in april 1956 we applied at the canadian immigration office in hamburg for our visa to enter canada .
since we paid our own fare and had a bit of money to spare there was no problem getting approved quickly . for those that didn't have the money for the fare , the canadian government would even advance the money !
when we left hamburg in late july , we were dressed in typical german summerwear : solid shoes , warm socks , underwear , shirt and tie , suit and light overcoat ... and a hat
.
two weeks later - in early august we arrived in montreal and were greeted by a temperature of about 35 C ! we had never experienced that kind of heat in germany ... we thought we'd landed in south-america by mistake .
my first job was as a helper on a construction site - the temperature stayed at about 30 C and , of course , no air-conditioning in the apartment !
we had a difficult time understanding how anyone could live and work in that kind of heat .
by october i had managed to land an office job and things looked pretty good .
december came and with it the first blast of canadian winter . i put on my german "wintercoat" , put on my hat and went to work ... on the way back home i wrapped my scarf around my face for the ten minute walk home ! next day i purchased on of those lined farmer's caps with EARFLAPS !
shortly thereafter i was introduced to the "beauty" of "rubber overboots"
, what a sight !
fifty years later we have learned to wear parkas , fur-lined boots and furhats in the winter and run around in shorts and t-shirt in the summer and know how to operate a furnace and an air-conditioner !
in some years we seem to turn off the furnace on one day and turn on the air-conditioner the next day !
OH , CANADA
and at this time of the year we start looking for the first flowers that are poking through the leaves and soil in the garden ... and waiting for some snow over the easter-weekend !
that's the CANADA the immigration officers never told us about .
i still see the picture that covered the backwall of the office :
HUGE WHEATFIELDS swaying in the wind !
hbg ( now in canada , eh !)
.jpg/800px-Smarties_(Candy).jpg)
