Vancouver Three

We’ve found and started our jobs this week, and settled into the new apartment this weekend so we haven’t had much of a chance to be tourists anymore. This has been exciting though- because we have finally ticked off everything we needed to do! 

The apartment was awful when we arrived. The landlady had already called me at work a few days before to ask for our rent money to be deposited in her account early so there was bad feeling by the time we came to move in. As we walked into the bathroom and kitchen especially she tried to act like it was fine when it was clearly horrendous. We spent the whole weekend cleaning. Not the best start to our first apartment together- but I think we’ve got it looking really good now. We’re excited about getting a little Christmas tree and hanging fairy lights everywhere (because there aren’t actually any lights in the bedroom/living room!) 

I now work at the Salty Tongue in Gastown. It’s a trendy cafe/coffee shop in the historic part of Vancouver near the bay. It’s also the boozy part of town. They really make a lot of fuss about their coffee- I’m learning to calibrate my shots and I’m sure to be learning latte-art any day now. It’s really nice though that they make a big deal of it- I’m learning loads. My manager is a competitive barista so it’s a pretty high standard, I’m not even allowed to start serving the coffee yet! 

I had a couple more interviews last week, one was at a soup market on Granville Island- very cute and wholesome and I had to do a food quiz when I got there! Unfortunately I’d forgotten everything I’d learnt from Masterchef and a few Canadian-isms like mornay and arugula didn’t help. I got a trial shift but cancelled it because I got the other job. I also had an interview to work at a crisis shelter for young people. I was most excited about this and it sounded like the most rewarding but I ran into a sticky phone interview where they explained their catholic founder (which I was obviously fine with) and therefore their stance on pro-life and anti-contraception. I was in a bit of a moral dilemma, so I’m really glad some other jobs came up. 

I’ve also spent the last couple of weeks doing the odd shift at the American Apparel warehouse sale. This was supposed to be a form of trial shift with opportunities for full time employment in one of their stores, but so far it just seems like they needed bodies to pick up after rummaging shoppers! 

Last weekend we went to our fist gig in Vancouver- UH HUH HER- at the ‘Keep A Breast’ cancer awareness tour.  It was jam packed with hard core Lword fans, but they were actually really good in their own right and it was nice to do something that wasn’t the usual tourist stuff.  The same day I also had my trial shift at Salty and managed to spill my first latte all down myself in front of my manager and the other new staff member- the embarrassment there continues. 

On one of our frequent rainy days when we can’t decide what to do (of which there are many), we visited Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. As much as I’m not a huge fan of this kind of rainy day activity, weaving amongst hundreds of school kids and mommies with prams, we actually had a great time! It was really interesting because all the weird sea creatures weren’t from some far off exotic place, but from along the coast all over BC.

Points for an Lword spot!

I’m just off to meet Stell from work and go for a drink. We’re just starting to explore our new neighbourhood.

Vancouver Two

Last Thursday we moved to West Vancouver to stay with the Cobbs & Rogers. On the drive over here we went over the Lions Gate bridge to the North shore and up into West Van. We left the garish delights of the city and are now over the bay in a temperate rainforest. MORE RAIN. It’s been nice to have some comfort and home cooked meals though. We arrived here just after we’d managed to find a house we like! It’s a studio apartment in the west end, close to the beach and Stanley Park and it’s on a pretty tree-lined street. After the trauma of shared accommodation we decided to throw money at the problem and get our own place- let’s hope we get jobs soon! We move in on 13^th. 

Last week we took the boat trip to Granville Island. We were needlessly excited about the boat. It held about 7 people and took about 45 seconds. But it was a nice way to see the city and the mountains beyond. The island is a reclaimed rubbish dump, and now has a brewery, university and the best food market I have ever seen. We went for fish and chips Vancouver style, which just means the fish was superb. We explored the small streets, which makes a nice change for Vancouver, and pottered in and out of markets, and artsy boutiques. The Granville Island Brewery was also an obvious pit-stop. We had samples of all the beers on offer- which was all we could have. They must have strange licensing laws here because some bars make you have food before you can order a 2^nd or 3^rd round of drinks, and even at the brewery we were only allowed to have 12oz of beer each. 

On Saturday we went down Main street to the Regional Assembly of Text, which is a stationary store with a reading room full of self published books and zines. Spent ages ogling everything- shame you weren’t there to loiter around the entrance for me dad! After, we took our first trip to Gastown, which is the cool bars and restaurants area. It made a nice change from the Granville strip, and we peered in at plenty of exposed brick work and fancy tasting platters. A little expensive for us, we stayed for a few drinks then headed off for a ‘cheap eat’ downtown. We went to the diner I mentioned in the first blog, we never made it because we were exhausted, and it was worth the wait. We had local beers and enormous burgers in a booth with a mini juke box- and it was even nicer that we weren’t outside with the rest of Vancouver who were all halloween’d up to the eyeballs and stumbling around the streets. They are mad on Halloween here- every porch step has at least 5 pumpkins on it. And cobwebs. And blood. And huge inflatable ghosts....

The start of this week was time for serious job-hunting. I suppose we don’t really need to start looking yet, but I think it’s going to be good for meeting people and settling into life as a Vancouverite. Applied for lots, and dropped into the gay and lesbian community centre to offer our volunteering services. I’m also thinking about getting involved with teaching English as a foreign language. 

By Tuesday Stell already has a job interview. Swot. At Vancouver’s technology shop catered to the LGBTQA community (i.e. selling gay phones). After we went for a post interview hot dog with a Japanese twist-as you do. See Stell’s food blog for more on how we nearly died in the aftermath. 

On Wednesday the job hunt continued with an interview with a temp agency, set up by SWAP, which was a big waste of time- pretty sure we won’t get jobs as a result. After, we went to explore Yaletown, another district of fancy bars and coffee shops. We sampled some more local beer, which is lovely, but we’re feeling a pang for a pub- which we are yet to find. Then we headed to Chinatown in hope of finding lots of choices of teatime destinations. It wasn’t quite what we expected, a little rough around the edges and the restaurants had what looked to be patio furniture in them- and no people. But then we found the most amazing candlelit Chinese-tapas style eatery, Bao Bei. It was the most unlikely of places to find in those surroundings, and inevitably involved more dim sum. Yum. 

I also got a JOB INTERVIEW and a trial shift on Saturday. It’s as a Barista in a super trendy cafe in Gastown, where there’s just one long table where everyone sits and eats meat cured on the premises. YES. I overdressed for the interview, and was overly conscious of my accent, but otherwise I’m hoping it went well. 

We’re having a lovely time being looked after at Sandi & Steve’s but are itching to get back into the city to move into our new home. It’s bear country out here, and people die on the mountains not far from the house! We’re yet to see a bear but we like to sing a ‘go away bears’ song we made up on the walk up the driveway. 

Here are some pictures...

Gastown steam clock. Lots of bars around, and my job interview was for a place just round the corner. 

Stell at the Diner.

Me at the Diner.

Stell in a cutesy dowtown sandwich shop. 

My first Vancouver beer.

Chinese garden in the middle of the city. The blocks in the water read Earth reflects the heavens but they float so don't always  say the same thing.

This was written on the side of a cafe we have noted to visit at some point on the trip. It seems to be a popular ethos with much of Vancouver. 

This is THE view from Stanley park. 

First Nations totem pole

A view from Commercial drive, just outside the city. The lights are from the Canucks ice hockey stadium.

Street Dog.

Our tasting flight of Granville beers.

View from boat to Granville Island.

This is our new house- where we don't quite live yet.