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Moving to Vancouver - advice?

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Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
The Bookerman said:
You should just drop Vancouver and go for Montreal.

Too late, things are booked, and when I first asked people where in Canada I should go, Vancouver won by an absolute mile.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
No, it's people from Canada. Isn't it amazing the way message boards work? You can talk to people from anywhere!
 
Socreges said:
Bookerman is from Montreal. No regrets. ;)

Hey dude, I'm preachin here.

Montreal is fuckin awesome city.

Hockey, Football, Nice Clubs, Fuckin hot chicks, great people. Cheapest rent in the country.
A Six Flag within subway range. lots of Restaurant.

Jesus, what more can you ask.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
He's a big black dude with a kid and I don't know how old he is, but I'd guess 30.

Why do you think you're like him anyway?
 
BuddyChrist83
Junior Member
Litigation Manuel
Junior Member
EDIT a third time!

Aww, now someone else is just reusing what was at one point an original idea, not necessarily of Mike Works, a second time within the same day of the most recent use of the idea (which does not really merit an "aww" since it was not copying a recent original idea, but rather using it a second time cleverly in relation to the most recent usage, but come on, I'm not gonna edit out the first word of my original post, that's just too much).
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Me again. I've got about a month until I'm due to move, so I'm back.

Just two questions right now, I have plenty but I'll save them.

1) What does unfurnished mean in Canada? I figured everywhere was like the UK, but my friend didn't think it was, so I tried to look it up, but couldn't find an answer. It does appear that countries have different meanings though; some places think it means absolutely nothing there (not even curtains, not even a bath/shower), some places mean built in utilities (like an oven, a bath etc.), while others mean built in utitlies and white goods (fridge, microwave etc.).

It'd just hep me budget things to know.

2) Is there anywhere in Canada like Argos in the UK? Let me explain. Argos is a store which sells pretty much anything for around the home, and it also has a catalogue you can mail order things from. Here's a link if you need to know what I mean http://www.argos.co.uk/

If there is anywhere you guys know of though, I'm after one with a website so I can check prices of things.
 

Tabris

Member
Kinda, you have places like Sears, The Brick, The Bay, etc. Ikea is great for furniture though. There's one in Richmond (what was up with that asian comment from netmapel?) So check up http://www.ikea.ca and check the catalogues.

So what area of Vancouver did you get a place or looking?
 
Unfurnished just means the place has no practical furniture. It should have a bath, fridge, oven, sink, curtains, etc. No sofa's, bed, chairs, though.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Thanks, I've checked out some of those places as I've searched round (well, all of them except The Bay actually).

I'm not getting a place until I get there, I want to be able to see the location and the place itself first. I guess I'll be staying at a youth hostel until I find one. I'll be looking round the places mentioned in this thread, maybe Burnaby too.

Oh that reminds me, I'm going to want a place as soon as possible and no matter how quickly I apply for jobs, it's likely to take a week or two before I actually manage to start one (probably quite a bit longer, depends how lucky I am). Do you guys think I'll have a problem getting a place without a job? I don't want to be spending money on a youth hostel for too long, but if the landlord does a background check and finds I'm without work, will that go against me?

I hope not, that'd really screw me. I have quite a bit of money to go with and if I explain that I've only just got there and couldn't possibly have a job yet, hopefully that'll be enough.

EDIT: Good to hear Warm Machine, I wasn't looking forward to having to buy a fridge.
 
I once lived at 600 Drake St. Downtown. Rent there was $680 a month for a bachelor suite which was about 300 sq feet. They also had junior 1 bedrooms for $780 and they had their own minibedroom. I bet you would have to add $150 to the price now to rent there. It was a great and reasonably new building full of asian schoolgirls.

The bachelor suits had a balcony and a pullout murphy bed. I really liked living there even though it was a small space.
 
Yup, that is the place.

All the suites have their own bathrooms. The kitchen/livingroom/bedroom in the bachelor suite all shared the same open area.

The Jr. 1 bedroom was similar except it has an extra room for a bed with a sliding door for privacy.

Make no mistake, they are small but with clever furnishing you can make the most of it. I have a friend who actually roomed with another guy in that size space (about 400 sqfeet in the jr.)! They are small but cozy.

The building is near a grocery store, 7-11, the ocean, a wicked tex-mex restaurant, the downtown club strip, as well as the the best strip club in town. All that said the area is pretty safe. I lived there for 5 years and never had a problem. Though I haven't spent much time around there in the last 2.5 years since I moved.

