- Meet (Vegan)
Whether you're a Vegetarian in need of guilt-free comfort food or a mildly curious omnivore, you can't go wrong with Meet. Serving up all vegan all-America fare, their menu consists of various burgers, pasta/ rice bowls and fries almost any way you could imagine. Their burgers all use a house-made patty which is the best vege alternative to a beef patty in flavour and consistency that I've yet experienced. I highly recommend The Angry Burg (beer-battered patty and wicked hot sauce) if you're into spice or The Meet burger (standard patty, chipotle mayo and onion rings YES) and definitely order some of the BBQ Things (vegan version of BBQ chicken wings) to start. Not only is all their food vegan but their booze is too, cocktails included! We tried out both their locations during our time in Van and I'd recommend the trip up Main Street for better atmosphere at their original spot. The Gastown location is a touch tricky to find, they have the same menu so the food is equally awesome, the space in that part of town just feels a little less welcoming. Most of their menu is also either gluten free or can easily be adjusted to be on request. Portion sizes are massive so don't be afraid to ask for a doggy bag. - Bandidas (Vegetarian with lots of Vegan Options)
Bandidas on Commercial Drive is hands down the best Mexican food in Vancouver (Yes, I've had Tacofino, this is better) as evidenced by the hordes of people in and around the place whenever we went there. As I understand it they'd recently expanded their premises before we got to try them out but honestly I think these guys could pack out a restaurant double the size. We had the good fortune of living relatively close to Bandidas so found ourselves there more than once. Try the Edna Dip (baked cheese dip served with sour cream and corn chips) and literally anything from the Enchilada section of the menu (I'm sure their entire menu is awesome but I never made it past the phenomenal enchiladas at dinner time). If you're ever hung over near The Drive, these guys also run an all day breakfast and a 9-3 brunch menu, from experience I can vouch for their breakfast burrito on that side of things, it kicks ass. These guys aren't exclusively vegan but a lot of their menu items can be made vegan and they pro-actively offer the opportunity to veganise a number of selections. I can't see any of their food's appeal being lost by veganising so if you are that way inclined, Bandidas still comes highly recommended. As well as serving amazing food, these guys also deck their walls with visually spectacular local art. Plan ahead as Bandidas is pretty much packed non-stop so you may be faced with a wait for a table but their service team and kitchen are incredibly cohesive and make for an unparalleled dining experience once you do get a seat. - 3G Vegetarian Restaurant (Despite the name, I'm pretty sure their stuff is vegan)
Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the decor, these guys do amazing things with meat substitutes. The best descriptor I can think of for their menu is if you'd expect to see it on a Chinese Take-out menu, 3G probably has it. Serving up the pseudo-Asian classics us Westerners love like Orange Chicken or Sweet and Sour Pork, these guys replace the meat with scarily realistic soy-based substitutes. We felt a little guilty eating here because it felt like cheating on our Vegetarianism but I can assure you they're 100% meatless and depending on what sauce comes with your dish, more than likely vegan too, though I'd double check with them on that before taking my word as gospel. They have an array of rice dishes that make use of vegan cheese which is the basis for my supposing that their other dishes are likely to be vegan. As far as I can tell, this restaurant is run by just two people, one who acts as the waiter and one who cooks the meals. Their service style feels a bit odd for sit down dining and is very casual but they are lovely people who make good food so it is ultimately a very enjoyable experience. While we always dined in, there were many people popping in to pick up take out orders, they're clearly a neighbourhood favourite. - The Foundation (Vegetarian)
If you like hip-hop culture, you'll like The Foundation. The decor and the music rattling from the speakers scream urban groove while the menu is vege paradise. Regardless of your dietary habits, if you get chatting to Vancouver locals you're bound to have this place suggested more than likely coupled with "you have to try the nachos!" You have to try the nachos by the way. They're awesome, they're meat-free and the serving size is ridiculous. The two of us struggled to get through a small so I'd say with a couple of beers each you could comfortably go one small order between 3 people. The large order is twice the size and could easily cater for 6 people. The rest of their menu is probably just as good but honestly we made the mistake of ordering something other than the nachos (yam dip and it was truly excellent) the first time and it was way too much food to handle. Get the nachos, add their guac, and you're in for an epic time. - Jam (Serves a lot of meat dishes but has some very solid vegetarian options)
Brunch is hands down my favourite meal of the day. There's nothing more luxurious than rolling out of bed in the afternoon, throwing the cleanest of your floor clothes on and treating yourself to a cooked breakfast out. Brunch has all the best foods: pancakes, waffles, eggs on toast, eggs benedict (meatless eggs bene is my personal favourite meal), hash browns, without the giant pain in the ass of dragging yourself out of bed that comes with breakfast. As such I had to include a brunch spot on this list somewhere and Jam takes the cake for most tremendous all round brunch experience in the city of Vancouver. Originally a staple of the Victoria culinary scene, these guys opened up a few months ago on Beatty street, a stones throw from Stadium- Chinatown skytrain station. While Jam is not exclusively vegetarian, they do have some epic vegetarian options which I feel make them worthy of inclusion in this post. I had the Veggie bowl and after much pleading from our waiter opted for the "little" version. Here is where I feel obliged to warn you that the portions at Jam are gargantuan. I'm not a light eater, I'm just over 6 feet tall and weigh roughly 80kg (176 pounds), I average 5 to 7 fully loaded plates at an all you can eat buffet and this supposedly "little" bowl of crumbled biscuit, gravy almost beat me. In all honesty I only finished the damn thing to impress the waiter, who did seem very genuinely surprised I got through it all. Clem ordered the red velvet pancake stack and was served a full cake worth of pancakes. She struggled through about 1/4 of the plate before admitting defeat and asking for a takeaway box. It was evident in the understanding nod of our waiter that this was how most meals at this cafe ended. We ate those pancakes for like 3 days afterwards before they were done, no kidding. Size aside, both of our meals were beyond fantastic, words cannot describe the amazing things they achieve with biscuits and gravy. The only downside of Jam is that they have a relatively small space and everyone loves them. This means that when we went, not too long after their opening we were faced with a half hour wait for a table for the two of us. Don't be deterred, just plan ahead, the food is more than worth the wait and once inside, service is exceptionally attentive and very fast. If you only have one brunch out in Vancouver, do yourself a favour and make sure it's at Jam.
