The health care system: something that concerns us all, and most probably one subject that has been debated for years between Canadians and Americans.
Le système de santé: un sujet qui nous concerne tous, et probablement un des sujets controversé depuis longtemps entre Canadiens et Américains, entre autres.
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We did our first family trip in San Francisco a few months ago. I was thrilled to say "hop we go to spend a day in San Francisco" and come back to our comfortable home in the evening. How lucky are we! And judging by the reactions of my boys on this picture, while on the Golden Gate Bridge, they totally realize their chance, right?...
Première visite à San Francisco en famille il y a quelques mois. Ça me plaisait franchement de pouvoir dire "allez hop, on va passer la journée à San Francisco" et revenir dans notre confort en soirée. Quel chance on a! Et on peut voir sur cette photo à quel point nos garçons ne se pouvaient plus d'être sur le Golden Gate, n'est-il pas? ...
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March 20, 2014, was the international day of the French-speaking countries. It was an opportunity to reflect on my mother tongue and about something that has been bugging me since we live in English: does the language I speak influence the way I think?
Hier, 20 mars 2014, journée internationale de la Francophonie; c'était un peu une occasion de réfléchir sur ma langue maternelle et sur une question qui me chicote depuis que nous vivons en milieu anglophone: est-que la langue que nous parlons influence notre façon de penser?
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The day we left Quebec City in 2010, I was looking forward this big "expatriation" adventure. Our youngest one was just 4 weeks old, pregnancy hormones were still rushing through my body. A new city, a new house, a new school, a new routine, a slightly different climate, new places to discover, less taxes, and cheaper wines—oh, did I say that out loud?—in short, everything looked exciting to me. The idea of what was coming make up for the fact I was leaving multiple friendships.
Le jour où on a quitté Québec, en 2010, j'étais très excitée à l'idée de vivre notre aventure d'expatriés. Notre plus jeune avait tout juste 4 semaines, les hormones de grossesses me tenaient encore dans l'adrénaline. Une nouvelle ville, une nouvelle maison, une nouvelle école, une nouvelle routine, un climat un peu différent, des nouvelles places à découvrir, moins de taxes à payer, et des bouteilles de vin moins chères—oups, j'ai dis ça tout haut moi?—bref, tout me semblait excitant. L'idée de ce que j'allais vivre compensait pour le fait que je devais quitter mes relations.
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Whether you are embracing this new adventure you're embarking on, or not, your attitude will impact greatly the first months or first year of your expat life. When we moved from our French speaking town to our neighbor English speaking province in Canada, both Mister T and I wanted to make local friends and immerse ourselves. But honestly? We were not really prepared—could we ever be? We naively thought moving to another province, in the same country, would be pretty much like home, except in another language. Indeed, the language was THE challenge—even more for me—, but the culture was also different. After a while, the fact that immigrants have a tendency to regroup, and stay close to one another,became a very understandable concept.
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Expatriation...we have to admit, it's intriguing right? Right. Just the word itself rimes with exoticism. And what is exotic...well, you get the point. It's been three years for us and one whole year in California of this "exoticism". As the saying goes, the days are long but the years are short! If you're contemplating the idea or preparing a relocation, keep on reading. You can't be too prepared. And even if expatriation is not for you, please keep on reading too, you can't be too much empathetic toward expats! So the expat life, in a nutshell -
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...and buy a house!
So you’re ready to move from Canada to California! Are you and your spouse wondering where to begin? Below is how we did it, unfortunately not necessarily in this order. But as the saying goes, do as we say, not as we do.
Alors vous êtes prêts! En êtes-vous à vous demander par où commencer? Voici donc les étapes à suivre, que nous n’avons malheureusement pas suivies nécessairement dans l’ordre. Mais comme dit le proverbe: faîtes ce que je dis et non ce que je fais.
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