Hi there!
Shall we greet with the traditional French cheek kiss or would you rather attempt one of those awkward North American hugs?
Think about it while I introduce myself properly.
I’m Juliette, aka “Zhu”—this is not random onomatopoeia but my Chinese name, 珠.
I was born in Nantes, France, in 1983—go ahead, do the math, I age more quickly than I update this page. At 16, I travelled solo to China to attend summer classes at a university in Beijing and I caught a bad case of wanderlust. I left France a few days after graduating high school and I arranged to complete my Chinese studies university degree while abroad. I worked in Hong Kong, then I joined Feng, my Chinese-Canadian then-travel partner and now-husband for several backpacking adventures through Latin America and the South Pacific.
We eventually picked Ottawa, Canada’s national capital, as our home base. I was granted permanent resident status in 2005 and I became a Canadian citizen on July 3, 2009. I have dual citizenship, French and Canadian. You can read my full immigration story here.
I worked as a French as a second language teacher from 2005 to 2009, then embarked on a translation career. After several positions in the public sector, I decided to go freelance to embrace different roles—English-to-French and French-to-English translator, as well bilingual copywriter, editor and proofreader.
Our son, Mark Floyd, was born in 2012—not quite fluent in Mandarin and French yet, but he does love some cheese on his Chinese noodles, so that’s a start.
Overall, I consider myself lucky. I absolutely love my job and I know what makes me happy in life.
The only tiny problem is, I can’t just pick one road, one storyline… so I divide life into several chapters.
In Canada, I’m productive. On the road, I’m creative.
When I’m in Canada, I work long hours and translate as many words as needed. In my spare time, I write stories I try to get published—no luck so far, life isn’t that perfect. I’m not quite the perfect North American mother either and even though I’ve been living in Canada for half of my life, I still find cultural differences amusing and occasionally puzzling.
But everything of value I own fits in a backpack, which is just as well because there’s always a point when I just pack up and go travelling. This is not a holiday but a way of life—whether it’s the three of us or just me alone, there are no plans and no hotels booked, only the thrill of jumping into the unknown and waking up in a new city every few days. On the road, I’m still working, but I’m also focusing on photography projects and writing.
I can’t settle down, and I can’t travel all the time, so I try to balance both lives—coffee and to-do lists help, and so does a sense of humour.
Obviously, it’s a bit more complicated than I make it sound but that’s the gist of it.
Yeah, well, I am not the easiest person to live with. I know.
Correr es mi destino… isn’t it?
Zhu (珠)
no website yet. a few wikis – just a question – where’s the part about francais Quebecois and double pronouns? I loved it!
Je vis en Australie depuis 15 ans maintenant.
Rencontre un quebecois y’a 3 – 4 semaines. Je comprenais tous les mots, mais j’comprenais pas tout!
Moi aussi je perds mon francais a grande vitesse. Meme quand je parle a des francais , ils ont un accent pour moi. Et j’apprend le Chinois (Mandarin) depuis quelques annees – ce qui n’arrange rien. Ceci etant dit le Chinois est tellemnt different – out of space – it’s refreshing. Chaque mot – character – sign – whatever you call it – is a challenge. And I’m going to Shanghai in 6 months – then I will have to learn!
So where’s that Quebec thingy?
Isabelle
Hello Zhu ~
Lovely blog you have! I loved your bio link for starting a peaceful revolution. I’ll join in as one of your comrades.
I love Canada (my parents are originally from North Dakota so we’ve made some trips across the border to several Provences)and travel in general. I have Alsacien blood (among other things) and I’m learning (um, I mean, attempting to learn) Mandarin. And noticed your birth name is close to mine. So I felt a connection to your blog.
I look forward to spending more time reading your posts.
Best wishes,
Jules @ Lovely Las Vegas
Hola!
Ce profil multi-culturel, le titre en espagnol, et ce coté globe-trotteur m’ont inspiré confiance et surtout m’ont poussé à te raconter ma situation:
Je suis une comptable mexicaine mais depuis 23 ans en France mariée à un parisien, nous avons une ado avec des mauvaise notes et vivons tous près de Mickey (euroDisney).
Je suis depuis septembre 2008 au rebut, après 20 ans des loyaux services dans la comptabilité française, c’est à dire à la recherche d’un hypothétique emploi pour déjà senior…Car j’ai fais que des remplacements et missions difficiles depuis septembre 2001 (pour obtenir un bon salaire j’avais fait à mes débuts 4 ans de remplacements). Donc après la chute des deux tours le fret international s’en est ressenti et j’ai perdu mon “emploi stable” dû à la crise de l’époque. Elles ont bon dos ces crises…pour écarter ce dont on ne veut que pour effectuer des remplacements ou tâches difficiles.