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Top 5 Vegetarian Restaurants in Vancouver
As promised in my last post, here's a shortlist of the best vegetarian restaurants in Vancouver. This is by no means and exhaustive list, Vancouver is blessed with a plethora of great vegetarian restaurants and you should try them all if you have the means. This should at least give you a solid start and point you in the right direction. Happy eating!
Monday, January 9, 2017
Going Vege
At the start of our time in Vancouver, faced with living on a budget and not knowing much about where to find cheap groceries (pro-tip: Safeway is expensive!) Clem and I decided not to buy meat for our meals at home any more. I grew up eating and cooking a fairly diverse range of food from many ethnic origins and was never a fan of the traditional meat and 3 veg style meal that colonial countries seem to revere so removing meat from what I was cooking wasn't much of a challenge.
With Clem being prone to iron deficiency I was a little concerned that no meat would cause problems for her but hoped that the inclusion of iron rich foods like black beans into more of our food, and the little bit of meat we'd still be eating on nights out would be enough.
As time went on, it became apparent that the importance of meat in our diet was a cultural idea that had been way over-hyped for us growing up. I'm no expert on human nutrition but with neither of us suffering any apparent ill-effects from eating significantly less meat, it seemed to me more and more like the enthusiastic encouragement to eat meat growing up was likely just flow-on propaganda from those who profit from the slaughter of animals. Perhaps I'm being too cynical.
At any rate, a couple of months into our new at-home lifestyle decision, we were walking home one day when I was suddenly hit with the idea to cut meat out altogether. I didn't miss it at home, I didn't feel like I needed it elsewhere. It made sense to me on an ethical level where I'd always struggled with the hypocrisy of claiming a love for animals whilst not thinking twice about funding the killing of animals for food. Clem agreed to join me and just like that we were the dreaded "V" word, we became vegetarians.
Vancouver is perhaps the easiest city in the world to become vegetarian. I don't know that the stats exist but I'd bet that aside from perhaps some religiously influenced cities in India, Vancouver probably has the most Vegetarian restaurants per capita with most offering a wide variety of vegan options too. With our at-home cooking already replacing meat largely with various types of beans and lentils and our going out covered by an amazing array of cuisine options, we had an easy transition into a meat-free life.
Since going Vegetarian, I personally feel that I have more energy for the most-part than I did when I ate meat, I feel better after eating than I ever did before and I feel much less hypocritical about professing a love of animals when I'm not eating them. Overall, it was the right decision for me, and I'm sure Clem feels the same way.
We had a conversation with one of our flatmates who was vegan once and he said something along the lines of "Good food is good food and my choices are my choices" which is a quote I try to live by with my vegetarianism. I know better than a lot of people that life is a very different experience with different sets of challenges for everyone so I'm never going to judge someone adversely for eating meat. My choices are my choices and the ones I stick with are the ones that work for me and make me happy.
What I will say on the moral side of vegetarianism is this: Nobody's perfect, I'm still a massive hypocrite with the amount of dairy, eggs and other animal products I consume that stem from places that inevitably engage in at least some cruel practises even if it's not directly killing animals. I understand that their may be people out there who medically cannot entirely remove meat from their diets and many more out there who are simply unwilling to make such a massive change, particularly one that differs from their cultural norm.
What is indisputable is that the majority of people eat far more meat than is necessary. If you are unable or unwilling to remove meat from your diet, please consider cutting down. If you eat meat 7 days a week, maybe try meat-free weekends, you'll learn more about food in the process and you'll get more creative with what you eat and cook. The meat industry has a lot to answer for in terms of environmental impact and if we make the collective effort to consume less of it, we can collectively make a positive change for the planet. Think about the future, think about your children, cut down on your meat consumption.
In my next post, I'll talk more about some of the awesome restaurants we had the pleasure of experiencing in Vancouver and what they offer vegetarian food-lovers.
With Clem being prone to iron deficiency I was a little concerned that no meat would cause problems for her but hoped that the inclusion of iron rich foods like black beans into more of our food, and the little bit of meat we'd still be eating on nights out would be enough.
As time went on, it became apparent that the importance of meat in our diet was a cultural idea that had been way over-hyped for us growing up. I'm no expert on human nutrition but with neither of us suffering any apparent ill-effects from eating significantly less meat, it seemed to me more and more like the enthusiastic encouragement to eat meat growing up was likely just flow-on propaganda from those who profit from the slaughter of animals. Perhaps I'm being too cynical.
