Toronto Startup Open House

This Thursday I checked out the Toronto Startup Open house. 

For one day the Startups of Toronto open their doors and average Joe's can come in and see how they work and play. 

I must say it was a great event for networking,  information and just general fun. 

I checked out a couple of startups from Shopify,  Brainstation,  Hurrier,  Orchad and more. 

The best part of the event was just seeing the start up culture. Start Ups are particularly interesting to me at this point of my life because I am interested in technology and entrepreneurs.  It seems at there events every other person is trying to start a company or has a company of their own. 

In fact I met Sandra who is doing airbnb like me and has 5 properties so far.  She also was in France last year.  It seems like we have the same life. 

Peace from Toronto. 

Justin the Couchsufer and Performing @ The Comedy Corner

So one of my apartment is open for 3 days so I decided to live downtown for the moment.

I got a message from Justin a French traveler who has been train hopping. I gladly opened up my home to him and his stories. He has been traveling everywhere and just train hopped from Montreal to Toronto yesterday.

Apparently he was sleeping on an open cart which carried lumber and it was freezing in the night. 9 hours of train traveling on the cold metal floor is definitely something to tell your kids about one day. I really admired his sense of adventure and if I didn't have my airbnb there is no doubt in my mind I would join him for the next leg of his trip.

Anyways after Justin showed up we chatted for a bit before heading out of the Comedy Corner. There was an Open Mic and I signed up to do a 10 minute set. It was really a slug fest and not in any good sense. All the comics sucked, myself included. But the good thing about my set is my delivery is getting better than previously so I am happy about that. I tried out some new material, stole a bit from another comic from Korea and told some personal travel stories. I need more practice to get better.

My Set:
https://goo.gl/photos/SHLdE9m1ZWEhcRp6A

After my set I took Justin around the downtown core area and saw some new things myself. The Toronto sign by Nathan Phillips Square is really cool at night.

Today Justin is going to Niagara falls and when he comes back we will go to a language exchange together.

Peace from Toronto.

Toronto Startup Job Fair Volunteer

This pas Friday I volunteered for the Toronto Startup Job Fair.

Originally I saw the event on my facebook by accident. I think google kept track of what I was searching and recommended this event based on that. Anyways it looked interesting so I decided to check it out.

Unfortunately it costed $5. And me being the cheap person I am decided to volunteer instead and go to the event for free. It was a good thing I did because my experience was better because of it.

I met many other volunteers and really got to network.

Prior to the event starting I talked to a bunch of startups and had a head start. I had great chats with reps from Hurrier (a company that dispatches bike courriers to deliver food), SkyPrep (Learning management system), Textbooks4Change (social enterprise that donates books to Africa), SparkGig (a kind of airbnb for the corporate entertainment bookings).

The two most solid leads were Hurrier and SparkGig. So Hurrier I actually already knew about since I worked for them part time as a bike delivery courier while doing airbnb at the same time. It looks like they are hiring bi-lingual support staff for the office since they have been expanding their operations to Montreal and Vancouver. But I was more interested in becoming the Growth Associate who hires new courriers and trains them in the app and system. Anyways I sent Shalaka an email and am waiting to hear back from her.

SparkGig was the last booth I stopped by just as we were cleaning up. After chatting a bit with Alex and hearing him explain to me the business, I mentioned it sounds kind of like airbnb. This sparked a conversation about my current foray in airbnb. It turns out that Alex did that before in the past and he had over 20 properties. So I grabbed his info. After shooting off some emails we tentatively agreed to meet after Halloween. I am really excited to hear about what he has to say and his past experiences in this area.

Overall this was a great event and I am really glad I went out and volunteered. Airbnb has been slowing down recently and if I do find a job in the downtown core I could keep an apartment for airbnb and live in the other one.

Peace from Toronto.

First time getting on Yuk Yuks

This past Tuesday I performed standup comedy at Yuk Yuks. I was fortunate I got a spot as there are so many people trying to perform.

I also got to meet some of the other fellow comedians and now have a much bigger list of venues to hit up for amateur nights. Turns out Toronto has a big standup comedy scene!