Je voulais m’expatrier au Québec, mais mon mari et ma fille s’opposent, ce n’est pas évident déjà, et pourtant je ne vois pas d’autre issue avant que j’arrive au RMI et ma fille à l’apprentissage…
A-t-on la mondre chance de trouver un job comptable à cinquante balais? j’ai des économies pour subvenir à une éventuelle remise à jour ou à niveau à la redoutable Ordre, avant de me brader ou changer de métier, que jusqu’à présent j’ai pu m’épargner mais qui est à ma porte dès mes 50 ans ce mois de…septembre.
Senior avec junior au Québec? Si elle redouble la seconde peut-elle s’incrire en V pour le DES? sachant que le Cégep n’est pas le Bac français mais une année de plus que celui-ci.
Que de questions… et pourtant de mon coté je n’ai pas des doutes, mais des réticences de la part de mon senior d’époux et ma junior de fille…
Tout avis et opinion est bienvenu! En français, anglais ou espagnol!
Susana
Bonjour Zhu,
je te félicite pour ton parcours et ton ouverture. Pour ton plurilinguisme aussi!!
j’envisage d’atterrir en résident permanent à Ottawa vers septembre ou début octobre.
Je suis comme toi, enseignant de fle. j’enseigne au collège au Maroc depuis 2000. je finalise cette année un master 1 à distance avec Grenoble3.
Je sais que c’est pas évident d’être reconnu par l’Ordre des enseignants. j’envisage de faire un bac en éducation, celui qu’offre l’Uni de Ottawa en 8mois à temps plmein…..si j’en trouve les frais…
Pense-tu que je trouverai facilement des suppléances ds les écoles ou collèges qui dipensent le français? mon niveau en englais n’est pas très avancé, juste intermédiaire, serait-ce un écueil ds mon cv quand je postule pr des suppléances? la rémuniration des suppléance serait elle suffisante pr subvenir à mes besoins( payer le loyer et me nourrir et un cinéma ou une piscine toutes les trois semaines:-))?
Voilà mes questions….en fait je connais personne au Canada j y irai en vrai solitaire quoi!
merci de me répondre.
Mourad
See your comments on my blog! Nice to know you. I tried to learn un peu Francais. I do want to learn more in the future!
Hi there. I love your blog and I think we have a semel e-story.
I used to live in Ottawa and I love travel as multi citizenship I do speak 7 language.
Did you heart a bout Tck? check it out this website u gonna love it.
http://www.tckid.com/group/introducing-brice/
I wish u luck and Peace.
Hello,
I am permanent resident. I got my PR 2 years ago but physically I was not there for 2 years. I want to know is there any way or trick to get my citizenship after 3 years without staying 3 years in last 4 years? I hear they check our passport stamp to check out coming and going back from Canada? is it true? do they check yours?
Thank you
Congratulations on becoming a canadian citizen…
ben oui! 🙂 votre website, c’est très chouette! cool!
je suis brésilien, mais j’habite vers le nord, à Iqaluit, il y a 6 ans et j’ai lu quelques mots sur le blog de Gean…
J’aime aussi la photographie. 🙂
Bonne journée à vous!
Ed
(désolé mon français, j’ai besoin de le practiquer, donc j’ai quelques amis quebecoises ici 🙂
@reza – Unfortunately, there isn’t a trick… passports are checked. Maybe not for a day or two, but a year will show! You’d better wait till you are eligible.
@ Ed Maruyama – I’m falling in love with your pictures! Par contre, tu dois m’expliquer comment tu as atterri dans le Grand Nord! Brazil to the North, that’s what I call a culture shock! 😆
I can see you are a great photographer. Nice meeting you! I’ll keep an eye on your work.
Hi Zhu. My name is sib. I was put ic contact with you through surfing the net for available information on how to work and live in Canada. Can you help me with the process? I’m a fresh college graduate and hoping to
be a succesful immigrant just like you. I’m looking forward for your response. You can contact me on the details below.
yahoo: sib.renz
email: sibrenz@gmail.com
mobile: +639154108907
Hi Zhu,
How was your SJT test @ CRA today? 😉
I was pretty sure that it was you. But didn’t get any chance to talk to you.
