Franglo

Today begins a new chapter in our lives, I will be starting my new job which will have me residing in Ottawa three nights per week. Luckily where we live on the West Island in Quebec, I am only about an hour and half from home. I made the decision for my health not to spend 3 hours a day in the car and finding a place locally made more sense. I choose to live on the Quebec side in Gatineau, so I can continue to be semi-immersed in the language which will assist my learning curve.

I am English speaking in a largely French speaking province, so it was challenging finding a job locally. In addition I am in the field of marketing which made this even more challenging as all positions required both languages. This opportunity will give me the time I need to work on bilingualism and hopefully in a few years I will be able to transfer back to Montreal. The best part about this I was able to continue the upward trajectory of my career and not have to take several steps back due to language.

When faced with this decision, I had many conversations with my spouse before taking this job. We talked about the pros and cons, what it meant for our relationship and how we would navigate this challenge. We did come to the decision that we would make the best of this situation, and that we would only be apart 3 nights per week. These nights will allow us to focus on ourselves and when we come together as a couple we can have quality time.

Since, I am not that far away if anything urgent comes up, a special occasion, or I just miss him, he is a short car ride away. Ottawa is a lot closer than Toronto, so we are making progress.

Off to catch a plane, on boarding will be done in Toronto.