At any rate, a couple of months into our new at-home lifestyle decision, we were walking home one day when I was suddenly hit with the idea to cut meat out altogether. I didn't miss it at home, I didn't feel like I needed it elsewhere. It made sense to me on an ethical level where I'd always struggled with the hypocrisy of claiming a love for animals whilst not thinking twice about funding the killing of animals for food. Clem agreed to join me and just like that we were the dreaded "V" word, we became vegetarians.
Vancouver is perhaps the easiest city in the world to become vegetarian. I don't know that the stats exist but I'd bet that aside from perhaps some religiously influenced cities in India, Vancouver probably has the most Vegetarian restaurants per capita with most offering a wide variety of vegan options too. With our at-home cooking already replacing meat largely with various types of beans and lentils and our going out covered by an amazing array of cuisine options, we had an easy transition into a meat-free life.
Since going Vegetarian, I personally feel that I have more energy for the most-part than I did when I ate meat, I feel better after eating than I ever did before and I feel much less hypocritical about professing a love of animals when I'm not eating them. Overall, it was the right decision for me, and I'm sure Clem feels the same way.
We had a conversation with one of our flatmates who was vegan once and he said something along the lines of "Good food is good food and my choices are my choices" which is a quote I try to live by with my vegetarianism. I know better than a lot of people that life is a very different experience with different sets of challenges for everyone so I'm never going to judge someone adversely for eating meat. My choices are my choices and the ones I stick with are the ones that work for me and make me happy.
What I will say on the moral side of vegetarianism is this: Nobody's perfect, I'm still a massive hypocrite with the amount of dairy, eggs and other animal products I consume that stem from places that inevitably engage in at least some cruel practises even if it's not directly killing animals. I understand that their may be people out there who medically cannot entirely remove meat from their diets and many more out there who are simply unwilling to make such a massive change, particularly one that differs from their cultural norm.
What is indisputable is that the majority of people eat far more meat than is necessary. If you are unable or unwilling to remove meat from your diet, please consider cutting down. If you eat meat 7 days a week, maybe try meat-free weekends, you'll learn more about food in the process and you'll get more creative with what you eat and cook. The meat industry has a lot to answer for in terms of environmental impact and if we make the collective effort to consume less of it, we can collectively make a positive change for the planet. Think about the future, think about your children, cut down on your meat consumption.
In my next post, I'll talk more about some of the awesome restaurants we had the pleasure of experiencing in Vancouver and what they offer vegetarian food-lovers.
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
The World's Largest Junk Removal Company
In April of 2016, about a month into our Canadian adventure, I accepted full time employment with the self-proclaimed largest junk removal company in the world.
I was to be an agent in their call centre, taking incoming calls from whoever felt like calling in, with the ultimate goal of booking as many junk removal jobs as possible. As often seems to be the case in my life, it was a job I had no experience with in a totally foreign environment, the perfect opportunity to learn new skills.
The company was a franchised business started up and still headquartered in Vancouver, with owner/operator franchises throughout Canada, the U.S.A. and Australia. Most calls required dealing with Americans, the ultimate test of patience, though I worked later shifts to coincide with peak call times from Australia (time differences, yo).
Basically the system worked like this: customer has a bunch of old furniture or household rubbish lying around, they call in, we give them a run-down of the service over the phone and arrange a time for two guys in a truck to show up at their location to give them an estimate on the cost of removing the items based on the space the items take up in their truck, if the customer likes the price the guys go to work and get the stuff they have loaded up to be taken off and disposed of with recycling or donating being the preferred method where available.
For the most part it was an enjoyable experience. By nature of the job, the people I worked with were all very friendly and made for a lot of fun in between calls. Fostering a positive workplace culture was high on the list of company priorities and they did a pretty good job of it. In particular the other people on the Australian team were all great and a good source of home culture (or close enough to it anyways).
While working in a call centre got boringly repetitive pretty quick, I was trained in different aspects of the job pretty frequently. Between that and sales competitions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis it was bearable for the 6 or so months I was there. It was rare that I got through a full week without some kind of bonus money from comps and I even managed to win myself a kindle in one of the monthly contests which was pretty sweet.
On top of being relatively well paid and incentivised, the company also gave me a benefits package which I got a few free chiropractor sessions and a couple of therapeutic massages out of. My one regret is not using more of the benefit money offered while I was there. Oh and an endless supply of decent filter coffee didn't hurt either.
While I'm definitely glad to be on the other side of the experience, it was a huge help to have stable full time work in Vancouver. It enabled Clem and I to live comfortably while both putting enough away to be enjoying our travel time as a I write this and never thinking twice about getting out to experience what Vancouver had to offer (So many good restaurants, a couple of good coffee spots, Ellie Goulding live, Canucks hockey, Book of Mormon, Grouse Grind, Capilano suspension bridge to name a few).
The getting sworn at by people who called us in the first place over things as trivial as pricing was never fun, the people dumb enough to think a free service could afford extensive advertising and a 1-800 number were insufferable but the many happy customers served both new and returning and the friends I worked with made it worthwhile. Working in a call centre co-ordinating junk removal was a test of patience, an opportunity to improve sales skills, an opportunity to improve customer service skills and lead to some solid friendships along the way. As much as I don't miss it, I'm glad to have had the experience.
I was to be an agent in their call centre, taking incoming calls from whoever felt like calling in, with the ultimate goal of booking as many junk removal jobs as possible. As often seems to be the case in my life, it was a job I had no experience with in a totally foreign environment, the perfect opportunity to learn new skills.