Remember me?? I arrived here in Ottawa last year July. Before coming here I used read your blog.. and still a fan. Don’t get enough time to visit your blog though…
Wish you best of luck..
Ni hao Zhu! (soy el lince Marcelo con quien has estado comunicando para dar clase)
Ahora he visto tu blog, y me dio ganas de escribirte un mensajito aqui para decirte que me pareces como una persona bien interesante. A mi me gusta tambien sacar fotos. J’ai grandit en Saskatchewan, et les fotos du ferme experimentale m’as fait penser de quelque fotos que j’ai pris en 2005. Ademas me encanta viajar, y tengo deseo de viajar el mundo entero. Soy licenciado en estudios internacionales, enfocando en el desarrollo internacional. Me encanta conocer nuevos lugares, culturas y medioambientes. He conocido bastantes lugares en latinoamerica, y ademas del querer conocer mas lugares por ahi, me encantaria conocer a los otros continentes y pueblos nuestra Tierra.
Mis padres vinieron a Canada unos anos antes que yo naciera. Ellos son colombianos-canadienses, y de mi parte, en terminos de ciudadania soy unicamente canadiense. Felicitaciones con tu ciudadania!
Me alegraria mucho conocerte y emplearte como mi profesora de frances. Y ahora tengo mas necesidad por lo tanto que me notificaron que me van a arreglar un examen oral pronto – posiblemente en septiembre. Espero que podes encontrar tiempo para ensenarme (otra vez ando en la casa con mi laptop sin tildes 🙂
Tambien yo te pudiera ayudar with your English – I’m modest, so I don’t like to brag, but I have excellent written and oral English (I really hope that doesn’t sound too ‘snob’ 😉
Siempre, si te interesa, el jueves despues del trabajo en mi oficina seria bien para que nos conozcamos y planeamos un contrato. Espero que sigues mejorando de la gripa.
OK hasta luego profe! Cuidate bien!
Sinceramente,
Marcelo
Oh my god! I think that you must have a good konwledge of Chinese? YES?
Hi Zhu!
You have quite a nice website here, I’ll be coming back more often!
Thanks for visiting and commenting on my articles, I greatly appreciate it!
Tian Yi
Hi Zhu,
very nice blog about Ottawa, Canada (and the world) 🙂
I think you already know the photo blog of Robin -> http://www.robink.ca/blog/ (very recommendable)
Greetings from Germany
Hi..i found your blog casually..and i like it.. greetings from Guatemala…i think you came here when you visited latin america right?? well..i’m planned to move to canada too..i’ll find my destiny and better future there…but anyway..i hope we can comunicate soon..byeee
SIGUE CORRIENDO….
Hi!
Thank you for your comment!
Yes, I have been to Guatemala twice, all over the country — Me gusta este país. Hay ciudades maravillosas (como Antigua) y lugares interesantes (como Tikal).
¿Has comenzado el proceso de inmigración?
Hey Juliette
I just got my hands on a book you left your signature in in February – Dying Light, it’s called. It’s a nice idea, and I’m gonna add some lines after I read it. Maybe it interests you that by now it has travelled to Puerto Natales in Chile and will – starting tomorrow – most probably take part in a Torres del Paine trek. 🙂
Cheers from Chile
Carlos from Switzerland
Hey Zhu,
I recently received my permanent resident visa in September and I discovered your blog because I was looking for tips on settling in Canada. I have found it to be quite interesting and full of great information. My husband and I plan to settle in Canada next year. Since we come from a Caribbean island, we were wondering whether it would be wise to come in the winter and get the full shock of it, or ease our way into it by coming in the summer and easing our way into winter. My husband is a little worried about the winters.
Hi Zhu, interesting blog you have here. i found it very helpful.
i’m Indonesian, and i plan to immigrate to Canada with my partner. But the process is so complicated and i really don’t know where to start. I’ve read some other blog but seems like none of it answer my problem.
i’m a bachelor in Finance, i was working as a Finance Manager then i quit and soon become an entrepreneur. moving to Canada has always been my dream.i really want to immigrate asap.
i have in contact with a representative but they suggest me to look for a job to get an offer of arranged employment. but most of the company in Canada prefer to hire someone who already in Canada. Where should i start? Can i just come to canada on holiday visa and apply for a job? how long the process take?
I really look forward for your reply. Really sorry if my english confused you. i’m working hard to make it better.
