Yuri Belov. Biography
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From March 1999 I worked as a live-in socio-therapist at Föreningen Staffansgården in Delsbo, Sweden. It is a community for mentally handicapped adults and is located 300 km. north of Stockholm in the Hudiksvall municipality. I lived in one of the houses together with handicapped adults, cared for them and worked with them. We cut firewood, worked in the animal farm, the garden and the weavery. Almost every month I accompanied my charges during their trips home.
In September 1999 we all went to Italy (Toscana). I saw Rome, Florence and Pisa.
My Swedish improved significantly. I read books and the press (translating some articles), went to a computer course, dance and horse-riding courses. I liked the Sweden a lot, especially the Swedes' positive attitude to life, to each other and to their country.
However, I was not so happy about my duties in that organisation and its ideology. As a Russian citizen, I couldn't change employment, that's why in August 2001, after 1.5 years in Sweden, I returned to Russia.
Folk festival near Delsbo (1999).
Staying in Russia: a course in teaching Russian and freelance translation work
From September to December 2000 I took a course in teaching Russian as a foreign language at Pushkin Institute of the Russian Language in Moscow. I didn't get a teaching job after that, but I taught Russian for a few months on a language exchange basis to a French-speaking Canadian.
In May 2001 I started to work as a freelance translator and interpreter. I registered myself at various databases of translators, became a member of the Swedish Association of Professional Translators, and made my business site Swedish-Russian.com (online until 2006).
I translated texts on a fairly regular basis for two — three Swedish agencies (mainly from English and Swedish into Russian) and did one-time translations for a few others.
I also interpreted in Moscow: in 2001 for an American software company that hired Russian programmers, and in 2002 I did three projects about coloured flakes for paints, caps for breweries, and MultiDiameter seals.
Arrival in Québec. Life with a Québec girlfriend
In February 2003, at the end of an 3.5 years' long immigration process, I came to live in Québec City. As I am unmarried and have no children, I came alone.
The first three months I lived in a small room in St-Sauveur, a poor area of the city, but then moved to a much better place: a flat near the university, which I shared with young French-speaking Quebecers — three brothers there and a sister.
The sister, Sara, soon became my girlfriend. We lived happily together one year.
In spring and early summer 2003 I took a course in French for immigrants at Université Laval. Then I went on a holiday with my girlfriend to Gaspésie and New Brunswick.
Crossing the St. Laurence River between Baie-Comeau and Matane (2003)
From autumn I was actively looking for a job. I worked three days at the university making student cards, but that was all.
During winter — spring of 2004 I took another French course (at Centre du Phénix). This school was good, though after three months I felt that there was no progress, so I dropped out.
I also entered a baccalaureate programme at Université Laval in political science. However, the programme was difficult (my French was not yet sufficient) and not very interesting. After one month I abandoned it.
In summer I decided to enter the University again, this time for the baccalaureate in "International relations and languages". Within one month I learned Spanish and successfully passed the entrance test.
During that summer my girlfriend worked on a farm in Switzerland. I did not go with her because my Russian passport had expired and I hoped to find a summer job in Québec. When she returned, she said that she wanted to leave me.
Autumn 2004 was difficult. The university started, and I had to move out of the flat. My money came to zero, and there was still no loan from the Ministry of Education. I loved my girlfriend, and it was painful to part with her. I could not study any more. I abandoned the course and asked for social aid.
Life alone. A trip to Finland. An integration course
My new room was situated in Beauport, a suburb of Québec City. It was far from the centre (one hour by bus), but the rent was affordable.
I looked for work again, but found only a dish-washing job, which I left on the same day. Translation jobs all but disappeared too.
In spring 2005 I took a two month computer course on MS Office paid by Emploi Québec. The teacher was a Frenchman, and I understood him perfectly. The course was very good, though when it was over I couldn’t use my skills.
In autumn 2004 I started to correspond with a Russian woman in Finland. She invited me to visit her. I wanted to see her, and I missed Europe too. So in summer 2005 I stayed one month in the Finnish city of Tampere. Nothing came out of our relations, but I fell in love with the country!
Library Metso in Tampere, Finland (2005)
When I returned to Canada, I took an evening one-month' course in French at the Centre Louis-Jolliet.
The following four months I studed a programme of socio-professional integration for immigrants at the same centre. The main components were the French language and its Québec variant, the history and culture of Québec, as well as professional orientation.
The concept of the programme was good and the subjects were useful, but the teaching was too slow. In May 2006 I left the programme and found a job in a local company that needed a Russian translator.
Work for Olympus NDT. Leaving Canada
My job in Olympus NDT was to do technical translations from English into Russian. I translated user manuals and interfaces for non-destructive testing instruments manufactured by that company. In the beginning it was difficult to understand the technology and find appropriate Russian terminology, but I read and compared already translated texts, found quite a few terms in the online dictionary Multitran, and asked questions to the colleagues. I translated using FrameMaker, WinTrans and DéjàVu, and I learned to use these programs. The company’s working language was French, so I had a good practice in it, too.
I moved to a new address, which was again close to the University. The room was inexpensive, but there was no phone line and the house was not very clean. Besides, as I found later, the neighbours were often noisy. Nevertheless, I stayed at that address, because I signed the contract, and a good room was hard to find.
After the probationary period, I could continue to work at Olympus NDT and also take language courses offered to employees (I took Spanish and French). The job was monotonous, but stable, well-paid, and there were a lot of training in various software.
My workplace in Olympus NDT
However, I knew that I was not going to stay there very long, because I wanted to try to settle down in Europe again.
In January 2007 I passed the citizenship test, and on 3 April I became a Canadian citizen. Now I was sure that I could always return to Canada.
In May I was admitted to the University of Tampere in Finland, and in July I finished my job in Olympus NDT.
I sent off my things to Finland by sea (300 kg, mostly books) and on 31 July I left Canada.
I flew to Finland via Italy. It turned out to be cheaper that way, and I was able to visit Rome again.
On 2 August 2007 I arrived to Tampere and took up residence in a student hostel at 20-minutes’ bus ride from the city centre.
Then I visited Russia. I did not feel like going there, but after 4.5 years of living abroad I needed to see my relatives.
In autumn the studies at the university began, but one month later I left most of the courses. I no longer wanted to study my programme (the Russian language and culture), because, as I learned, there is no demand for it on the Finnish labour market.
I studied Finnish, which is quite a difficult language, mainly on my own. I tried a few courses in the city, but could find a suitable one only at the end of my stay in Tampere.
I also looked for work, but in Tampere there were almost only jobs requiring good Finnish. Besides, for a full-time job I needed a work permit.
In August 2008 I moved to Pargas, near Turku, where I started to study a 9-month professional programme in tourism activities in Axxell (formerly Åbolands folkhögskola Språk- och turisminstitutet). This is a Swedish-language school, but my programme is in English. Main subjects include tourism activities, tourism theory, marketing and computer skills. Finnish is taught only 1.5 hours per week.
In September I participated in the European Social Forum in Malmö (Sweden) as an interpreter.
In December 2008 I visited Russia again and then stayed a few days with my acquaintances in Finland.
You can learn about more recent events in my blog.