Kelowna, BC
Immigrant
China
30-39
Lina
Originally from China, Lina landed in Canada in 2011 as an international student. Since graduation, Lina has been working as a financial consultant.
Kelowna is growing fast … We see the potential of this smaller city. That’s why we decided to stay here … If there are ways to promote our culture, I think that would make it more welcoming.
I’m a professional Chinese folk dancer. We’re in need of more indoor public amenities in Kelowna. Specifically, I wish the dance studio at the Rotary Art Center in Downtown Kelowna could get bigger and fancier. There is no space to practice dance there. Other than that, I'm pretty happy because most of the time, I try to stay outdoors.
Culture and Identity
In Kelowna, we have cultural events held by the Chinese Cultural Association. They have a property in the city and given we're in a smaller town I hope it gets bigger. We always perform for Chinese New Year, Mid Autumn Festival, and the Dragon Boat Festival in a Downtown Kelowna venue. On Canada Day, over 200 people watched our Chinese cultural event where we were all drumming together. We try to be very multicultural in our events. It’s more of a melting pot where different cultures can appreciate and enjoy each other's traditions.
Benefits of living in a small city
During my first years in Canada, I always was contemplating moving to bigger cities because what I do is finance. In China, I always lived in bigger cities. There may be career opportunities in Vancouver or Toronto but things are a lot more expensive. I thought that Kelowna would be probably less stressful and there seems to be tons of places that are pretty good.
Natural Environment & Outdoor Activities
Kelowna is beautiful year-around.
We like to work hard and play harder. During the summertime in Kelowna, we can go wakeboarding, we can go water skiing. We do paddleboarding. We do yoga in the city park. There are many lakes. This is Kelowna.
I've got nothing to complain about. We are in nature. We have good water parks, We don't need much: just a boat and a rope aboard. I usually take my clients on a boat. That's really a fun activity.
There are many activities that we can do in Kelowna. We go horseback riding. During the winter we can also visit the natural hot springs and snowboard. It’s my lifestyle here in a smaller town.
