiving always falls on a Monday, many people use the holiday to meet friends or family.
host family meeting
That’s exactly what I do with my host family. On the Friday before Thanksgiving, we packed our bags and headed to Toronto. Along with Montreal and Vancouver, Toronto is one of the most famous and largest cities in Canada.
After about five hours by car, we arrive at our host mother’s parents’ home in Richmond Hill, a suburb of Toronto, where we will spend a long weekend with her and my host mother’s brother’s family. Since it is almost “dinner time” when we arrive, only suitcases are unpacked, news is exchanged and then we eat.
Explore the City of Toronto
Saturday starts early because we have big plans. Since my host sister Thai Bibi and I really want to move to downtown Toronto, we get permission from our host parents and parents to explore the city.
Because the family home we live in is not far from the city center, my host parents drive us to the metro station in the morning, where Bibi and I buy day tickets and drive them to the city center.
Sights and Shopping Centers
Once there, we walk up to the famous CN Tower – at 553 meters, the tallest building in Canada and, at long last, the tallest television tower in the world. We pass huge and impressive buildings.
Our host mother gave us some recommendations. Take for example the Skywalk, a bridge about 500 meters long with a glass roof hanging over the street, which we cross. He also recommended an exhibition on music and culture and several shopping centers where we spend several hours.
Family Day at the Amusement Park
And of course we are busy taking pictures of everything we see. As the day approaches, we find a nice little cafe where we stay for a while until we take the subway back to the meeting point, where our host parents pick us up again.
The next day we all go to the nearby amusement park “Canada’s Wonderland”. The amusement park is huge and gets decorated in the autumn. Since we go to the park in the morning when it opens, it is still relatively empty and the waiting time is comparatively less.
Classic Dinner with Turkey & Co.
After all the big attractions are behind us, Bibi and I reunite with the rest of the family at the amusement park’s “Kinderland” where they spent most of the day.
Jana Weber (15, Orr-Erkenswick) is spending her ten-month-old year abroad in Ontario, Canada. There she lives with a host family, is in the tenth grade of a Canadian high school and tries to learn as much as possible about everyday life in Canada. In the landscape, she reports about her time in Ontario.
When we get back to the grandparents’ house, they’ve already prepared the big Thanksgiving dinner. There’s turkey with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and lettuce, glazed carrots, sweet potatoes, pumpkin rolls, and pumpkin and chocolate cake for dessert.
On Monday morning, when we all still have school and work for free, my host family and I say goodbye and make our way back to Cornwall. But I’m pretty sure this won’t be my only trip to Toronto. See you again soon!