The company was a franchised business started up and still headquartered in Vancouver, with owner/operator franchises throughout Canada, the U.S.A. and Australia. Most calls required dealing with Americans, the ultimate test of patience, though I worked later shifts to coincide with peak call times from Australia (time differences, yo).
Basically the system worked like this: customer has a bunch of old furniture or household rubbish lying around, they call in, we give them a run-down of the service over the phone and arrange a time for two guys in a truck to show up at their location to give them an estimate on the cost of removing the items based on the space the items take up in their truck, if the customer likes the price the guys go to work and get the stuff they have loaded up to be taken off and disposed of with recycling or donating being the preferred method where available.
For the most part it was an enjoyable experience. By nature of the job, the people I worked with were all very friendly and made for a lot of fun in between calls. Fostering a positive workplace culture was high on the list of company priorities and they did a pretty good job of it. In particular the other people on the Australian team were all great and a good source of home culture (or close enough to it anyways).
While working in a call centre got boringly repetitive pretty quick, I was trained in different aspects of the job pretty frequently. Between that and sales competitions on a daily, weekly and monthly basis it was bearable for the 6 or so months I was there. It was rare that I got through a full week without some kind of bonus money from comps and I even managed to win myself a kindle in one of the monthly contests which was pretty sweet.
On top of being relatively well paid and incentivised, the company also gave me a benefits package which I got a few free chiropractor sessions and a couple of therapeutic massages out of. My one regret is not using more of the benefit money offered while I was there. Oh and an endless supply of decent filter coffee didn't hurt either.
While I'm definitely glad to be on the other side of the experience, it was a huge help to have stable full time work in Vancouver. It enabled Clem and I to live comfortably while both putting enough away to be enjoying our travel time as a I write this and never thinking twice about getting out to experience what Vancouver had to offer (So many good restaurants, a couple of good coffee spots, Ellie Goulding live, Canucks hockey, Book of Mormon, Grouse Grind, Capilano suspension bridge to name a few).
The getting sworn at by people who called us in the first place over things as trivial as pricing was never fun, the people dumb enough to think a free service could afford extensive advertising and a 1-800 number were insufferable but the many happy customers served both new and returning and the friends I worked with made it worthwhile. Working in a call centre co-ordinating junk removal was a test of patience, an opportunity to improve sales skills, an opportunity to improve customer service skills and lead to some solid friendships along the way. As much as I don't miss it, I'm glad to have had the experience.
Monday, December 19, 2016
First Weeks in Canada
Upon arrival in Vancouver, Clem and I were met simultaenously with the excitement of possibilities and the overwhelming list of things that need to be accomplished within a short time when moving to a new place.
We had temporary accommodation sorted courtesy of Couchsurfing (Shout out to Taz, the best host anyone could ask for) which gave us a bit of freedom in our first few days to get the rest sorted at a relatively leisurely pace.
We were exceptionally lucky with how smoothly everything went for us after our arrival. Our first real day, we stopped in at a Service Canada centre and had our S.I.N's (basically Canada's version of a social security number) sorted in less than an hour, got bank accounts set up through TD who offer 0 fees (North American banks suck for fees, they sting you wherever they can) for the first 6 months on any account for people who are new to Canada and started our search for permanent housing.
After combing through padmapper, kijiji and craiglist for suitable places within our price range that looked to be in accessible areas of the city, we fired off a few messages and setup a couple of viewing times. Everything had been so easy for us so far and everyone had lived up to the stereotype of Canadians being nice that we were beginning to get suspicious. Surely, something had to give sooner or later. It didn't. The first place we viewed was perfect for us. A downstairs but not basement suite with our own bathroom, kitchen and well sized bedroom and our own outdoor access in a house with 5 other people. Basically it was a private space with the option to come and go through our own door without having to go into any of the rest of the house if we didn't want to, but also living with a bunch of great people so plenty of social opportunities too.
The next day we officially moved into our new place which came unfurnished. Again resorting to kijiji and craigslist we quickly found someone who sold ex-display and ex-hotel beds on the cheap and was willing to drop us off a queen mattress and boxspring to our door for about $100. The bed was perfect, the mattress super comfortable and clean and the guy who dropped it off helped us get it set up as well.
With long term accommodation sorted in a spot that was 5 minutes walk from the skytrain (Vancouver's metro train network, basically their version of a subway) and only a handful of stops from downtown, the only thing left to do was get work sorted. Clem and I both signed up to a few recruitment agencies with the hope of finding the odd bit of temp work to pay our bills until we found something long term.
I got in touch with a moving company and as well as a bit of labour work through agencies, I got the odd day on the trucks. Highlights from that experience include moving a multi-millionaire out of a North Vancouver waterfront mansion, and moving a small flying company's gear out of one hangar into another one at Vancouver airport, which involved handling a lot of small aircraft components. Clem also picked up the odd day of work doing various office tasks for different companies.
Before we had left New Zealand, I'd received a message on Couchsurfing regarding work. I'd posted on Couchsurfing the rough details of our trip which is how we managed to get a host for our first few days. Someone had sent me a message telling me to get in touch with them once we were in Vancouver with regards to call centre work. At the time I'd sort of written them off as one of those door to door type direct marketing companies where I'd be stuck cold-calling people all day trying to get them to donate to charity and getting paid by pure commission. They'd left me the name of the company and a brief description of what they were all about. The reason they'd sent me a message was because their call centre serviced their Australian customers and they were after people with Aussie and Kiwi accents for authenticity.
