CANADA DAY!

July 1, 2007 was Canada Day a national holiday and together with the family we packed some food and headed out to Niagara Falls. To drive out there would generally take an hour and a half, however due to the holiday it turned out to be a four hour drive!


We first went to Stanley Park, which sits on the border of the USA. In 1912 'Abdu'l-Baha visited this park and afterwards for many years the Baha'is would picnic there. We walked around and sat and listened to a jazz performance before heading out to the falls.

This was Nahid's second time to Niagara Falls. Her first was 5 years ago when she was in Toronto for her cousin's wedding and the first time we met. The day was gorgeous and we enjoyed walking up through Clifton Hills and playing some Air Hockey.









The next time we'll be out there will be for our honeymoon in July.

FAREWELL TO IMAN FERDOWSI

On Saturday June 30, Nahid and I said farewell to one of my closest friends Iman Ferdowsi. He is on his way to serve for at least 2.5 years at the Baha'i World Centre in the department of Information Systems.











We wish him all the best and will definitely miss him, especially at our wedding.

We spent quality time together playing our favorite video game, Mario Kart on SNES.

After the farewell, we went out and spent some quality time with Naysan's parents in a Persian coffee shop.

etc.

On Saturday June 23, during the day we went up north to cottage country for a family friends birthday party. It was full of people of all ages and backgrounds. There were lots of Baha'is and non-Baha'is, which turned out to be a great teaching event.


On Saturday evening we went to the Toronto Baha'i Centre for a talk by Siamak Hariri, the architect of the last continental Baha'i House of Worship located in Chile. He spoke about the process of the creation of the design of the temple as well as what stages they stand at at this present time. The different area's of art concepts and technology such as the idea of perfection from classical art pieces, symmetry and asymmetry, and fractural geometry to the use of highly advanced software programs such as Maya were incorporated for a unique design. It was fascinating to see how a creative mind works.

On Wednesday June 27 we went to Edwards Gardens, which is a major Toronto park that runs throughout the city and took our engagement photos with our photographer. The weather turned out to be perfect eventhough all weather stations forecasted severe thunderstorms.


On Monday July 2 we went for our second photo shooting with the photographer. This time we took Bayan (Naysan's brother) with us to take some pictures as well. The place we chose was right in downtown Toronto. There you find a combination of modern architechture as well as classical style, we used the clasical one which is now part of the University of Toronto. The day was beautiful and the light really helped for the shots.


Please check out the different photos in Our Photos link!

DOWNTOWN

Since we've arrived in Toronto, we have been quiet busy with last minute wedding preparations, spending time with family and friends, going to Baha'i activities and more importantly organizing our lives. Also, Naysan has been looking for work and will have something hopefully soon (cross your fingers) and Nahid has been filling out her immigration papers.

On Tuesday June 26, 2007 we decided to get out of the house and head to downtown Toronto. It was a short but sweet getaway! We walked around Yonge St. (the longest street in the world) and did lots of "window" shopping. Toronto has changed so much in the last months; the population seems to have increased as well as traffic and construction is taking place everywhere.

It's been great for both of us to be back in the T-dot!!

A LUCKY START

Roughly a week since we arrived in Toronto, one day as Nahid got out of the car her eyes suddenly got hold of a four leaf clover that sat in the garden in front of our house.

For those of you that don't know, to find a four leaf clover is very rare. There are approximately 10,000 three leaf clovers for every four leaf clover found. According to legend, each leaflet represents something: the first is for hope, the second is for faith, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck or God's grace.

Not that we take this so seriously, but in any case we're lucky to be amongst the one for every ten thousand.

TORONTO!

After a long and excruciating flight, Nahid and I finally arrived in Toronto. It was only an 11 hour flight, but it totally felt longer than that. As mentioned in the previous post, our arrival in Toronto was to be a complete suprise for my parents. Therefore, the only two people that knew we would be arriving and picked us up at the airport were my brother Bayan and good friend Iman.

We went to a flower shop and picked up a dozen roses and headed home. My mom had just left the house and was to return home soon, and my dad had just walked in. We totally suprised my dad, who was in complete shock when he saw us. My mom came home not too long after and when she did she was so shocked she burst into tears... tears of joy and happiness of course!

It was great for the both of us to be finally home.

Our Departure

On Friday June 2, 2007 at approximately 3am, Nahid and I said our final "see you later" to Haifa. The past week and especially final day was an emotional time for both of us, more for Nahid than myself as she had spent 3 years in the Holy Land.

Our flight was at 7am and we were definitely looking forward to it as we had a overnight lay over in Athens, Greece. On the way we saw some of our friends; in Tel Aviv at Ben Gurion we ran in to Nadim Yazdani and in the airport in Athens we ran into Shingo, Amelia and Shiori. Accompanying us to Toronto via Greece was Bonnie Ellis who was also finishing her services at the Baha'i World Centre. We spent the day in Athens and visited the Acropolis, where the famous Parthenon is situated. Nahid is an avid shot glass collector and so we also went to the Hardrock Cafe where we purchased one to add to her collection.










Our hotel was in a very nice location right beside the beach. In the evening, Nahid and I ate dinner and walked along the shoreline... it was gorgeous.


Our flight to Toronto was the next morning at 9am and it was exciting, because our arrival in Toronto was going to be a big suprise for my parents and friends!