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Ten Things I Can Do That Make Me Weirdly Proud

Not that I’m proud of it, but I can…

Speed Read anything: I learned to read when I was about 4 and never stopped since then. This led to minor misunderstandings in school, such as being called in front of the whole class to answer questions about whatever book to make sure I actually read it!

Sail a boat: I grew up by the sea and I probably learned to swim before I learned to walk. I used to go windsurf every day in the summer and sailed small boats (never owned one though !)

Put mascara on without a mirror: not sure when I developed this trick but it seems to amaze my girl friends…

Look at a big jar of peanut butter or a bucket of ice cream and not eat it: an easy one since I don’t like it either. PB is… yucky, and ice cream is too cold for my taste! Why bother when a great food called chocolate exists?

Count backwards in Chinese really fast: can be a good bargaining skill…

Speak both French and English at the same time: thanks to intensive Canadian training, I’m now able to mix both languages to create a sentence that makes sense to no one except locals in Ottawa!

Know the etymology of words: I guess taking two years of Latin in high school wasn’t such a waste of time then… But still, I mean why learn a dead language ??

Name all of the Chinese dynasties: on the other side, I suck in French history. Oh well, we beheaded all of our kings, right?

Eat blue cheese (you know, the rotten one): yummy… What? What’s wrong with that? It’s my heritage we’re talking about!

Take cold showers a few months in a row: thanks to backpacking! However, contrary to common feminine beliefs, I must warn you: your skin doesn’t get any firmer afterwards !

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Zhu

French woman in English Canada.

Exploring the world with my camera since 1999, translating sentences for a living, writing stories that may or may not get attention.

Firm believer that nobody is normal... and it’s better this way.

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