Winterlude, Ottawa’s annual winter festival, started last week-end. It’s very cold and sunny right now in the nation capital and for once, no ones complains about it. Cold weather means that the Rideau Canal Skateway is open and that Winterlude’s ice and snow sculptures won’t melt.

I had to find out who was behind these pictures: I contacted the author. His profile had one line: “Brazilian guy living in Iqaluit”. Now, I was super curious. I mean, Canada is well-known to be a cold place, but from Brazil to the actual Great White North? That’s just one hell of a culture shock!

The Winter semester started early January, but I can’t seem to put myself into study mode. First, there is my very full-time job. I work in an environment where futile things such as eating and sleeping are almost frowned upon, let alone studying. And then, there is the usual winter blues. Hard to walk to class after a full day of work when it’s cold, windy and pitch black.

Last Saturday, Hockey Day In Canada took place throughout the country. You basically had two option: 1) the lazy option, which was to watch the tripleheader of NHL action featuring the six Canadian teams on T.V 2) the brave option, which was to take your gear and go play hockey in the street.

Gabriel has an amazing sense of humor. He blogs about his life as a Canadian-Argentinian in the popular blog, Live from Waterloo, written in both Spanish and English. He is a must read for any prospective immigrant: he experienced a lot, the good, the bad and the ugly.

After a few days in Toronto, we had decided to drive to Niagara Falls on January 1st. I was curious to see the falls in the winter. Because the weather had been relatively mild in Toronto, we had forgotten how cold it really was in the rest of Canada. An hour away from Toronto, it started to snow. In Niagara Falls, it was cold and windy and there were huge chunks if ice here and there in the water.