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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!

Snapshots »

Ottawa Tulips Festival – 2013 Edition

May 20, 2013 – 8:00 am | 2 Comments | 58 Read this
Ottawa Tulips Festival – 2013 Edition

The annual Tulips Fes­ti­val opened on a very warm week and the flow­ers were all in bloom. It was beau­ti­ful, as usual. We went to Dow’s Lake and by the Canal on sev­eral occa­sions to cap­ture the beau­ti­ful sea of colours.

Read the full article!

Hire Immigrants Ottawa – Bringing Together Newcomers and Employers

May 18, 2013 – 8:00 am | 466 Read this

Canada wel­comes immi­grants for a vari­ety of rea­sons, includ­ing to help the coun­try address chal­lenges such as an aging work­force and demands for skilled labour. How­ever, many new­com­ers run into set­tle­ment dif­fi­cul­ties, like hav­ing their for­eign cre­den­tials rec­og­nized, fit­ting into the Cana­dian work cul­ture and net­work­ing their way to a job that truly matches their skills.
So how can we bridge the gap and build a bet­ter country?

Picture of the Week: The Polite Sign

May 17, 2013 – 8:00 am | 11 Comments | 223 Read this
Picture of the Week: The Polite Sign

Cana­di­ans have the inter­na­tional rep­u­ta­tion of being polite and courteous—and this appar­ently extends to our signs.

“It Gets Better…”—Okay, So When Exactly?

May 15, 2013 – 8:00 am | 16 Comments | 762 Read this
“It Gets Better…”—Okay, So When Exactly?

Every­body said so: “rais­ing kids gets eas­ier with time, it does get bet­ter”.
These wise souls just didn’t say when.

Sail Away for a Holiday to Remember

May 14, 2013 – 6:00 am | Comments Off167 Read this
Sail Away for a Holiday to Remember

If you’re after a hol­i­day to remem­ber and, indeed, per­haps the hol­i­day of a life­time, you can’t go far wrong with a lux­ury cruise holiday—especially when you travel with a cruise oper­a­tor like Royal Caribbean …

"Welcome to the United States of America, Honey!”

May 13, 2013 – 8:00 am | 12 Comments | 497 Read this

We are in Ogdens­burg, New York State. Mark’s first inter­na­tional trip. Oh, I’m so proud of him—so far, he behaves.
Okay, this is not exactly and new-and-exotic loca­tion. Ogdens­burg is the clos­est US town from Ottawa, a quick one-hour drive from home. But still, tech­ni­cally, it’s the first time Mark goes abroad—the three or four inter­na­tional trips he took when he was in my womb (France, New York State, NY City, France and Lon­don) don’t count, do they?

May & Seven Months… in Numbers!

May 12, 2013 – 8:00 am | 8 Comments | 364 Read this
May & Seven Months… in Numbers!

Mark is turn­ing seven-month-old on May 12, and it’s time for the monthly high­light of new baby skills learned and mile­stones reached!

[Interview] Jeff, an American Globetrotter Settling in Nova Scotia

May 11, 2013 – 8:00 am | 1,248 Read this
[Interview] Jeff, an American Globetrotter Settling in Nova Scotia

Jeff and his fam­ily live in a fish­ing vil­lage just out­side Hal­i­fax, on the east coast of Canada. After years of man­ag­ing IT infor­ma­tion secu­rity, Jeff now runs his own con­sult­ing busi­ness out of his home. This allows his biggest pas­sion: being around his two young kids.

10 Signs You Are Still New to Canada

May 9, 2013 – 8:00 am | 18 Comments | 930 Read this
10 Signs You Are Still New to Canada

But lit­tle by lit­tle, you will adapt. And one day, you will look back and real­ize how “Cana­dian” you have become com­pared to your friends or fam­ily mem­bers vis­it­ing, or com­pared to most new­com­ers. Mean­while, here are ten signs that you are still new to Canada!

From “Yuck” to “Yummy” – A Baby’s Food Adventure

May 7, 2013 – 8:00 am | 10 Comments | 735 Read this
From “Yuck” to “Yummy” – A Baby’s Food Adventure

Baby Mark is start­ing to eat solid foods. This is a big mile­stone and a learn­ing curve. Seri­ously, never take any basic life skill from granted—watching a baby dis­cov­er­ing a spoon and the con­cept of eat­ing is pretty hilarious.

Skyline of Ottawa – By the River

May 6, 2013 – 8:00 am | 18 Comments | 670 Read this
Skyline of Ottawa – By the River

Just like that, overnight, some­one switched the heat on and we went from freez­ing to sweat­ing. Or more exactly, from single-digit tem­per­a­tures to a balmy 27°C. Wel­come to Ottawa, where spring is a two-day tran­si­tion between win­ter and summer!