Searching for the old lover Zhang Baotong 2019.3.2 Toronto trip

3. Exotic

I flew from Xi'an Xianyang International Airport to Toronto on May 10th. The flight took off at 2 p.m. and arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport at 4 p.m. However, the transfer here lasted two or three hours, and it was not until 18:50 that the plane flew directly to Toronto.

The plane was almost all Chinese, and there were very few foreigners. So, sitting on a plane feels like traveling within the country. Next to me sat a middle-aged woman from Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, who told me that her husband was working as an electrical engineer at a company over there, and she was going to visit him. She said she came here a lot, and stayed here for a month in the second half of last year. She told me some impressions of being in Canada, which was "good mountains, good waters, and so lonely". Because there are very few people on the whole street, it is difficult to see a person, and I don't know people, and I don't understand the language. Therefore, she lives with her husband, except for a person who goes out and goes, goes to the supermarket, and stays in the house almost all day, and the TV is all English programs, she can't understand it, and she feels so bored all day long.

She said a lot about what one of my golfers said. My golfer retired and came to Canada with his wife to take care of his daughter's children. He especially likes to play table tennis, and we play together for two or three hours every afternoon. However, when he went to Canada, the people there talked about and played ice hockey, and he didn't see table tennis at all. I finally found a table in a gymnasium, but no one played table tennis. So, he patiently stayed in Toronto for a month and then resolutely left. Later, his wife and daughter called him several times to ask him to come and help, but he would rather stay alone at home in Xi'an than go to Canada again. He said that Canada is a place where you can travel and have fun, but it is really uncomfortable to stay for a long time.

I talked to her for a while, and it was getting dark, and from the window I could see that the moon in the sky was so bright, and the moonlight shone on the wings, making people feel that we were so close to the moon, and there was a feeling of fluttering fairy. After a while, everyone began to sleep. However, when we arrived at the Toronto airport, it was the morning of the 11th Beijing time, and the local time in Toronto was still 19:50 on the evening of the 10th, as if time was going back!

When I got off the plane, I felt like I had come to an alien space, not to mention that the scenery in front of me felt unfamiliar, and even the air was full of strange breath. I followed the middle-aged woman towards the terminal. The air here is cold, and the evening breeze blows slowly, making you shiver. The middle-aged woman said to me, "The temperature in May in Toronto is like the early spring February in our country." ”

I said, "Yes, I was wearing only a shirt when I got on the plane in Xi'an. It's still a little cold in a cardigan. ”

When I got out of the airport, the middle-aged woman took me to the side of the road in front of the terminal, and her husband drove over to pick her up, so she pointed me to the taxi parked there and told me to rent a car. I came to a taxi and was about to talk to the driver in English, because I used to learn English, and although I changed careers, I still have some knowledge of English. However, to my surprise, before I could speak, the driver of the car shouted at me, "Fellow, where are you going?"

As soon as I heard the driver call me a fellow countryman, and it was a Shandong accent, I immediately had a sense of intimacy. I said to him, "I'm going to Markham." As he spoke, he took out a note for him to read. This is the address of her daughter that Ms. Ding wrote down to me. The driver was a Chinese man in his fifties, wearing a denim jacket and half-worn jeans. He took the note and looked at it, and said, "This place is called Fisherman's Village by us Chinese." ”

He opened the door and let me in. All I had with me was a double backpack and a small suitcase, so I didn't have to open the trunk and just put it in the back seat.

It was almost dark, but there were lights on all sides, illuminating the road very brightly. The driver drove the car and asked me, "Come here for tourism or visit relatives?"

I said, "Visit a friend." ”

He asked, "What is he doing here?"

I said, "I don't know, I just met her in China more than 30 years ago, and I haven't been in touch for many years." ”

He asked, "How many days are you going to stay?"

I said, "Maybe three or two days, maybe four or five days." Then I asked him, "How long have you been here?"

He said, "Twelve or thirteen years." ”

I was curious and asked, "Why did you get a taxi?" because I had heard that Chinese people in Canada were almost always engaged in catering, construction, and health care.

He sighed and said, "It's hard to find a job in Canada. I used to be a graduate student in mechanical manufacturing in China, and I thought that after coming to Canada, I could be very useful, but after coming to Canada, I found that people did not recognize diplomas and work experience outside of their home country at all. I had no choice, so I started working in a restaurant for two years, and then I started driving a taxi. ”

When I heard this, I couldn't help but be stunned, and I said, "Then why don't you go back to China? If you have such a diploma in China, you will be a valuable talent." ”

He shook his head and said, "It's not that I didn't want to go back to China, but I can't. How many of the people who went abroad did you see that they had returned to China? Because all those who went abroad had already cut off their retreat from the day they landed. ”

Because of talking, after a while, the car stopped in front of a small hotel. The driver said to me, "This little inn is more affordable, you can stay here." ”

I paid and got out of the car, and there was a street in front of me that wasn't wide. At a glance, the street is the same as an ordinary country town in China, but it is wider and more foreign than the country town in China, and in the night, the town is very quiet, the lights are faint and mysterious.

I walked towards the hotel with my bag and suitcase. The inn is not big, just like the average two-storey residential building. Moreover, the name of the hotel is also written in English and Chinese, called "Warm Home". When I entered the hotel, a Chinese woman in her fifties greeted me with a smile, "Welcome." ”

I looked around the small hall and asked the woman, "How much does it cost for a day?"

She said, "120 yuan." "I did the math, and if 5 yuan is exchanged for 1 Canadian dollar, it is equal to 24 Canadian dollars.

Maybe the woman thinks I'm too expensive, so she immediately says, "You can go somewhere else for 140, and if you're in downtown Toronto, it's at least 180 yuan." ”

I said, "I'll live with you." ”

She took me upstairs to a cabin. The room is about thirteen or fourteen square meters, with a bed, a bathroom, a table and two chairs. However, the house is clean and comfortable.

I asked the woman, "Is there a restaurant nearby?" because I barely ate all day.

The woman looked at her watch and said, "There are restaurants at both ends of the town, but they will leave work at nine o'clock, and you must hurry to get there." ”

At this time, it was already 8:35, and I felt that it might be a little too late, so I said to the woman, "I'm afraid it's too late, or can you help me boil some boiling water, and I'll eat instant noodles." ”

The woman took a small electromagnetic kettle, went into the sanitary indirect water, put it on the electrical socket, turned on the switch, and left. I waited for the water to boil, then took out a bowl of instant noodles from my backpack and ate it in boiling water. After eating, I followed the contact information that Teacher Ding wrote for me and called her daughter.

He immediately asked, "Who are you?"

I said, "Are you Teacher Ding's daughter, Xu Lisha?"

She said, "Yes, who are you?"

I said, "My past colleague and your mother, I came here for a tour, and your mother said let me come and see you." ”

She asked, "Where are you now?"

I said, "I just got off the plane and stayed at the cosy hotel in your town. ”

She said, "Shall I go see you?"

I said, "Is it convenient for you to be so late? If not, you can see you tomorrow, and I'm going to stay here for a few days anyway." ”

She thought for a moment and said, "Why don't I go to your place tomorrow morning at nine o'clock?"

I said, "Okay, I'll wait for you." ”