First email - sent Sept 21

Brief little update for you from Toronto: I arrived yesterday afternoon after a 12 hour bus ride from NYC. Had a bit of a hard time at the border - they don't seem to understand people who are coming to Canada for an undetermined amount of time to do "environmental stuff". But eventually they let me in and since then it's been a whirlwind of meeting new people, walking around and just generally learning my way around this city (apparently named "the most international city" by some travel magazine at some point).

As planned, I jumped right into the 'green scene' here by going to Green Drinks last night and a conference on sustainable development today. Everyone has been so friendly and the enviro folks have offered such great advice about everything I should check out before I leave. Like this wind turbine in the center of Toronto on the harbor (interesting article about it: http://www.wind-works.org/articles/TorontosWindShareCoop.html), a design center/museum that has a focus on sustainability and tons of great places for day hikes.

Some of my ideas for the next few weeks: kayaking on the harbor, bike riding around the city (very bike friendly city), taking art classes, going to the theatre and museums, checking out farmers' markets, taking day hikes, and possibly taking a buddhist photography class.

The weather's a bit colder than it was in NYC when I left - Been wearing 3 or 4 layers each time I go out.

I'll send a more interesting update after I've done more interesting stuff!!