As for my performance, delivery was better than before, I tried new material and it didn't bomb so I am pretty happy. 

https://goo.gl/photos/gxoprtRUX6nPK2C37

Peace from Toronto.

New goals to get off my lazy butt

After skyping my friend Adam currently in Korea I have some things I have to do each week they are as follows:

Every week schedule a 10,000 coffee date
Every week go to a 10,000 coffee date
1) schedule for an upcoming time
2) go to a coffee "date"
3) find and fully note down on an excel sheet program (fellowship, government funded program, internship, etc)
4) cold calling an opportunity directly via E-mail (and improving your skill at doing this in order to get a reply each time)

Peace from Toronto.

Toronto Update

I have been back now in Toronto for 5 days now! Wow it doesn't even feel like that long until I counted it today.

The journey back was smooth enough. I snuck in my big carry on backpack thus avoiding the baggage fee at the airport. I had taken a night bus from Strasbourg to Amsterdam and there caught a direct plane back to Toronto.

Since I got back I have been busy helping my parents move. In fact I arrived on the 1st of July and we moved into a new house on the 2nd of July. It has definitely been very stressful and hectic. The movers took 10 hours to move everything and then it took us until now to get some resemblance of a home. Prior there was stuff everywhere and packed away in boxes in the garage.

I also did some quick research in the housing market in Toronto now during my spare time and the prices are through the roof because of the Pan Am games. I have to do more research but start up the project soon to take advantage of this opportunity. This will be next up in my list of things to do once the move is complete.

My dad with the new house appliances in our kitchen which has finally been fitted. Except the fridge which is coming next week. 

Peace from Toronto.

Strasbourg encore and dance party!

I arrived in Strasbourg yesterday around 1pm.

I saw Michel and Veronique again and it was great. They invited me to a friend's party with "old people" as they called it. I had a great time there and had some really great food! The party guests were really interesting but the best part was the dance floor, the house DJ one of the party guests put on everything from Stromae to Michael Jackson. It was great just dancing around.

I have about 2 more days here before heading to Amsterdam and my plane back to Canada. Tomorrow I got a full day going around to the bank and closing my various accounts and tying up loose ends.

I wish I took more pictures but I was too busy dancing or enjoying the food haha. 

Peace from Strasbourg.

Bike Trip Summary

I am officially done my bike trip now. Here are some quick facts about my trip.

Total days of trip: May 20-June 27th (38 days/ about 6 weeks)
Total days traveling on bicycle: 16 days
Total distance traveled: ~800KM
Total time on bike: ~60 hours

Total cost including everything and I mean everything!: 839.96 Euros = 22 Euros / day

What I learned

The best size city for me is about 100 - 500 000 people. When it gets bigger than that it becomes too touristic and hectic. Every destination has its own charms and wonders but for me big cities like Marseilles and Barcelona really are not my cup of tea. Meanwhile small places like Toulons, Argles sur mur and Girona were amazing (just to name a few)!

It is not about the destination but the journey. Originally I planned to go all the way to Portugal but plans quickly changed as I was staying more than 1 day in each place and exploring it with my various friends and couchsurfers.

Sometimes its better to spend some extra money for a hostel when I want to socialize with people. Couchsurfing is great for meeting the locals but sometimes I just want to go out and party with travelers and I should have done that especially in Barcelona when I had 1 week to spend there. Plus it would have turned out to be more economical as with a hostel staying for a long time I could buy some really cheap groceries instead of eating out with the CS hosts.

I really enjoy touring around on my own bicycle. But as with everything everything in moderation and I really enjoyed spending time with others as well to recharge after the long stretches of solitude. 

Touring around with Katerina I learned if I were to do this with others there needs to be ground rules about who is navigating and no second guessing, otherwise it becomes a long process and a headache. 

What I did well. 

The preparation and patience. Sometimes my roads turned into gravel and instead of marching on anyways I took the time to look for other routes or simply walked. This saved me the trouble of repairing flats and my bike held up for the whole trip without the need for massive repairs.

