In 1952 a ship full of emigrants arrived from Europe to Halifax Harbour My husband myself and our 4 year old son was among them.
We where ushered into the train station and then boarded a train to Montreal.
Neither of us had any family close or distant in Canada. A friend of my husband waited for us at the station in Montreal and took us to a rented room. We had a total of $ 46.00 between us
We both came from Romania and lived through the war there and my husband spent time in a forced labour camp.
We met and married after the war in 1946.
Life in Canada was not easy Lots of ups and downs but being free compensated for many things.
In 1978 I found myself in a situation where I had to choose “sink or swim”
I went back to school. I had no time or money to complete the necessary training for
a university entrance, so I enrolled in a 3 year program at a community college for social counselling
majoring in Geriatrics.
At the end of the 3 years I had a job offer in a hospital looking after seniors to be discharged, to check
their home for safety and connect them with other community services, like home care meals on
wheels, visiting nurse etc. At the same time bill 101 the French language bill came out in Quebec.
Anybody hired for government post or same kind of social work had to pass a french language exam to obtain the job.

I wasn’t to nervous since I speak french. I passed the oral and failed the written test. There where
multiple choice questions and I answered all of them. To this day I don’t know why. They would not tell me or the hospital administrator's
My younger son who was born in Montreal was living and working in Winnipeg. I sold everything .and made the move. I lived in Montreal for 29 years.
I looked for work everywhere,nursing homes hospitals It was no hiring then one day trough a friend I landed a job in a social agency working with single
parent families and teen age mothers. I never worked with Geriatrics . I was 57 years old at that time. I stayed with this job until retirement.
I am 85 years old still very active enjoying my family. I learned all this years and also believe that everything is possible
providing it is realistic and you have the will , perseverance, discipline sense of humor and love for life.
It is not easy and you are not born with it, You have to develop it but it is doable.


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