Example: we stop in the street to look at our map. Cousin Joe says: someone came up to help. Indeed, that is what happened. They pointed us to the right direction and gave some personal tips. Of course: that is Vancouver!

Then the boat to the island. Imagine: early clear blue sky, the sun already on your face, the ship manoeuvres through small islands. You see a cloud hanging between 2 islands in the distance….

Even our last supper was an adventure. Vietnamese. 2 Different soups boil in your table and  you cook your beef, vegetables and noodles in it. Very tasty./ Have to see if Amsterdam offers this.

Dear, dear everyone, we are back on the 28^th floor of our hotel. This was our last blog. We thoroughly enjoyed writing it, thanks so much for the nice response.

To summarize: it was a trip!

The museum gives mixed feelings. The exhibits are very impressive but… It has all been purchased over the last 50 years from the original owners. It is all very much: we show their culture. With all respect of course, but that is the way it is. We join a tour. And this is given by a very nice lady, a volunteer of Irish origin. Not a native but a WASP. We have visited a very nice thoroughly racist outfit. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying the photos.

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We ended up just above Kamloops, in a small but beautiful state park: Paul Lake. It has a lake, surrounded by forests and low mountains. Further away is the campground. Sadly it was full so we decided for lunch on the picknick ground right beside the lake. There we met Larry, the park attendant.

Larry is 68 years old. He grew up on a farm but worked best part of his career in a grocery store. Years ago he took a second job: park attendant. His wife is a teacher and will have a good pension. Basically Larry has not. As all Canadians he has a small income that comes to you at retirement age but that is certainly not enough for a comfortable life. So Larry has to stick to it.  We suspect that this is the case with many Canadians. They don’t stop because they just can’t afford to. We think that this will be the future in The Netherlands as well: so many flex workers who get paid just enough to get by but nearly not enough to save for a pension.

Larry lets us stay at the lake side for the night. We have the best seats in the house!

Elaine belongs to the Gambler First Nation Band. The language and terminology has become laden and is changing. So now we don’t talk about a tribe but about a band. We also do not talk about being an Indian but having an indigenous background or being aboriginal.

Her grandmother turned blind in her twenties. Was this the reason her children were taken away, or was it being indigenous. Now the family thinks the latter.

At a young age Elaines mother, Rosalie was taken away and put in a residential school with the nuns. She was sort of lucky, because she was able to speak French. Therefor she got a better treatment. Because, be sure, roots such as language and culture was beaten out of the kids. The kids had to learn latin, anything but their native language.

After high school Rosalie met William. She was young, but he knew directly: that is the wife I want to marry. And so they did. William was half indigenous. The culture thing was not being talked about. The effort was directed to integrating as much as possible.

Happily enough, after a long life of discrimination, things are starting to turn. Elaine has now a registered treaty number. This means that her status is being recognized, there are some benefits and the next 3 generations will be able to carry this status.

We are in Calgary. Both my cousins live there. Well actually, Mathew lives in one of the suburbs, but it is expected that Calgary will confiscate this in the near future.

The reception is very warm. We feel most welcome. Within no time Mathew has the barbecue going. We spend half the day with Mathew and his wife Elaine in Calgary , then we have coffee at Maaike’s and Terry.

We visited the top of the Calgary tower and that gives a splendid view over the city. For Dutch standards the sight is unreal. The space is enormous. There are 1.2 million people. The vast majority lives in a house with a front and back garden.  We are at 191 meters high and the town stretches as far as we can see.

Canadians move physically and career-wise to were the work is. You can really notice that they are from stock that decided to pack up and move to Canada. Let’s have some examples( they are by no means complete):

Henry:

• Had a business in renting out signposts;
• Became a wholesaler of gravestones;
• Ended up with developing housing projects.

Mathew:

• Did sales in a clothes shop;
• Moved to a business renting out cargo trailers;
• Got into a business transporting dangerous goods;
• Trained to be an electrician;
• Became a shuttle driver for Mazda;
• Ended up in real estate management

Terry (Maaikes husband):

• Started in bookkeeping;
• In his 30’s went back to school
• Became a civil engineer
• Ended up building half the houses in the street where they live.

Leo (Mathew’s brother in law):

• Moved from The Hague to Canada when he was 28;
• He was a plumber but had a problem with getting work;
• Was employed by an insurance company;
• Moved to setting up his own insurance company.

