A bit about Cornwall, Ontario

Pitt & Water
Originally uploaded by j_pyo.

As you all know, my current work term has brought me to Cornwall, Ontario - nicknamed "The Seaway Valley" or "The Seaway City". Having lived in Toronto for most of my life, it is only natural of me to think of Cornwall as small and boring, and I'm not going to lie: IT IS, with tiny generic shopping malls, no concerts or festivals, and worst of all: very few bars! However I've done my best to make the most of it in my first couple weeks here. La Maison, one of the few bars in Cornwall, is a nice place to chill with the college kids on a Friday night. I also learned that drinking and golfing at SummerHeights can be kinda fun despite how much I suck, and that the people here are much more laid back than in Toronto and Waterloo. My workplace at Water & Sydney is within a short walk from downtown Cornwall (Pitt St.) and a nice park beside the river... both are nice places for a walk.

The ghetto of Cornwall is the east end, south of Montreal Rd. That's where you'll find all the drugs, prostitution, and smuggling business which the city has become known for. I think I'll stay where I am... in my quiet neighbourhood with my nice French-speaking landlords.

Anyways, here are some facts about Cornwall that I found interesting (from Wikipedia)...

- First settled by loyalists during the American Revolution
- One of the first places to have electricity in Canada
- Has one of the oldest jails in Canada, which is a new tourist attraction since being restored.
- Has one of the highest murder rates in the nation on a per-capita basis (11.3 per 100,000 people compared to 3.1 in Toronto)

I can also confirm that there are 0 Koreans in this city, other than myself. In fact, I probably need only one hand to count the number of East Asians I've seen so far. Perhaps I should engrave my initials on the sidewalk:

J.P.
The first Korean man to step foot in Cornwall in over 20 years!