Safari Goes Canada

         This week, Canada! Opensim is a great way to explore cultures and places in the real world, and also see how people express their world view through pixels. 
         Our three destinations were on Pathlandia, GreatCanadianGrid, and Creanovale, all three with strong Canadian connections, although that might not be obvious from first impressions, and about 23 avies joined in the fun. HG Addresses at the end, as usual.

Nobody say 'I'd tap that'. 

          I was all ready to go - I'd even made mesh moose rack, and a Maple Syrup dress. But then disaster struck - I came down with the flu about 3 hours before the Safari and couldn't to join the group. So, how cool that John 'Pathfinder' Lester decided to Livestream the first hour! 

          You can watch the show here:


         Originally billed as a conversation about the differences between the US and Canada, since Pathfinder moved to Canada from the USA a couple of years ago, the conversation blossomed into chat about modelling, Myst, the history of Pathlandia, food, Dreamworld standalones, chatbots, educators, William Shatner, French, and strangely, on minute 17, there's someone taking a photo of my hair.
         Eventually, talk turned to the real life 'culture shock' of moving north of the border. This is my favorite bit of what Path had to say about living in Canada.
Pathfinder Lester: I don't know if it's the air, or the frontier spirit of living in this huge country that's second only to China in terms of landmass, and yet has the population of California, it's just so much land, and so few people. And I think people just kinda help each other out, and in some sense, you know, this is kind of - I didn't plan this, but it's coming full circle, thinking about opensim and the hypergrid  - that's what happens, especially when you start exploring other grids on the hypergrid, there's so much space here. It's so vast, and when you run across other people, it's really special, and especially if you can find a group of people and a community of people. It's human nature, you have this kind of frontier spirit where you say, "Let's help each other out, because we're all in this together, and there aren't many of us, and we've got this wonderful land of opportunity, and the only way we're going to do something amazing is if we work together."

Arriving on GCG. Photo courtesy of Wizardoz Chrome

         Our second destination was on Great Canadian Grid, as guests of Marianna Monetes. She runs GCG Communications, which is a local news organization that tries to keep the Great Canadians abreast of news around their own grid and in the wider hyperverse. The organization has a fine office building on its own region, but the safari group arrived on the Welcome sim at the historic wood cabin, where grid owner Roddie Macchi was present to greet everyone. 
            GCG Communications serves both to inform grid residents about events at home and abroad, and also as a creative outlet for those who like to write, and they run competitions and such to inspire community cohesion. Marianna also sells jewelry in GCG, and at the Communications building she had thoughtfully left some free gifts for the tourists.

GCG Communications. Photo courtesy of Wizardoz Chrome

         The last stop on this trip was on the Novale region of Creanovale grid. Dabici Straulino and Kelso Uxlay have to my mind the perfect small grid. Exquisitely built, huge, full of free items, informative, restful and constantly changing, it reflects the culture of Quebec while remaining firmly at the center of hypergrid goings-on. 

          At the landing area on Novale, a series of boards quickly set the scene, and help us anglocentric know-nothings to see Canada from the point of view of the Frenchies!  
          Maps and historical highlights bring the past to life and help explain the foundation of Montreal, Quebec, and reveal interesting facts like 'The King's Daughters' - young women who were shipped out to Canada to resolve the serious lack of ladies - at one point, there was one woman to every 7 men in New France. Oolala.
          But it's not just about dates and statistics, the display also explains how the land itself was shaped by the incoming westerners, who parceled the land out in such a way that each one got access to the river.  

            Once you've read the many signs and absorbed some of the information, it is time to get out and about! Click on the final poster, and you can teleport off to see some of the charming corners on this huge region. The builds are inspired by real places, as the photos indicate, so it's really like taking a trip around rural Quebec without having to put on your shoes. Or, in my case, spread your flu germs. 

          The scenery on the grid changes every few months to reflect the seasons, so if you want to see the Quebecois winter, be quick! It will be gone in a few weeks, while the region undergoes a major overhaul and rebuild.

HG Addresses:
Pathlandia                      pathlandia.dlinkddns.com:9000:Pathlandia            
GCG Communications     login.greatcanadiangrid.ca:8002:GCG Communications
Novale Quebec build      hg.creanovale.ca:8052:novale