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About Zhu
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Read
the story of Zuliette, aka Zhu. A Canadian
immigrant from France, who speaks, read and write
Mandarin after studying the language for 12 years.
She worked as a French teacher in Ottawa for four
years and is now working as an English to French
translator. She keeps a blog about
her Canadian experience and her immigrant perspective. |
 I’m
Juliette, aka Zhu. Yes, I’m aware of the fact that I’m not even
remotely Chinese. I do speak Mandarin though, but it’s a long
story.
I’m French and I have been living full time in Canada’s national
capital, Ottawa, since 2004. I first came in 2002 and lived
between France and the other side of the Atlantic Ocean for a
couple of years. In 2004, I got a Working Holiday Visa, and I
applied for permanent residence in Canada in 2005… and it took
only five months! I became a Canadian citizen on July 3rd, 2009
and now have both passports, French and Canadian. You can read
my full immigration story on my
blog.
Immigrating to Canada has been a very good experience so far. I
experienced culture shock for the first few months but recovered
quickly enough. Although I still don’t get how Canadians can
walk around wearing only shorts and tee-shirts when it’s barely
above 0ºC.
I first worked as a French teacher in Ottawa for almost four
years and I always found it ironic I ended up teaching French
after learning Chinese for 12 years. I am now an English to
French translator, a job I also enjoy very much (but on Monday
mornings, like everybody else).
I love travel and street photography. And I keep on thinking I
should do something with my real passions, writing and
photography… and traveling. I’m also a backpacker: once in a
while, I just pack and go travel the world.
I chose to settle in Canada because I love this multicultural
country, and because I wanted to belong somewhere — I had never
felt I was meant to stay in France. Yet, I still have the urge
to travel and discover the world. Was I made to settle
somewhere? A part of me enjoy “normal life”: a job, a place to
live, I city I now know well, friends, languages I master and a
relatively steady income. But the other side of my brain just
want to blow it all and pack. Pack and travel other continents,
other oceans, sleep in long distance buses and trains and walk
in a new city everyday.
Yeah, I’m not the easiest person to live with. I know.
Read more at Zhu's blog on
Correr es Mi Destino |
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