Welcome to Correr Es Mi Destino! I hope you enjoy reading, browsing and commenting. Get yourself a cup of tea (or coffee) and let me tell you who I am. I promise, I’ll keep it short.

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 here.

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.

Correr Es Mi Destino… isn’t it?

Zhu (珠）