Feel Calgary (1)

Like it or not, it is often between thoughts. Last summer vacation, we spent 15 days visiting Vancouver, Saskatoon, Calgary and Toronto in Canada. Vancouver is surrounded by mountains and waters, which makes people linger, but the homelessness that can be seen everywhere in our block has compromised my impression of the city. Saskatoon is quiet and leisurely, but it is too cold and cheerless; Toronto, with scenery and rhythm similar to the imperial city, is in tune. Calgary is the one who feels the deepest, probably because the family members of close friends of the university all live in this city, and there is a sense of closeness invisibly.

0 1 "Escape" from Saskatoon

Calgary's first stop was Saskatoon, a grassland city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Mr. Wang has been here once, and this time he is revisiting his old place. He said: "A good city, quiet and clean, is not as desolate as expected." The plane landed at Saskatoon airport, and I was still amazed at this small and simple terminal while waiting for my baggage.

To pick up the plane is a driver's master who made an appointment online in advance. According to the license plate number, we found a pickup truck, next to which stood a middle-aged man wearing a cement stamping tool. He apologized that he had just come from a decoration site and had no time to change clothes.

The road leading to the hotel is lined with legendary grasslands. In August, the grass on the roadside had turned yellow, and the half-built roadbed was just thrown open. The driver's master said that Saskatoon enters winter every year from 5438+00 in June, and the long winter will last until May of the following year. I can't help but feel a layer of ice.

The next day, a polite Hong Kong man accompanied us around the city. He said that Saskatoon has a population of more than 280,000, and there are about 20,000 to 30,000 Chinese, accounting for about one tenth of the population. In recent years, Saskatchewan's nomination plan has attracted a large number of immigrants. He said that the Chinese in Saskatoon mainly live in the eighth block and are relatively concentrated. There is an Indian reservation in a block downtown. These Indians go to the city hall at a fixed time every month to receive relief money, and then gather for drinking. After the money is spent, they will stop pedestrians in the street to ask for money, or steal in some neighborhoods, barely surviving until next month when they receive benefits. Later, in a Chinese restaurant, we witnessed a big, disheveled and flushed Indian arguing with the restaurant owner. The proprietress repeated loudly and firmly: "No!" Later, the Indian scolded, ran into the restaurant door and left. The proprietress from the northeast saw my uneasiness and comforted us by saying, "In Canada, the cost of crime is very high. I have lived here for almost twenty years, and I haven't met many major cases. These Indians will only scold you a few words and can't help you. "

In fact, this is already a great shock to me. In the next two days, we walked symbolically around the city. As Mr. Wang said, the city is clean and leisurely, but it is too small. It took only one day to visit parks, city halls, libraries, banks and the University of Saskatoon. The rest of the time, we stayed in the hotel and fell asleep with jet lag. It is no exaggeration to use "escape" to describe my mood at the moment I boarded the flight to Calgary.

Hug from Calgary Airport: "Let's go home"

When I first arrived in Vancouver, I sent a circle of friends to report my safety to my relatives and friends. Ray's message: "Welcome to Canada, where the mountains and water are so boring." Two days later, she sent me a message saying, "It was very smoky. Your trip was so lucky." I don't care: people living in the imperial city are still afraid of the smell of fireworks. Even so, there are still some concerns.

The airport in Calgary is not big. There are about a dozen flights a day. Since HNA started direct flights from Calgary to Beijing, it only takes ten hours to get there between Beijing and Calgary, which is much more convenient. I just bent down to get my luggage when I heard a familiar voice: "Hi, welcome to Calgary." I quickly turned around. Ray smiled and gave me a big hug, and then said to my husband and me, "Mr. Ding's car is turning outside." Let's go home. " After getting on the bus, my friend pointed to the little girl in the back seat and said, "This is Amy." I just noticed a fat man in the back seat of the car. Amy greeted us in a slightly blunt language: "Hello, uncle and aunt." Ray explained: "Amy's Chinese is not very good, and now she is in a cram school."

Ray, a good friend of mine, immigrated to Calgary, Canada in 2005. More than ten years have passed, during which I lost contact for a time and then got in touch again. In the past two years, she went back to China to visit relatives. She only met twice, and she didn't feel strange. The car happily drove us in the direction of her home. About half an hour later, the car stopped in front of a white house. The freshly mowed lawn in the yard smells of grass. "The neighbor mowed the grass today and cut the lawn in our front yard by the way. Fortunately, I met a neat western neighbor. " As soon as the car stopped, I heard a dog barking from the locked door. "That's Jimmy." I looked at the little girl sitting in the back seat and was confused in an instant.

"Kimi was bought by Mr. Ding for 1000 Canadian dollars. It is Mr. Ding's little baby." After Kimi untied the chain, she sprinkled joy on the lawn, and a white cloud was fresh and beautiful. A coffee table was set up in the backyard, the breeze was blowing gently and the grass was quiet. We talked about interesting things in college and the experiences of our classmates after graduation, and supplemented each other with details from time to time. The past more than 20 years ago is as vivid and within reach as if it happened yesterday. Recalling the first half of our lives, we are happy and happy.