Buying a small gift for the couchsurfers. I think this is just common sense, but I haven't been doing this prior to this trip with couchsurfing and I think it makes a big difference coming into someone elses' home with nothing in hand. It just makes a good first impression. I usually show up with a bottle of wine in hand now :D

Budgeting. I budgetted 30 Euros / day and spent way under that. In fact my last stop I kind of went overboard and spent a lot if not I would have probably stayed 10 Euro/day or something like that.

What I could improve on for next time. 

Carry less weight. I didn't think I carried a lot of weight this time. But I definitely could have shed some kgs. The extra pairs of T-shirts, pants and overall was not needed. It really adds up when the kms add up. Listen up for the next trip this is all you need:

5 pairs of underwear and socks, sandals, various tools for bike, electronics, one set of going out clothing, one set of lounging clothing, bike clothes, sun glasses, sun block, toiletries, bungee cord
Take out: bike lights, extra clothing

Plan to stay a maximum of 3 days in cities even big cities. It is better to be traveling on the bike then play the role of the tourist and see everything there is.

One of the most relaxing and fun days in Toulon on my CS's boat

Peace from Toronto.

Barcelona for one week

I was in Barcelona for one week. I have mixed feelings about the city.

On the one hand I met some amazing people like Karime and Sam my first couchsurfers. On the other hand it was really really touristic and big. Stopping in such a big place for such a long time for this trip was a bad idea in my opinion.

After Karime and Sam I checked into a hostel and relaxed there for two days. Then I met up with my next couchsurfer Marco and his sister Mariana. They are both working in the hotel industry. Marco is such a nice host, I stayed with him for 4 nights and he even drove me to the airport in the morning of my flight at 4am.

I also got to enjoy some local culture with Marco. He took me to Mondric to go rock climbing and introduced me to all his friends as we went out for tapas.

The last two days I spent at the beach by myself and read. The water was perfect and crystal clear. The only thing detracting from the whole experience is the amount of people at the beach.

I also met up with Hsing my friend who can speak 24 languages on my last night in Barcelona. He is in Barcelona to help his friend from Midland hostel find a job. Since Marco is a manager at a hotel I passed her resume to him, hopefully that will help.

Gaudi church

One of the cathedrals of Barcelona

Sculpture to represent the festival that takes in Catalan of building human pyramids. They build them as high as this sculpture which was about 4-5 stories high.

Me, Marco and Risa

Me and Marta the other couchsurfer of Marco

Marco took me rock climbing!

Parc Guelle

Parc Guelle

Olympic park

Pixar statue

Longboarders going down the steep hill

Hsing and me

Trying to sell my bike at the beach. In the end Marco's friend Tony bought it for 50 Euros.

My hat at in its sweaty glory

Peace from Barcelona.

Barcelona!

I am now in Barcelona!

I actually arrived yesterday due to a mishap in communication.  Karime accepted me on a last minute request.  When I looked at her profile it had said Calella so I had planned my ride to stop there.  But while on the road she messaged me and said she actually lived in Barcelona so I did about 50km more.  In any case I arrived around 6:30pm after doing my longest ride of about 130km.

I met up with her and her boyfriend Sam.  They are super friendly and Karime is Colombian Spanish while Sam is Italian Spanish.  They used to live in Calella but now for the summer they are in Barcelona. 

They took me around the city on our bikes and we saw many attractions in just one day.  Barcelona is such a big city and it was all very wonderful but also overwhelming at the same time.  I think in 1 week I will have a better sense of everything. 

Today Karime went to work and Sam and I visited his friend who was at the velodrome.  We saw a film being made there about the Spanish Olympian of bicycles and saw them practice in the dome. 

In the evening we plan to check out the park again and have a picnic there. 

amazing beautiful fountain at parc de la Citudella

Karime and her friends 

Magic fountain

I am standing ontop of a old Bullfighting areana which has been converted into a shopping mall. 

Sam and Karina taking me around the city. 

French station so named after the exodus of Spanish people into France.

Giant mammoth at Parc de la Citudella 

Peace from Barcelona.