My e-mail: ahongadi@yahoo.com
thank you very much
Britain is also multi-cultural, you should consider here first. Ha ha…
No 1 – you’ll like their food.
No 2 – you’ll like their weather.
No 3 – you’ll probably like their humour. Ha ha…
No 4 – you can pop back to France easily.
Hi Zhu! I’v been living for 4 years in Canada,in Montrea,which is agreat city.I liked living there because is a french speeking city and looks very european.Why do you not consider moving there,because you are french and speek french . Bye bye!
Hello again Zhu,
Found somethings similar now so got down to commenting again.
I too have a job (steady from the employer’s side but i keep changing (monotony kills me)), settled life in a town i know things and have family around but still want to leave everything and just go on a loooong tour. There’s so much to see in India itself. Will come to world scene later may be.
Incidently, my husband is not as enthusiastic as I am when it comes to travelling. and hence I keep planning only. and end up taking short trip only utilising the long weekend (just 1 day extra make a normal weekend a long ?).
It was interesting and strange at the same time to read that you learnt chinese for 12 years adn ended up teaching French!
I learnt Indian vocal classical music for 11 years and ended up doing all other jobs but of a musician!
As they say – we dont generally get what we want and we dont want what we get.
Anyways..
Nice to know you.
Cheers
Raji
Hi Raji,
Nice meeting you!
I agree with you: India seems to be a huge country with plenty to do and experience — it must be worth visiting! I’m hoping to go there one day.
I’m lucky that my partner is a travel addict too – we actually met when traveling. Back when I lived in France, I kept on planning trips and wanted my friends to come, but there were always excuses not to. I’m not too patient — I left and traveled on my own! 😆 Now, I’m not saying you should leave your husband behind, but try convincing him to take longer holidays with you and see the country a bit.
That said, I don’t even know Canada that well, I have only been to three provinces. It’s a huge country and it can be expensive to travel. Paradoxically, it’s cheaper to fly to Europe than to Vancouver!
Which part of India do you live in?
… and Indian vocal classical music? Wow! I love Indian song, although I suspect that I mostly know pop songs. I’d be curious to hear you sing. Did you want to be a singer? Why did you choose to study music?
Thanks for stopping bye and saying hi, it’s always a pleasure to meet new people! 🙂
Replied to you thru email. Got delivery failure!
I feel you present a real person with rich experiences, and i hope to keep popping in. No-one is easy to live with if they keep moving! But being easy to live with is not important providing we don’t promise otherwise – agree? My hands are a trifle cold just now Juliette, work to do, accept a simple ‘hello’ for now. Bob
Hi Zhu…
This is a very nice blog. Congraulations! Have you ever been in Colombia? If the answer is no, you should come.
This is a wonderfull place to visit… and maybe to stay, foreigners, could live very easily here, as the advertising say “El riesgo es quererte quedar”.
Soon I´ll be flying to Canada with my family, and I expect call that place “home”.
See you
Hi,
To answer your question, I have never been to Colombia. The main reason is because both time, we were in Panama and as you know, crossing the Darien Gap is not an option and flying to Quito was cheaper. But I do plan to visit sometimes… I heard great things about it!
And welcome to Canada! Where are you going to settle?
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Don’t know what’s wrong? Can’t open your homepage…
So I hope you won’t mind me leaving my messages here.
Re: Buy One Get One Free
Have you been to Shaolin Temple?
You’ve been to lots of places!
Re: Unchanged Truth
Ha ha… You can if you want!
Hi, 珠
You don’t know me, this is my first time see you blog, and I really like it.
All the information abt immigration are just phenomenal! Awesome job!!
It’s really nice meeting you up here!
Apparently, I’m kinda like you a little bit, I can speak fluent Chinese, and I’m going to be an immigrant soon.
I backpacked quite a few places, love it!
I’m from Taiwan, so of course I can definitely speak Chinese, and also Taiwanese too.
Currently, I’m here with my bf (Canadian) waiting for my PR process, which I applied last Nov., and haven’t heard anything back yet.
Waiting is a frustrating process and quite exciting, maybe.
It’s really nice to see you develop ur blog so well…
^^
Lucy
My dear friend Zhu,
I am propped up in bed with Susan and Smokey by my side, watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I am thinking of you , my Canadian friend, and supposing that you are watching this with us. I am very happy for you dear Zhu. You are living an adventure and are kind enough to share your experience with us. Let us pray for an exciting and successful Olympics. God bless you.
Your Friend from Oklahoma,
Bill