I finally got some time to write here on my visit to Canada on the 25th of June. I’m here on  an official visit and will be returning to      Sri lanka in Mid July. I’m staying in a city called Waterloo which is a 1hr drive from the Toronto International airport. Waterloo is a City of slightly over one hundred thousand population and is a buzzling city with indudtry, agriculture and shopping.

People here are quite hospitable and warm and are extremely cosmopolitan. French is widely spoken. On weekdays, very few are found on streets or shopping areas, but on weekends things change. This is the beginning of the Canadian Summer and people are simply enjoying the bright sun shine. Outdoor temperatures are still less than 20 degrees celcius.

We are staying at St. jacobs Country Inn which is conveniently placed for everything. The Hotel itself is nice and compact and we were lucky to meet a Sri Lanka Lady (Her name is ‘Gale’)who happens to be from Colombo working at the Hotel. Nice to here someone speak sinhalese so far away from Sri lanka after all. I noticed her on my very first day to the dining area of the hotel since she looked Asian.

Today, she simply came to us and asked "From which country we are from" and when we said we are Sri Lankans she said ‘Mamath Lankawe’ and inquired about our food, since she realised that we are not used to typical Canadian breakfast. She still says proudly that she still prepares ‘Pol Sambol and Bath’ at her home in Canada.emoticon

One thing i noticed!…….words like ‘Thank You’, ‘Excuse me’, ‘I’m Sorry’, ‘Good Morning’ etc are in abundance here….and that certainly speaks volumes of the ‘Canadians’. They are celebrating kind of an Independance called Canada Day on the 1st of July. People are getting ready for Celebrations. ‘Happy Canada Day’ ! emoticon