Toilet Paper goes WHERE?

Ben left New York 24 hours before Steph and I due to his roster for this month. On the final day we had in New York, we had a bagel from Lenny's Bagels (only the best bagel shop in New York according to Ben and Steph) said bye to Ben, and caught the train into Times Square. The shops in New York don't open till ten am, so Steph and I found a bench to sit on and watch people pass by for a few hours. Quite entertaining!

We spent a few hours at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), then I left Steph there and went to see Hairspray on Broadway by myself. Apparently Ricki Lake used to play Tracey Turnblad - maybe I missed my calling?

We got up bright and early the next morning to catch our AMTRAK trains. Steph went to Toronto to see her friend Shern, and I've come to Montreal to stay in the flat Nick is in.

WOW what a SLOW train ride! Who knew that trains could go sooooooooooooooooooo slowly???? Luckily there was heaps of room, and I sat next to a cool Canadian girl, so the 11 hour ride went quite quickly.

Dan and I went to see X-Files when I arrived, and spent all day yesterday exploring the city (Dan hasn't been here before either). Met up with some of the boys friends last night and went into the clubbing area. Got to sleep at five thirty this morning. This staying up all night business is SO not like me! Nana blankets are SO last month hehe.

Nick and I went for a walk this morning around a different part of Montreal. I had expectations of New York, but Montreal is somewhere I've never really thought about before. It's cool coming to a city that you have no idea about, and no preconceived ideas. I kind of thought that because it was Canada, it would be similar to America. Woah was I wrong! All the signs are in French, everyone speaks French, the streets are mainly brick, the buildings are VERY grand... Quite exciting! They are very trendy here and are big on fashion.

Dan was looking for glasses frames, and so yesterday we popped into an optometrist. It was SO funky. We walked up these stairs, and came across a guy and a girl sitting behind a bar. The guy gave us bottled water, and made us sit down in front of mirrors. He asked Dan what he was looking for and gave him a whole lot of different frames to try that would suit his face. It was called a Glasses Bar. How cool is that!

The house that Nick is staying in is awesome. One of the girls has a big room, and so she's put curtains up in the middle and a big queensized mattress on the floor for me. She's lovely, and it's so great to be able to have my clothes unpacked (and WASHED!) for a change.

One of the flatmates is slightly odd. He's from Saudi Arabia and has moved here to learn English (to a French speaking city - go figure). He is currently sitting in the lounge singing at the top of his lungs "I BEREEVE I CAN FRYYYYYY.... I BEREEVE I CAN TOUCH DA SKYYYYYY....." VERY off key. Quite amusing really.

Also, they must have different toilet habits in Saudi Arabia. (Gran you might not want to read this part!). He would go to the toilet, then put his USED paper in the rubbish bin next to the toilet. WHO DOES THAT??? Apparently Canadians are very passive-aggressive people, and so noone had said anything to him about it. When I arrived we were talking about it, and I said "someone should tell him! He probably doesn't know!". So, when Dan and I were at the movies, Nick did the business.
"Ah, Abraham, in Canada when we go to the toilet, we put the paper down the toilet too. Not in the garbage."
"HUH?"
"Ah, paper goes in, flush."
"HUH?"
"Come with me."

• shows Saudi how it works*

"OH!"

• Saudi emptied his used paper from the garbage into the toilet, flushed, then walked out looking proud*

More weird stories to come I'm sure.

Lee xo