In the end after reading through information about them and hearing about some of the things they offered ($13.50 an hour as a training wage for the first month and $16.50 after the first month plus an incentive structure based on performance, free beer every 2nd friday, only taking inbound calls) I decided to give them a call and started working there in April, approximately one month after arriving. Not long afterwards, Clem was assigned to a job through one of her temp agencies who liked her enough to keep having her back and ended up there full time for the rest of our time in Vancouver. Essentially within our first month, we had everything we needed to be comfortable for the entirety of our 7 month stay in Van, not too shabby.
In our first weeks of Canadian life, we were met with Canadian loveliness in all its glory, managed to get ourselves set up in permanent accommodation with ease and had no trouble finding work. Massive thanks to everyone who helped us out in our early days in Vancouver especially Taz for hosting us in Richmond for our first week, Tyler for being awesome and welcoming us into an awesome house and Brendan along with all of the fantastic work people who made my life in Vancouver very easy.
My next post here will be about call centre life in Vancouver, with the world's largest junk removal company.
We had temporary accommodation sorted courtesy of Couchsurfing (Shout out to Taz, the best host anyone could ask for) which gave us a bit of freedom in our first few days to get the rest sorted at a relatively leisurely pace.
We were exceptionally lucky with how smoothly everything went for us after our arrival. Our first real day, we stopped in at a Service Canada centre and had our S.I.N's (basically Canada's version of a social security number) sorted in less than an hour, got bank accounts set up through TD who offer 0 fees (North American banks suck for fees, they sting you wherever they can) for the first 6 months on any account for people who are new to Canada and started our search for permanent housing.
After combing through padmapper, kijiji and craiglist for suitable places within our price range that looked to be in accessible areas of the city, we fired off a few messages and setup a couple of viewing times. Everything had been so easy for us so far and everyone had lived up to the stereotype of Canadians being nice that we were beginning to get suspicious. Surely, something had to give sooner or later. It didn't. The first place we viewed was perfect for us. A downstairs but not basement suite with our own bathroom, kitchen and well sized bedroom and our own outdoor access in a house with 5 other people. Basically it was a private space with the option to come and go through our own door without having to go into any of the rest of the house if we didn't want to, but also living with a bunch of great people so plenty of social opportunities too.
The next day we officially moved into our new place which came unfurnished. Again resorting to kijiji and craigslist we quickly found someone who sold ex-display and ex-hotel beds on the cheap and was willing to drop us off a queen mattress and boxspring to our door for about $100. The bed was perfect, the mattress super comfortable and clean and the guy who dropped it off helped us get it set up as well.
With long term accommodation sorted in a spot that was 5 minutes walk from the skytrain (Vancouver's metro train network, basically their version of a subway) and only a handful of stops from downtown, the only thing left to do was get work sorted. Clem and I both signed up to a few recruitment agencies with the hope of finding the odd bit of temp work to pay our bills until we found something long term.
I got in touch with a moving company and as well as a bit of labour work through agencies, I got the odd day on the trucks. Highlights from that experience include moving a multi-millionaire out of a North Vancouver waterfront mansion, and moving a small flying company's gear out of one hangar into another one at Vancouver airport, which involved handling a lot of small aircraft components. Clem also picked up the odd day of work doing various office tasks for different companies.
Before we had left New Zealand, I'd received a message on Couchsurfing regarding work. I'd posted on Couchsurfing the rough details of our trip which is how we managed to get a host for our first few days. Someone had sent me a message telling me to get in touch with them once we were in Vancouver with regards to call centre work. At the time I'd sort of written them off as one of those door to door type direct marketing companies where I'd be stuck cold-calling people all day trying to get them to donate to charity and getting paid by pure commission. They'd left me the name of the company and a brief description of what they were all about. The reason they'd sent me a message was because their call centre serviced their Australian customers and they were after people with Aussie and Kiwi accents for authenticity.
In the end after reading through information about them and hearing about some of the things they offered ($13.50 an hour as a training wage for the first month and $16.50 after the first month plus an incentive structure based on performance, free beer every 2nd friday, only taking inbound calls) I decided to give them a call and started working there in April, approximately one month after arriving. Not long afterwards, Clem was assigned to a job through one of her temp agencies who liked her enough to keep having her back and ended up there full time for the rest of our time in Vancouver. Essentially within our first month, we had everything we needed to be comfortable for the entirety of our 7 month stay in Van, not too shabby.
In our first weeks of Canadian life, we were met with Canadian loveliness in all its glory, managed to get ourselves set up in permanent accommodation with ease and had no trouble finding work. Massive thanks to everyone who helped us out in our early days in Vancouver especially Taz for hosting us in Richmond for our first week, Tyler for being awesome and welcoming us into an awesome house and Brendan along with all of the fantastic work people who made my life in Vancouver very easy.
My next post here will be about call centre life in Vancouver, with the world's largest junk removal company.
Saturday, September 10, 2016
Thoughts From an Aeroplane Bound for Vancouver
In my spare time I try to push myself to free-write whenever I have a pen, a particular writing book and enough ambition. My usual exercise is to write non-stop until I've filled a page in this particular book which usually takes close to ten minutes at a casual writing pace. The following is largely one of these free-writes from the flight to Vancouver mostly used to put my mind at ease and to try to make myself feel tired so I could sleep on the plane:
Aeroplanes are great thought incubators. Even more so when you're trapped on one for roughly 12 hours.
You get through a movie, knock back a drink and before you know it, you're bored with the screen in front of you and you've killed a grand total of 2 hours.
