Would you like to take a survey? - Part 15
We're back in Niagara Falls. The drive down from Windsor was okay - took about 4 hours. I slept most of the way (well, I tried to anyway - I never sleep well in a moving car).
It's good to be here once again. Feels familiar and oddly comforting. I recognized streets, buildings and landmarks almost immediately. For instance, the Skylon Tower makes for a useful reference point when it comes to navigation either by car or by foot, since it's so easy to spot!
We're staying in a different hotel this time: the Days Inn & Suites. Very nice. Way better than the last place we stayed at while in NF (the Super 8 Hotel). Well-kept, clean, nice decor. The staff are also very friendly and helpful. I actually wound up discussing at length topics such as history, politics, philosophy and linguistics with 3 different people here!:
1) Sophia - the hotel manager. A lovely, elegant, middle-aged Romanian woman. Very personable and polite. She was quite impressed by my knowledge of Romanian history and culture (which I picked up "along the way" while studying Russian/Soviet and Eastern European history as a whole during my university days).
2) Lindsay - one of the front desk attendants. Cheerful young lady that looked to be around my age (mid-20s). Ironically, she'll be studying at Algonquin College in Ottawa to be a library technician. We talked about literature (favourite authors and books, as well as what's we're reading at the moment) and current events, most notably our mutual dislike of President George W. Bush :-)
3) Petar - maintenance worker and handyman. An older, soft-spoken Bulgarian. We actually discussed many things, in both English and French! Stuff like the nature and origins of Slavic languages, the failure of communism vs. the success of liberal democracy, among other subjects... I found the conversation very refreshing and stimulating - haven't intellectualized like that with someone in a while!
My hotel room is really great! Nice and big, with lots of space. Good-sized fridge, microwave, dedicated kitchen area with cupboards, large bed, couch, nice bathroom... There are actual partitions between the bedroom/sleeping area and the living room/kitchen! This layout makes it seem more home-like to me - very comfortable. The only downside is no Weather Network on the television... :-(
One interesting feature of the hotel is that it's located right next to a Kraft baked goods factory. When you walk outside, it smells like cookies! Sweet! It can be an exercise in pure torture if I happen to be hungry at the time... :-)
Survey site is okay. We're at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge again, though this time we're on the other side (i.e. the westbound lanes, heading into Canada from the USA). Unfortunately, the setup isn't as efficient as before. We have to rely on both CBSA staff in the booths and the accompanying Niagara police officers to divert trucks in for us. Inevitably, some are more "on the ball" than others... Moreover, trucks have to drive all the way around the customs inspection building to reach us in the survey area; it's a rather slow and awkward process, though it can't be helped. Nevertheless, despite these constraints, we still managed to get a decent number of surveys done.
That's it for now! Peace out.
It's good to be here once again. Feels familiar and oddly comforting. I recognized streets, buildings and landmarks almost immediately. For instance, the Skylon Tower makes for a useful reference point when it comes to navigation either by car or by foot, since it's so easy to spot!
We're staying in a different hotel this time: the Days Inn & Suites. Very nice. Way better than the last place we stayed at while in NF (the Super 8 Hotel). Well-kept, clean, nice decor. The staff are also very friendly and helpful. I actually wound up discussing at length topics such as history, politics, philosophy and linguistics with 3 different people here!:
1) Sophia - the hotel manager. A lovely, elegant, middle-aged Romanian woman. Very personable and polite. She was quite impressed by my knowledge of Romanian history and culture (which I picked up "along the way" while studying Russian/Soviet and Eastern European history as a whole during my university days).
2) Lindsay - one of the front desk attendants. Cheerful young lady that looked to be around my age (mid-20s). Ironically, she'll be studying at Algonquin College in Ottawa to be a library technician. We talked about literature (favourite authors and books, as well as what's we're reading at the moment) and current events, most notably our mutual dislike of President George W. Bush :-)
3) Petar - maintenance worker and handyman. An older, soft-spoken Bulgarian. We actually discussed many things, in both English and French! Stuff like the nature and origins of Slavic languages, the failure of communism vs. the success of liberal democracy, among other subjects... I found the conversation very refreshing and stimulating - haven't intellectualized like that with someone in a while!
My hotel room is really great! Nice and big, with lots of space. Good-sized fridge, microwave, dedicated kitchen area with cupboards, large bed, couch, nice bathroom... There are actual partitions between the bedroom/sleeping area and the living room/kitchen! This layout makes it seem more home-like to me - very comfortable. The only downside is no Weather Network on the television... :-(
One interesting feature of the hotel is that it's located right next to a Kraft baked goods factory. When you walk outside, it smells like cookies! Sweet! It can be an exercise in pure torture if I happen to be hungry at the time... :-)
Survey site is okay. We're at the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge again, though this time we're on the other side (i.e. the westbound lanes, heading into Canada from the USA). Unfortunately, the setup isn't as efficient as before. We have to rely on both CBSA staff in the booths and the accompanying Niagara police officers to divert trucks in for us. Inevitably, some are more "on the ball" than others... Moreover, trucks have to drive all the way around the customs inspection building to reach us in the survey area; it's a rather slow and awkward process, though it can't be helped. Nevertheless, despite these constraints, we still managed to get a decent number of surveys done.
That's it for now! Peace out.
posted by Blake @ 2:16 a.m.
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