I feel anesthetized, and it's not just the snow, the ice and the bitter cold.
Anything related to my new life under the snow. From bitching about the weather to hockey games and the Stanley Cup, from culture shock to shocking culture, from old Europe to the New Continent, whatever is on my newcomer’s mind!
Reference checks are one of these puzzling aspects of life in North America that newcomers will quickly get familiar with.
In Canada, streets are littered with strange plastic tubes you’ve probably never seen before if your local weed dealer is an UberEATS driver.
I signed up for aerial hoop expecting sore muscles but I wasn’t overly concerned about bruising my ego.
I braced myself for the ordeal—doing paperwork is never fun, not to mention the expected Hunger Games at the passport office.
The sky is orange, the moon is red, the air is thick and the whole city smells like a bonfire—no s’mores on the menu.
Music is meant to be shared, so Feng introduced me to Crowded House and in turn, we introduced Mark to the band.
Realizing that not everyone celebrates Christmas was enlightening in many ways. It forced me to reflect on identity, power and privilege.
As much I like dairy products, none of us drink milk and I had totally forgotten that in Ontario, milk comes in bags.
The red carpet is rolled out for A-list celebrities in other parts of the world. In Canada, we use grey mats to deal with a special kind of party crasher—snow.
Canada is generally considered a very safe place to live or explore. Yet, four weird specific things scare me here.
Arnica falls into the category of homeopathic medicine, still fairly popular in Europe. But on this side of the Atlantic Ocean, it’s “snake oil.”
I was relieved to see new clients reaching out and new projects being discussed. Not only do I love my job but making money isn’t exactly optional these days.
We did have a few nice days here and there, but it got cold, windy, damp and rainy really fast.
No Indian Summer this year.
Extravert or introvert, make meeting new people and potential friends one of your priorities—trust former 20-year-old me who felt very lonely as a new Canadian twenty years ago!
I thought I was going to cry when I first stepped into a Canadian supermarket after coming back from France.