She made me write this

by Casey
(St Thomas, Ontario, Canada)

I came to Canada on July 19th, 1969 - which, for those of us who are old enough may remember, was the day before the first manned landing on the Moon.

I was 20 years old when I came to Canada from Holland, with two of my brothers, because we wanted a better life, and we already had three sisters living here in Southern Ontario, and so we were able to stay with them, and they helped us find jobs.

My brothers and I first stayed with our oldest sister and her family, she put three single beds in her basement for us, and that is where we stayed for the first year, and later we all married local girls.

Canada was seen as the land of opportunity, and sure enough, I landed here on Friday, and on Monday morning I started my job!

I had worked as an Auto Mechanic in Holland for 4 years, but was able to make more money in Canada, but even though I didn't speak English at that time, part of my job was to answer the phone, so I had to learn in a hurry!

Back in Holland, a bottle of Coca Cola was one Guilder, and at that time I earned 85 Guilders a week. When I came to Canada I earned $85 Canadian dollars, but I could buy ten bottles of Coke for a dollar! Wow, I thought life was good!

I have lived in Canada for fifty-two years and even though I enjoy going back to Holland for visits, Canada is my home!

In case you can't tell, my wife is the Editor, Owner and Publisher of this website, and she wanted the story of my emigration to Canada to be the first one on her website.