You finally landed wherever you dreamed of living with a visa in your passport. You tackled all the bureaucratic obstacles on your way and went through an often lengthy immigration process. You adapted to life in a new country, got a job, learned a new language and made friends with locals. You are a new immigrant and you embrace your status. You may become a citizen of your adoptive country one day.
It hasn’t always been easy and you read it all about immigration.
But were you prepared for these three unexpected side effects of being an immigrant?
I know I wasn’t!
You become an ambassador of your birth country overnight
I left France ten years ago, right after graduating from high school, and never really looked back. I visit once in a while but I’m pretty disconnected from the French way of life.
However, in Canada, I’m somehow supposed to be a walking encyclopedia about France. Canadians, from the lady on the bus to my friendly co-workers, ask me all kinds of questions about my birth country. Where they should go on holidays, why French women don’t shave their armpits, what’s the best way to rent a place in Paris, when the guillotine was last used… Oh, and my favourite question—how the French healthcare system works.
I’m sorry, but I don’t have an answer to most of these questions. I grew up in Nantes and I’m fairly knowledgeable about Brittany but I’ve never really traveled much in France. I do shave my armpits. Renting a place in Paris is a nightmare and I can’t offer any insider tips because I was never able to find a place there myself. I googled the guillotine question (the answer is 1939). And no answer to the health care question, the French administration works in mysterious ways.
I’m also often asked to explain or justify French politics or help expats there. Immigrants to France sometimes hit a bureaucratic wall and while I’m always sorry to hear that there isn’t much I can do for them. This is like asking an American abroad to apologize for all the bad decisions Bush made!
I had my own reasons to leave France but I don’t want to be too negative about the country in general. Most immigrants immigrate because they assume the grass will be greener on the other side.
I certainly wasn’t prepared to become an ambassador of France in Canada but I guess it comes with the territory (and my French passport). Hopefully, I can sometimes provide some insight and remain somewhat neutral. I won’t say “an apartment in Paris? Sure, you can get a lovely place in front of the Eiffel Tower for $200 a month, French lover included!”. But I won’t be overly negative either (“French all live below the poverty level and a bloody revolution is about to happen”).
You also become an ambassador of your adoptive country
Canadians are quizzing me about France but the French are also asking me a lot of questions about Canada. The problem here is often geographic. For instance, someone recently sent me an email: “I’m coming to Canada for a month, do you know any cheap hotel?”. Er… let me see. Should I email you the Yellow Pages for each Canadian city or do you want to narrow it down a bit? For French, Canada often means Québec. You know, the province (yes French people, Québec is not a country) where you can speak your mother tongue and make fun of this funny Céline Dion accent.
Other geographical misunderstandings include explaining why I don’t spend all my weekends in Seattle (because it’s 5,000 km away) or why it doesn’t snow in August (because Ottawa is not even close to the Arctic Circle).
You’re also asked rather personal questions
Strangers routinely ask me what brought me to Canada. This is somewhat of a natural question when you meet a relatively immigrant after all. I guess to some people it can also seem to be a polite thing to ask.
But this can be a tricky question for a lot of immigrants because there isn’t an easy and straightforward answer to it. I usually say something along the lines of “I was looking for a new country and fell in love with Canada”. But why Canada? Why didn’t you like living in France? Did you come here alone? Are you married? Is your husband Canadian? Where did you meet? The questions never stop.
I don’t mind it but my immigration story is complicated and there are times when I really don’t feel like sharing personal information. Blogging about my new life in Canada is enough, isn’t it?
What great insight!
Do the French people coming to Canada ask you where they can find bears? That’s the most common question I get as a Canadian living in France (when I’m asked about my home country). I usually say the forest and then hope no one will get lost or injured in the woods.
Your site does quite a good job of answering questions. I hope that’s one of your responses!
When I get very basic immigration questions, I do tend to send people to my website, it’s just easier for me 😉
I was actually disappointed to learn that Canadians didn’t have bears as pets. I wish, I wish… they look so cute 😆
Well at least your a nice shoulder to lean on for us expats in France 😉
The French tend to mistake me as one of their own so I don’t have to answer all of those questions!
I can always lend a shoulder (or a hand!) but I think you know more about France than I do!
It’s funny how my adopted country is just next door but how I came from Europe to get here. Sometimes my answers are much easier or just not even brought up because I’m from the same region that I grew up in (Well the West Coast)…
By the way, I’ve been too out of it to do it yet, but they mailed for my finger prints for citizenship.. Probably getting closer – it’s been a year. Hopefully the little one and myself can make it down to get my prints done!
Why do you had to give your fingerprints for citizenship? That’s strange, I never did that. Anyway, it should be pretty soon if it has been a year.
Oh I know all about being an ambassador for my old home country, the USA. Everybody loves America and everybody has something to say about its politics, especially wars…and mostly negative. This was a real challange during the Bush years!
People think they know the U.S through media and Hollywood but I think the country is much more complex than that! And I can imagine it was tough to answer questions during the Bush year.
I guess it is just natural for people to ask about the place where we come from. And since you actually immigrated to Canada, that’s your new home, and people will ask about it.
Personally, I find it that the first point is true for me, but not the second. This is because I left organized religion, and somehow, my friends back in the Philippines all belonged to that organized religion, and when I left, they left me as if the fact that we were friends never happened at all. It’s a little weird living like there isn’t a trace, but I guess that’s just the norm for me.
And regarding the third point, I guess my personality is just not too sociable enough that people are afraid to ask me personal questions!
I never realized that religion was such a big deal in the Philippines. I understand where you come from now… It’s kind of sad actually. Apparently, being neutral (as an atheist or an agnostic) is sometime not good enough.
I have been reading your blog for the past 2 years. I don’t have a blog, and always think about starting one, but for now I enjoy reading about other expats’ experiences.
Your blog is really informative, and I especially enjoy the interviews of other immigrants to Canada and the pictures of Ottawa, my hometown.
I left Canada for Europe when I was 19 in 2002 and now live in Bordeaux and I feel like you do when Canadians ask you about France. I never lived in Canada as an adult and I have no idea how certain things are set up, like healthcare and taxes. I think you know more about Ottawa and Canada than I do!
I live in France with my French husband and work as a translator. You live in Ottawa with a Canadian husband and work as a translator! If you don’t mind, I’d like to contact you to talk about your job as a translator.
Thank you and keep up the good work!
Hi and thank you for taking the time to write a comment!
It’s funny that we are exactly the same age (born in 1983?), doing similar job and basically traded countries! I grew up in Nantes, which isn’t far from Bordeaux.
You can send my an email by clicking on the @ button in the menubar, or directly here:
Talk to you soon 🙂
Hi there! I know this is somewhat off topic but I
was wondering if you knew where I could locate a captcha
plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one?
Thanks a lot!
I don’t use one myself, but you should e able to find option in WordPress plugins, it’s a huge database.