These are examples for career switches. Beside this, work-driven they all moved all over Canada and the USA. For us as visitors it offers a great benefit. Canadians are very well familiar with quick acquaintance. Everybody is interested in you and willing to start up a conversation. Maybe you can help each other. That makes being here so much fun.

The coming blogs will be in English, because I am sure the Canadian family is going to read this.

Today was a big day: we visited our cousin Henry and his wife Joanna at their home in Warman. It is a very pleasant suburban village near Saskatoon. It is Henry’s birthday today , he has turned 73. We see a very fit couple. lots of sports, the choice for Warman was partially dictated to the great golf around here.

We haven’t seen each other for more than 25 years and it was very pleasant. A wonderful meal; venison made in the way of beef Wellington: superb! The venison was hunted by Joanne’s brother.

For us it is fascinating to see how people spend their time after retirement.

Henry keeps his hand in his profession but spends enough time on his hobby: model trains.

Until Covid messed up the market, Henry did project development. He would design houses and would offer them for sale together with the builder. The epidemic however was a reason / an excuse to increase the cost of supplies with unexplainable percentages as well as the time of delivery. This meant that it became impossible to manage budgets and delivery time. The risks became too high and Henry threw in the towel.

Is Henry getting back in business? He has again developed a fantastic home. All ready to be executed: the Cad/Cam files are available.

Bijzonder zijn de graansilo’s. Het is duidelijk dat hier veel in coöperaties wordt gewerkt.  Sommige zijn hypermoderne structuren anderen zijn waarlijk kathedralen te noemen.

We gaan nu op weg naar onze familie: de eerste is neef Henry. Hij woont in Warman.

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Gisterenavond zijn we terecht gekomen op de camping ‘Evergreen’ in Havre, Montana. Zoals wel vaker blijken we de enige actieve gasten. Vaak staan er trailers op de campings die enkel in weekeindes en vakanties gebruikt worden. Ik (Chris) had wat problemen met de droger en vroeg de camphost om hulp en zo raakte we aan de praat. Roger is een gepensioneerde agent en heeft zijn hele carrière gewerkt als highway patrol. De man is heel rustig en praat weloverwogen, benieuwd wat er gebeurt als ik onze discussie richting wapenbezit stuur.

Een huishouden in Montana bezit gemiddeld 5 geweren. Dit is een feit. Er zijn gezinnen met één of geen een geweer, dit wordt gecompenseerd door mensen die er wel 100 hebben. Het is niet bekend hoeveel handvuurwapens er zijn. Vooral oudere mensen hebben geweren. Jongere mensen hebben vaker de neiging om een handvuurwapen aan te schaffen. Roger begrijpt dit niet. Een geweer is er om mee te jagen of een skunk te doden. Handvuurwapens zijn meer gericht op mensen; wat wil je daar nu mee? Maar wat vindt hij van dit uitgebreide wapenbezit? Het maakt jouw werk als agent meer gevaarlijk. Prima; we leven in een gevaarlijke wereld en men moet zich kunnen verdedigen. Maar het gevaar wordt toch gecreëerd door mensen met wapens? Ja, maar die zijn toch sterk in de minderheid. De gemiddelde Amerikaan is een goed mens en moet in staat zijn om zichzelf en zijn familie te beschermen.

Als agenten kregen we natuurlijk schiettraining. Maar onze vrouwen ook, dit is verplicht. Het zal je maar gebeuren dat jij op dienst bent en een misdadiger komt langs om verhaal te halen. Dan moet je vrouw zich kunnen verdedigen. Overigens; wij hebben één schiettrofee in huis en die is door mijn vrouw gewonnen. Zij is een betere schutter dan ik ben.

Ik vertel hem dat ik nog nooit een vuurwapen zelfs gezien heb. Zijn wenkbrauwen verdwijnen richting zijn haargrens. Volmaakt ongeloof. De volgende ochtend sta ik met hem achter zijn huis met een geweer in mijn handen. Er zit een telescoop op. Een eind verder op heeft hij een rood kartonnetje neergezet. Ik krijg een hele uitleg over hoe het allemaal werkt en hoe je er veilig mee om moet gaan. Vervolgens schiet ik wat gaatjes in het kartonnetje. Best wel leuk.