lov'em and leav'em.

My time in Toronto is up... and again I have to say good bye and leave... Once again, I met wonderful people in a great city where I enjoyed myself to the max. But now it is time, my train is calling...

I have confused feelings these days... I am excited to go home, meet my family and friends and enjoy summer in Tunisia. But at the same time I am sad to leave my friends and my life here. I will definitely miss Toronto in every aspect, I fell in love with this city.

When I remember how I wasn't thrilled about my life here in the beginning and how I was thinking about leaving after 6 months... I am happy I took the decision to loose my return ticket and stay longer.

As I work in a far suburb of Toronto (Richmond Hill), I lived close to work at first... big mistake as you absolutely need a car to have a decent social life. It wasn't an option for me, so I had to live without it, which meant living a very limited social life.

It wasn't easy for a social butterfly like me, used to have my friends around and a million things to do every day. My first months meant staying at home the whole week to go downtown in the week ends where I was hosted by good friends of mine. Fortunately they were there otherwise I would have gone insane...

Then I started to make the best of it and enjoyed it in every way...

I enjoyed every season, even winter and its beautiful snow falling, snowboarding and ice skating; fall was beautiful with all its colours and the falling leafs, spring and the rebirth of nature after loosing its bed of snow, there is something magic in how everything turns green after it was all white. And summer where Toronto goes crazy with a different festival and cultural celebrations every week, camping, outdoor activities and bonding with mother nature...

And the food in all this… for a gluttonous guy like me it is a must factor in my definition of happiness. I will tremendously miss Toronto and its mosaic of cultures and foods. Here you can eat whatever food of the world you want; I got introduced to all types of food and just loved the mix and variety… I even prepared a schedule of restaurants to go to before I leave...

I had a blast going to concerts (PJ, DM...), sports events, crazy parties, road trips, street festivals... But all of it wouldn't mean anything without the special people I enjoyed being with... some left me, and some I would leave... some I would meet soon, and some I don't know if I will ever see them again, where and when...

I was lucky to find great people in Toronto; I have amazing friends with whom I shared great moment and who were always there when I needed them. It is wonderful to feel appreciated and to know that there are friends over there that you can rely on…

But now it is time to go...

It is hard to strip yourself from a life… but I knew I had to from the start. I know how it feels, I experienced it before and it was tough… I did it when I left to Spain, then when I left Spain… when I came back home to have an awesome time with my friends, then leaving them to start a new adventure…

I knew it but went for it regardless; maybe I am a masochist for tormenting myself and leaving pieces of my life behind… Maybe… But, all I know is that I don’t regret anything, that I cherish the friendships I made and value everything I lived…To all my friends a big thank you and a big hug, I will miss you tons…

Stop that train I'm leaving...
Stop that train I'm leaving...
Stop that train I'm leaving...
Stop that Train I'm leaving…*

A.

*Peter Tosh

Superheroes

Today's super heroes do not wear masks, have super powers or are called Superman, Spiderman, V for Vendetta or the incredibles... Today's super heroes are regular people who are not committed to help respect the law in their cities but instead have received divine killing permits and have been assigned a mission directly by God: Force the respect of their religion by... making bombs.

During the week end, 17 young men have been arrested in the suburbs of Toronto and have been charged in an alleged terror plot. 5 underage people are among the arrested.

Apparently, the suspects were frustrated by the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and by the mistreatment of Muslims around the world... they thought they have to do something to change things and defend the humiliated brothers and sisters... so they came up with the brilliant idea of terrorist attacks.

These kids, warmed up by images of war and heated radical preaches by a fundamental imam (arrested with the gang) lost their marbles and believed they were the missionaries of God to spread its "love" among the people...

Once again, the name of Islam has been stained by fools who play war games and think they are being sent to heaven in the first express train to leave planet earth.

It's so painful to read the news and realize how radical and stupid people can be. Realize that these people belong to the same religious community as you... Once again...

I was in Valladolid, Spain (200 km north of Madrid) when the train attacks happened in the Spanish capital in March 11, 2004... I remember how everybody was astonished by what happened and the mixed feelings of disbelief, confusion and anger. As Aznar's government started pointing fingers at the Basque terrorist group (ETA), spontaneous demonstrations took place in all Spanish cities with the biggest in Madrid where 2 million people took the streets, chanting the main slogan against ETA terrorism: "BASTA YA"... I was part of the Valladolid one.

The following days, the two main national newspapers were giving completely different info (due to the upcoming election): El Mundo (close to Aznar's El partido Popular) was accusing ETA, El Pais (close to the Socialist Party) started mentioning Radical Islamic terrorism... I was secretly hoping it wasn't the latter.

Unfortunately, it was...

When the information became official, I wished I could disappear from the face of the earth. I couldn't look in my friend's eyes anymore. But, I was blessed to have great friends who helped me to get over it; they were tolerant and intelligent enough to make the difference between the self declared warriors of God and the rest of the Muslim world. But this isn't the case of everybody...

It needs a massive reaction from the Muslim world to fight this extremist and erroneous ideology that made its way among the God freaks. EVERY terrorist act has to be strongly condemned and those who spread radical ideology in the name of God or nationalism should be sued... Starting by Haniya and his Hamas.

Thanks to you, Superheroes, Islam became the public enemy #1 in the world... Mission accomplished... thank you very much.

A.