To say the very least I'm excited. I am 10 hours away from the adventure I've been working towards in some way or another for almost 2 years. I am also terrified. This may surprise most of those who know me but I always am terrified when travelling far from home. I should hope that I always will be. Fear goes hand in hand with excitement and there's nothing like a leap of faith into the unknown to bring a welcome helping of both.
North America is hallowed ground to me. It has held a sense of home for a while. I am ready for this.
I have with me my favourite person, without whom this adventure would be less than half as exciting.
These are the thoughts and feelings that occupy my mind at what must be about 10.15 p.m. New Zealand time. They are the culmination of the planning, waiting, dreaming that has brought me to this plane seat.
I have a cue of good music lined up. As I come to the end of this page, my next time-wasting tactic is to listen myself to sleep as the mid-flight game plan on these long hauls so often is. This has been a long time coming and I could not be more grateful for the harmonious way in which everything has timed out.
Roll on Vancouver
Aeroplanes are great thought incubators. Even more so when you're trapped on one for roughly 12 hours.
You get through a movie, knock back a drink and before you know it, you're bored with the screen in front of you and you've killed a grand total of 2 hours.
To say the very least I'm excited. I am 10 hours away from the adventure I've been working towards in some way or another for almost 2 years. I am also terrified. This may surprise most of those who know me but I always am terrified when travelling far from home. I should hope that I always will be. Fear goes hand in hand with excitement and there's nothing like a leap of faith into the unknown to bring a welcome helping of both.
North America is hallowed ground to me. It has held a sense of home for a while. I am ready for this.
I have with me my favourite person, without whom this adventure would be less than half as exciting.
These are the thoughts and feelings that occupy my mind at what must be about 10.15 p.m. New Zealand time. They are the culmination of the planning, waiting, dreaming that has brought me to this plane seat.
I have a cue of good music lined up. As I come to the end of this page, my next time-wasting tactic is to listen myself to sleep as the mid-flight game plan on these long hauls so often is. This has been a long time coming and I could not be more grateful for the harmonious way in which everything has timed out.
Roll on Vancouver
Brotherly. Love.
In November of 2015 my older brother married his fiancee in a beautiful chapel, overlooking the rugged South Coast of Wellington.
There's something surreal about watching the first child of your generation get married. The photographs of parents' weddings, aunts' and uncles' weddings when they were in their early 20s come to mind. It is strange to be reminded of these pictures in the midst of re-creating them, knowing that these will one day be the pictures that his children will thumb through in awe of how their parents looked when they were younger. They will marvel at the style of our suits, the way in which we wore our hair, the magnificence of their mother in her red wedding dress.
One day my own children will look at them and think how strangely different Uncle Campbell and Aunt Linda look on their wedding day in comparison to their modern day middle aged counterparts. It is a strange eventuality to suddenly become aware of in the midst of the most joyous of occasions.
Perhaps I'm full of shit and entirely too fanciful.
At any rate, my brother, the oldest of myself and all our first cousins, married the love of his life in November of 2015 in a beautiful little chapel that comes part in parcel with an equally gorgeous reception venue, both of which overlook the rugged South Coast of Wellington.
I had the honour of being the Best Man which meant aside from organising the bachelor party where myself and several of his closest friends attacked him with paintball guns over the course of several hours, I also had to deliver a speech at the reception.
The ceremony was a lovely coming together of cultures, the bride was stunning in red as per Chinese tradition and my brother glowed in his tux in a way I've never seen before.
As I suppose is a side-effect of growing up, occasions where the whole extended family gets together are few and far between so it was lovely to have everyone there in celebration. In particular it's always fun to see the cousins I grew up with who I'm lucky to hang out with once a year, us all being spread out across the country and across the world from each other.
The reception was, as expected, an emotional experience given the combination of Campbell being the first of our generation to get married and the somewhat tumultuous way in which we grew up, our parents splitting up when I was about 4 and Cams about 6.
Not long before speeches, my grandparents on Dad's side had asked me to include an official "welcome to the family" from them to Linda which I agreed to do for the sake of honouring their sense of tradition.
I spoke about growing up together, what brotherhood meant in the context of my relationship with Campbell over the years. We were raised by our mother who worked full time which often left us with only each other for company. This meant that I relied heavily on Campbell for advice, protection and help from our days in primary school through to my first couple of years in high school. I'd like to think he needed me as much as I needed him through much of growing up.
Anyone who knows me now, knows that I'm a fiercely independent person. I move in the direction of my dreams and I try to ignore the voice in the back of my head whispering negativity in my ear as much as I possibly can. I am unafraid to take chances and I'm unashamed at how little I have figured out at this stage in my life.
I owe a lot of that attitude to having grown up in a supportive family environment, and knowing that if I really fuck things up, I have an amazing big brother who always has my back and is perfectly happy not to tell Mum.
I managed to get through my speech without totally losing my shit, and only cried a little at the end when I'd said pretty much everything I wanted to say.
My parents also had heartfelt words to offer, I can't say I kept it together too well during their time with the mic.
The reception was capped off by an awesome dinner, lots of dancing, and a lot more drinking than I maybe should have done. I spent most of the night after the formalities hanging out with cousins but managed to first do a round of quick catch-ups with pretty much everyone, and some introductions to the few that hadn't had the chance to meet Clem yet.
Credit to Campbell and Linda, they pulled off one hell of a party! If either/both of you are reading this, congratulations and may your years together be full of joy.
