I’ve been busy moving to Canada! I’m here for a year to do a Diploma of Game Design at Vancouver Film School, being one of four recipients of the 2013 Women in Games Scholarship.
As such, I’ll be blogging at least once a month on my school’s website about Game Design, some content which will be doubled up on here. I started with a silly little interview that Nicha (another recipient) and I did with each other. We both love cats.
This isn’t my house. But I pass it on my way to school and it is quaint. BREATHE IN ITS’ QUAINTNESS.
So I live on the edge of Chinatown, which is way more massive than the street of Chinatown you get in the major cities of Australia. This couple walked up to me as I was photographing the street and awkwardly small-talked about whether I’m American, so I photographed their backs and butts as they walked away.
This wall leads up to the Jimi Hendrix Shrine which is also on my way to school. I haven’t been inside yet, but I always stare in puzzlement at the small garden out back.
Asians galore.
It’s summer in Vancouver, so walking is still a lovely experience for the time being.
School! It’s in the middle of Chinatown, Hoboville.
The following shots were taken during our Game Theory Practical class. AKA play board games for 3 hours and discuss what you liked and didn’t like, in relation to the theory we’ve been learning.
This week we focussed on card games. We usually just play the game provided by VFS, but this week we were allowed to bring games from home//playtest the games we’d been making for the analog portion of the course.
So I brought GLOOM! 😀
The aim of the game is to make your family as miserable as possible whilst narrating their tragic downfall, then kill them off as quickly as possible. Whilst making your enemies happy. Perfect for my generation of angst filled youth, really.
Sim kept being a bitch and attacking me so I glared him into silence.
🙂
These kids were playing Yu-Gi-Oh.
My teacher loves me. Hah. He thinks I’m a smart ass. I totally am. But so is he. WHEE shiny head.
Daniel’s the first friend I made at VFS. He’s loud and has bad taste in women.
Games nobody wanted to play.
Daniel is a walrus.
Obligatory post-game discussion about the games we played and their genres, mechanics, themes etc.
Post-class exploration of Chinatown.
It starts to get dark around 10pm in Vancouver during summer. Crazy.
Every weekend, the Vancouver Chinatown Markets takes place on Keefer Street.
I think it’ll take me all year to get across just how beautiful Vancouver is.
It’s a taste of China.
So… I got a Canadian boyfriend while I was here. His name is Nicholas.
Chicken dinner eh?
Bunch of food and oil.
The vegetarian poutine here is okay. The gravy was chunky and not terribly rich in flavour. If I’m going to eat chips with gravy and cheese curds in Canada, it better taste Canadian!
The next day, Nick and I headed to Granville Island, a food and arts hub.
Nick’s learning his way around my camera.
Are you ready for a blast of food porn?
Lol jks here’s a picture of a bird.
But in all seriousness, Granville has a wicked indoor food market with a bajillion varieties of foodstuffs.
We started off at the ‘Better than Sex’ Nuts & Chocolate stand.
This jolly chap gave us a smackering of samples: vanilla butter almonds, citrus almonds, smoked almonds, dark chocolate, chocolate coated coffee beans etc.
I got a pack of the vanilla butter almonds ($10). They disappeared in class very quickly.
So Nick had been going on about these amazing Duck Fat Donuts he had last time he visited Granville. The menu is pretty impressive.
The first time we swung by (in the morning) they were still closed. Nick was sad.
But we came back. And Nick got his fois-gras filled donuts after a 15 minute wait as they were cooked to order.
I can’t be entirely sure, but I think he enjoyed them.
Meanwhile, vegosaurus me nommed on an assortment of pastries. This pain au chocolate was incredibly crispy, light and airy, with dense, moist, dark chocolate. This was one of my favourites munchies of the day.
Salted caramel apple foccacia. It was surprisingly sour, due to the tangy and tart apples. The smattering of sesame seeds was a lovely touch.
Potato and dill bread. Carbohydrates come at me!
Have I mentioned how much I love bread?
We wandered around the shops in between stuffing our faces. Nick was disappointed that they gave Rene Magritte’s Son of Man a face.
Being all touristy-like. Nick’s from Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Aaaaannnd then we ate again.
Here’s my vegetarian Shepard’s Pie. Needed tomato sauce.
Contained walnuts, tofu, carrots, peas and corn. Fairly generic vegetarian fare.
Nick had a monster Montreal Smoked Meat bagel.
Om nom nom.
Super sugary lemonade iced tea.
The view from where we were sitting (indoors).
I mentioned to Nick that I’d never had pumpkin pie. Off he went.
This was super cinnamon-ry.
But Nick says not to judge all pumpkin pies by this one, since it wasn’t that great.
This chocolate milkshake was pretty great though.
Pooface.
Wandering around the kid’s store.
Douchey photoshoot.
Hey sleepy doggy, look here!
Cannoli. Neither of us knew what it’s stuffed with. Google to the rescue! Turns out it’s sweetened ricotta.
Nom om om.
Letting our food babies relax at a park.
There are so many beautiful parks in Vancouver. I’m astounded every time I take a walk.
Well that was a bunch of pixels you just sat through. Congratulations! Your attention span is greater than mine.
Til next time, BYE!
