Montreal is Here

Today, I started a job in my company’s Montreal office. My actual job is not changing very much, but my main client is changing. I have spent a large amount of the last six years working with the Toronto Pearson airport on a variety of studies and tasks. I even spent 3 months seconded there to bridge the time between someone’s promotion and their old position getting filled. Things are changing and I think for the better.

For the last month, since I got my offer, I have been thinking about all the things I have done and seen over my 10 and 2/3 years in Toronto. I first moved to Toronto in May 2007 and had two gaps: 8 months in Calgary and 6 months in Ottawa. So much of the early Toronto experience is in my photo archive and on flickr (set 1 and set 2 until flickr deletes them), and there was a lot going on in Toronto back then. Or maybe it was a new city and that needed to be explored.

Later adventures were often showing someone else around and sharing all the things I’d seen or learned over the years. I really liked playing tour guide because it made Toronto feel like it was my city and I got to reveal the hidden gems. This was even true in all the times when I did not feel like I belonged in Toronto because my friends weren’t around or nobody was interested in the thing I found so cool.

It felt like Toronto had had its moment with me in the end. There will always be things there that will make me feel nostalgic, but even now many of the places and events are no longer how they were when they made me feel like I would never leave. I had been thinking about finding a new place to go for at least eight months out loud to other people and longer just to myself. So while it might seem like a sudden change, it is not that sudden from my perspective. I am lucky that I got the chance to move without needing to start a completely new job in a new place.

All this is to say that I will miss Toronto because it is a beautiful city with seemingly limitless new ways to see all the places that I have walked before or have imagined walking, and there are many people there who made it a great place to live.

Now, the time has come to use my eyes of wonder and curiosity to have new and exciting experiences in Montreal. Et peut-être j’utiliserai tout le français que j’ai appris dans l’immersion.