It's a strange feeling to have grown up with a brother, to have seen him in so many different lights, relied on him for so many things over the years and to see him at the happiest I've ever known him to be, promise himself for life to the woman he loves. Truly a unique and remarkable combination of emotions.
I had the honour of being the Best Man which meant aside from organising the bachelor party where myself and several of his closest friends attacked him with paintball guns over the course of several hours, I also had to deliver a speech at the reception.
The ceremony was a lovely coming together of cultures, the bride was stunning in red as per Chinese tradition and my brother glowed in his tux in a way I've never seen before.
As I suppose is a side-effect of growing up, occasions where the whole extended family gets together are few and far between so it was lovely to have everyone there in celebration. In particular it's always fun to see the cousins I grew up with who I'm lucky to hang out with once a year, us all being spread out across the country and across the world from each other.
The reception was, as expected, an emotional experience given the combination of Campbell being the first of our generation to get married and the somewhat tumultuous way in which we grew up, our parents splitting up when I was about 4 and Cams about 6.
Not long before speeches, my grandparents on Dad's side had asked me to include an official "welcome to the family" from them to Linda which I agreed to do for the sake of honouring their sense of tradition.
I spoke about growing up together, what brotherhood meant in the context of my relationship with Campbell over the years. We were raised by our mother who worked full time which often left us with only each other for company. This meant that I relied heavily on Campbell for advice, protection and help from our days in primary school through to my first couple of years in high school. I'd like to think he needed me as much as I needed him through much of growing up.
Anyone who knows me now, knows that I'm a fiercely independent person. I move in the direction of my dreams and I try to ignore the voice in the back of my head whispering negativity in my ear as much as I possibly can. I am unafraid to take chances and I'm unashamed at how little I have figured out at this stage in my life.
I owe a lot of that attitude to having grown up in a supportive family environment, and knowing that if I really fuck things up, I have an amazing big brother who always has my back and is perfectly happy not to tell Mum.
I managed to get through my speech without totally losing my shit, and only cried a little at the end when I'd said pretty much everything I wanted to say.
My parents also had heartfelt words to offer, I can't say I kept it together too well during their time with the mic.
The reception was capped off by an awesome dinner, lots of dancing, and a lot more drinking than I maybe should have done. I spent most of the night after the formalities hanging out with cousins but managed to first do a round of quick catch-ups with pretty much everyone, and some introductions to the few that hadn't had the chance to meet Clem yet.
Credit to Campbell and Linda, they pulled off one hell of a party! If either/both of you are reading this, congratulations and may your years together be full of joy.
It's a strange feeling to have grown up with a brother, to have seen him in so many different lights, relied on him for so many things over the years and to see him at the happiest I've ever known him to be, promise himself for life to the woman he loves. Truly a unique and remarkable combination of emotions.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Star Trekkin...
To those reading that are unfamiliar with the city I grew up in, you're about to get a good idea of how crazily quirky it can be. Wellington is renowned for its eclectic arts scene and I cannot stress enough the eclectic part of that phrase.
For the last couple of years in the city, a group of players and creative-minded theatre folk who operate under the moniker "Enterprise Entertainment" have put on a production called Summer Star Trek. Basically, it's a low budget, high enthusiasm outdoor theatre show in which a carefully selected episode from the original (George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner...) Star Trek series is acted out live.
As "After the Dance" was fast approaching its closing nights we inevitably began to discuss amongst ourselves what was next for us in theatre. One of our leads mentioned that Summer Star Trek auditions were coming up (he had previously played Kirk in their productions) and someone else mentioned that they were planning on auditioning as well. I hadn't thought much about doing any other theatre related things but I got to thinking that this might be a fun thing to go out for. I got in touch with Enterprise Entertainment and booked myself an audition time.
The episode they had picked for the upcoming show was "Mirror, Mirror" in which the Enterprise crew find themselves accidentally switching places with their "evil" counterparts in an alternate universe. I watched the episode a couple of times, looked through the scenes they had picked out for the audition process and decided that I'd quite like to be Dr McCoy.
The auditions rolled around, I was horribly nervous and managed to get through the obligatory 1-minute monologue I'd chosen which was a short excerpt from "Saving Private Ryan" that I thought would be good for conveying emotion subtly. We ran some scenes from the show, I relaxed a little bit and it ended up being quite fun by the time it ended.
I left feeling as though I'd done well but my audition group was quite a small one and we were the last group so I wasn't overly confident about the likelihood of being cast.
At the time I was exhausted from work and the schedule I'd had to live on for "After the Dance" which was basically: wake up at 3.30am for work, work 8 hours then come home around 12.30 to sleep for a bit, wake up around 5pm to have dinner and get to the theatre for call time, finish the show and come home to sleep a few hours before work.
The proposed Star Trek schedule was basically 3 months of rehearsals before performances and performances split over two weekends and I wasn't sure how much I wanted to commit to that sort of a schedule with working early mornings. I made the decision that if I was offered a part with no lines or very limited lines I'd turn it down in favour of a healthier sleep schedule. Then I got a call from the director.
Being a big ball of nerves, I let the phone ring out and waited for the txt to come through telling me I had a new voicemail. I ran a few scenarios through my mind and planned how I would react to various different outcomes before deciding to put myself out of my misery and just check the message.
I had been offered the part of Farrell: The personal guard of Captain Kirk in the "evil" universe. This was not the smallest part in the show nor the part with the fewest lines. It was however, a very small part with very few lines. I decided not to take it.
