Trends

Debates, discussions, news articles, cultural differences stories and everyday life blah blah.

On The Road

Follow me in China, in Central and in South America, in Australia, in South-East Asia or in Europe. Enjoy the pics and crazy travel stories!

Immigration

How to immigrate to Canada, how to apply for Canadian citizenship, and how to tackle the challenges newcomers face.

Baby Mark Floyd

Mark, our Canadian-Chinese-French baby, was born in Ottawa on October 12, 2012. These are our adventures as parents-in-training.

The Saturday Series

The ten post Saturday series: how to immigrate to Canada, how to find a job, interviews with immigrants… and more!

Raising a Canadian-Chinese-French Baby »

The Velcro Baby

June 17, 2013 – 8:00 am | 6 Comments | 238 Read this
The Velcro Baby

Before I had Mark, I was pre­pared for a num­ber of baby-related duties, includ­ing breast­feed­ing or bottle-feeding, diaper-changing, etc. I also knew that I would even­tu­ally get peed on, spit on and poop on.
But no one had told me I would have to spend every wak­ing hour with a baby in my arms.

Read the full article!

Candids in Ottawa

June 15, 2013 – 8:00 am | 10 Comments | 305 Read this

I recently started to focus on other projects—stuff that don’t include chang­ing dia­pers, burp­ing, clean­ing up var­i­ous body flu­ids… you know!—including my “Peo­ple of Ottawa” set. I love can­did shots and street pho­tog­ra­phy, and spring weather is the per­fect time to roam around the city with my cam­era again.

Picture of the Week: Traffic Jam

June 14, 2013 – 8:00 am | 2 Comments | 290 Read this
Picture of the Week: Traffic Jam

Despite being a fairly large city plagued with the usual issues asso­ci­ated with any urban envi­ron­ment, Ottawa is home to a vari­ety of wildlife. For instance, in our sub­ur­ban neigh­bour­hood, a fifteen-minute drive from Par­lia­ment Hill, we have plenty of rab­bits, squir­rels, skunks, tur­tles (!) and many beau­ti­ful bird species.

Spinach vs. Biscuits

June 13, 2013 – 8:00 am | 10 Comments | 368 Read this
Spinach vs. Biscuits

I love veg­eta­bles and I must admit that I don’t under­stand why they are at the top of so many people’s “most-hated foods” list. I can see not lik­ing a spe­cific vegetable—for instance, I’m not …

Getting Ready for a Long Coach Trip

June 13, 2013 – 7:00 am | Comments Off142 Read this
Getting Ready for a Long Coach Trip

Coach travel from Lon­don to the Con­ti­nent is a bril­liant option if you are on a bud­get but still want a city break in Paris, Ams­ter­dam or fur­ther afield. Take a coach from Lon­don to …

June & Eight Months… in Numbers!

June 12, 2013 – 8:00 am | 8 Comments | 442 Read this
June & Eight Months… in Numbers!

Mark is turn­ing eight months on June 12—yes, already!

Baby Mark has changed a lot lately. He has become a lit­tle baby boy with his own per­son­al­ity and he can now express him­self very well. He is tir­ing… exhaust­ing, even, but he is a happy curi­ous baby most of the time.

50 & Counting Tour – The Rolling Stones Live in Toronto

June 10, 2013 – 8:00 am | 7 Comments | 486 Read this
50 & Counting Tour – The Rolling Stones Live in Toronto

When Feng and I went to see The Rolling Stones in 2005 in Ottawa—our first con­cert together—we joked that it may be our last chance to catch them live.
The joke was on us. Eight years later The Rolling Stones are still on the road with their 50 & Count­ing Tour and we couldn’t resist going to see them, again.

Fotor – Image Editing Made Easy and Fun!

June 9, 2013 – 8:00 am | 2 Comments | 958 Read this
Fotor – Image Editing Made Easy and Fun!

Image edit­ing doesn’t have to be com­pli­cated, and most of us do not need to invest in a fancy and pricey soft­ware (ahem, Pho­to­shop, look­ing at you…). There are great online solu­tions for photographers—and Fotor is one of these use­ful tools.

The Tee Quest - One Color Only and My Collection from Design By Humans

June 8, 2013 – 8:00 am | 6 Comments | 673 Read this

The quest for my per­fect tee col­lec­tion con­tin­ues! Yes, I did it again… I ordered two more t-shirts, this time from Design By Humans, a cre­ative com­mu­nity based in Chico, California.

Picture of the Week: The “Capital BIXI” Are Back

June 7, 2013 – 8:00 am | 6 Comments | 567 Read this
Picture of the Week: The “Capital BIXI” Are Back

It’s prime tourist sea­son here in Ottawa, and with the nice weather, the “Cap­i­tal BIXI” are back on the road—the sta­tions had been removed dur­ing win­ter time, where only hard­core Cana­di­ans dare to bike.

The Canadian Museum of Civilization: the Grand Hall and the First Peoples Hall

June 5, 2013 – 8:00 am | 16 Comments | 3,463 Read this
The Canadian Museum of Civilization:  the Grand Hall and the First Peoples Hall

Canada’s national museum of human his­tory is located in Hull, Que­bec, directly across the Ottawa River from Par­lia­ment Hill in Ottawa, Ontario. The loca­tion itself is very scenic: the Museum over­looks the River and offers great views on Ottawa’s down­town core and main land­marks, includ­ing the Locks, the Par­lia­ment, Château Lau­rier and Nepean Point.