Oh yeah, the laundry room is pretty big and has loads of machines.

Another thing, hot water is included and the heaters are hot water forced air. The place can warm up really quick because of the size. My largest hydro bill for a single month was something like $15!
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Sounds great, though $825 is a little more than I'd like to pay. I could probably do it though, at a push.

That's not a bachelor suite though, so I could maybe knock 80-100 off for one of those. Not that anything in the building will necessarily be available when I want it of course.

You know what would help me out? If I copy down one of the listings I've been looking at, if you guys could just read through it and tell me if there's anything you'd be worried about. This is obviously ones I feel is quite good, so it'd be useful to get some feedback on how retarded I am (or not, hopefully).

Bachelor Suite: 1 bathroom, approximately 400 square feet

Rent: $735.00 (Monthly), Security Deposit: $367.50
Date Available: 1-Sep-2004
Address: 990 Broughton Street
Appliances: Laundry Facilities, Fridge Stove
Building: Elevator, On-Site Management, Security Door
Neighborhood: Near Bike Path/Trail, Near Bus Stop, Near College/University,
Near Downtown, Near Hospital, Near Park, Near School, Near Shopping Center, Scenic View
Parking:Outside Street
Recreation: Exercise/Health Facilities, Swimming Pool
Unit Amenities: Balcony, Satellite Television
Included with Rent: Heat, Satellite Television, Water
Notes: Ask about our free Hydro & Cable hook-ups as well as our incentive bonuses. We also accpet applications for our waiting list. Suite sizes vary and rents are subject to change.

mqmapgend


That's where it is, and this is it http://www.affordable-luxury.ca/detail.php?b=OPP
 

DJ_Tet

Banned
How much does EA pay to test games up there? I'm assuming the rent numbers being thrown out are in Canadian.

Hell, maybe I need to move to Vancouver too.

Also...do they have "exotic" bars in Vancouver still? No, not strip clubs damnit.
 

NetMapel

Guilty White Male Mods Gave Me This Tag
That building looks alright. You plan to work in downtown Vancouver then, I assume ?
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
I'll work anywhere that has a job I'm willing to do and I can get to and back from easily, cheaply and quickly enough. I'm thinking of looking for work in a hotel straight away, there must be loads all over Vancouver.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Can someone explain the minimum wage to me? I'm a bit confused. It seems to be $8 an hour generally, but $6 for first time jobs/entry level. It's highly unlikely anyone will know this, but as I've worked for money before outside of BC, will that allow me to get past the first job part? And I can't seem to find out what counts as entry level.

I'm hoping not to work minimum wage anyway, but I guess it might happen.

EDIT: Scratch the first time job question, I just found out work abroad counts.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Ok, this is going to sound like a really stupid question, but do Canadian supermarkets have their own brand, cheap products?

In the UK we have tiers for most products (food, drink, cleaning stuff, toiletries, that sort of thing). There's the top tier which is most expensive, brand products and special own brand ones. Then there's the middle tier, home brand and a bit cheaper, but still decent quality. And then there's the bottom tier, the cheapest products which you really have to try before deciding if the quality is worth the price. For all I know Canada had this system far before us.

I wish I didn't have to keep asking you guys stupid little questions like this, but either I've suddenly become really bad at searching for things, or finding detailed information about Canada is near impossible (for some things).
 

NetMapel

Guilty White Male Mods Gave Me This Tag
Since you'll be in BC, I suggest either "Save On Food & Drugs" and "Safeway" for your supermarket/grocery need. I personally suggest Save On Food :) For little cheap things that you want to buy for say, your bathroom and kitchen, like soap and extension cord and all that, I suggest London Drugs, Zellars, and Wallmart. As for the minimum wage thing, if you've already got a nice resume handy, I think you'll definitely be able to get a job above the minimum salary, and your minimum salary should be $8.00/hr
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Thanks, that's pretty useful. We have Safeway over here too, I didn't know it wasn't a UK thing. And I never knew Walmart was a Canada thing too.
 

Mama Smurf

My penis is still intact.
Ok, when looking on one of the apartment sites bishop linked me too, I came across this map:

commercialmap.gif


Now the stars are where the apartments this particular site rents. Would I be right in saying the ones I should perhaps avoid are Penderville, Eton and Sandringham? They're all in East Hastings right? Any others you'd be worried about?

Oh and it seems really hard to tell where East Hastings begins and ends (or more specifcally the area I don't want to be in, maybe some of it's alright), seems like a large area along that harbour/coastline bit.
 
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