I then went to the kitchen, gathered the necessary ingredients from the cupboard, pre-heated the oven, mixed everything together, poured it into an oven-safe dish, baked it for an hour, took the dish out of the oven and left it to cool before cutting myself a big ol' slice of humble pie which I promptly consumed. It was a little bitter at first.
There was nothing else coming up that I wanted to audition for and I decided that being involved with something as crazy as an outdoor Star Trek show in any capacity was better than not being involved and regretting it later.
I took the part, put as much focus and effort as I possibly could into my character outside of my lines and had a hell of a lot of fun.
The rehearsal process was long but the company was fantastic. The shows all went really well and drew large and enthusiastic crowds. A lot of people I'd met through "After the Dance" came along to see the show as did some of my family including Mum who happened to be in Wellington for work during the performance run.
At the after party event, our director Shannon gave out award certificates along with one of the prop badges each that we had used for costuming during the show. That was a really nice touch and it takes someone who really cares about every facet of a production to personalise something like that for every member of cast and crew involved.
I made some good friends through Summer Star Trek and looking back its amazing to think about how many cool experiences I almost missed out on over something as trivial as not getting the specific part that I originally wanted.
Enterprise Entertainment also do a Star Wars themed show called 30 minute trilogy which sounds exciting and I'm sad I can't be a part of it, as happy as I am to be hanging out in Canada for the next little while. I'll definitely be signing myself up for auditions with these guys the next time I'm in town, they're a great group of people to have worked with.
The next post here will be about my big brother's wedding in November of 2015, Live Long and Prosper.
For the last couple of years in the city, a group of players and creative-minded theatre folk who operate under the moniker "Enterprise Entertainment" have put on a production called Summer Star Trek. Basically, it's a low budget, high enthusiasm outdoor theatre show in which a carefully selected episode from the original (George Takei, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner...) Star Trek series is acted out live.
As "After the Dance" was fast approaching its closing nights we inevitably began to discuss amongst ourselves what was next for us in theatre. One of our leads mentioned that Summer Star Trek auditions were coming up (he had previously played Kirk in their productions) and someone else mentioned that they were planning on auditioning as well. I hadn't thought much about doing any other theatre related things but I got to thinking that this might be a fun thing to go out for. I got in touch with Enterprise Entertainment and booked myself an audition time.
The episode they had picked for the upcoming show was "Mirror, Mirror" in which the Enterprise crew find themselves accidentally switching places with their "evil" counterparts in an alternate universe. I watched the episode a couple of times, looked through the scenes they had picked out for the audition process and decided that I'd quite like to be Dr McCoy.
The auditions rolled around, I was horribly nervous and managed to get through the obligatory 1-minute monologue I'd chosen which was a short excerpt from "Saving Private Ryan" that I thought would be good for conveying emotion subtly. We ran some scenes from the show, I relaxed a little bit and it ended up being quite fun by the time it ended.
I left feeling as though I'd done well but my audition group was quite a small one and we were the last group so I wasn't overly confident about the likelihood of being cast.
At the time I was exhausted from work and the schedule I'd had to live on for "After the Dance" which was basically: wake up at 3.30am for work, work 8 hours then come home around 12.30 to sleep for a bit, wake up around 5pm to have dinner and get to the theatre for call time, finish the show and come home to sleep a few hours before work.
The proposed Star Trek schedule was basically 3 months of rehearsals before performances and performances split over two weekends and I wasn't sure how much I wanted to commit to that sort of a schedule with working early mornings. I made the decision that if I was offered a part with no lines or very limited lines I'd turn it down in favour of a healthier sleep schedule. Then I got a call from the director.
Being a big ball of nerves, I let the phone ring out and waited for the txt to come through telling me I had a new voicemail. I ran a few scenarios through my mind and planned how I would react to various different outcomes before deciding to put myself out of my misery and just check the message.
I had been offered the part of Farrell: The personal guard of Captain Kirk in the "evil" universe. This was not the smallest part in the show nor the part with the fewest lines. It was however, a very small part with very few lines. I decided not to take it.
I then went to the kitchen, gathered the necessary ingredients from the cupboard, pre-heated the oven, mixed everything together, poured it into an oven-safe dish, baked it for an hour, took the dish out of the oven and left it to cool before cutting myself a big ol' slice of humble pie which I promptly consumed. It was a little bitter at first.
There was nothing else coming up that I wanted to audition for and I decided that being involved with something as crazy as an outdoor Star Trek show in any capacity was better than not being involved and regretting it later.
I took the part, put as much focus and effort as I possibly could into my character outside of my lines and had a hell of a lot of fun.
The rehearsal process was long but the company was fantastic. The shows all went really well and drew large and enthusiastic crowds. A lot of people I'd met through "After the Dance" came along to see the show as did some of my family including Mum who happened to be in Wellington for work during the performance run.
At the after party event, our director Shannon gave out award certificates along with one of the prop badges each that we had used for costuming during the show. That was a really nice touch and it takes someone who really cares about every facet of a production to personalise something like that for every member of cast and crew involved.
I made some good friends through Summer Star Trek and looking back its amazing to think about how many cool experiences I almost missed out on over something as trivial as not getting the specific part that I originally wanted.
Enterprise Entertainment also do a Star Wars themed show called 30 minute trilogy which sounds exciting and I'm sad I can't be a part of it, as happy as I am to be hanging out in Canada for the next little while. I'll definitely be signing myself up for auditions with these guys the next time I'm in town, they're a great group of people to have worked with.
The next post here will be about my big brother's wedding in November of 2015, Live Long and Prosper.
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