My Story

Let me tell you a little bit about me. I was 4 yrs old when I arrived in Canada, before that I lived in Denmark.  While I lived in Denmark at the young age of 4 I had already moved 3 times, then the long trek to Canada via boat.  Little did I know that I would move 8 more times. This is why I was (am) very shy growing up.  It’s hard to move to a new school midway through the year.  I still remember walking in to the classrooms for the first time and all the kids are staring at me.  Then they would chat amongst themselves at recess looking my way.  I see myself standing against the brick wall almost crying (I probably did in the younger grades). Very traumatic. I remember playing in the park at the tender age of 4 and my sister Susanne 5. Susanne was always a leader and would get the other kids to play her games. Little did we know that we spoke a totally different language.  Here we are talking in Danish and they English (or maybe even Italian, since we lived downtown Toronto ), we thought they were stupid kids because they didn’t know how to play the game. Dahhhh.  By the time I entered Kindergarten I could speak the language quite well.  (I think. No one told me otherwise). My mother spoke very little English when she arrived, but as you know from my other blogs mom is very stubborn and was determined to learn the language.  My father worked late at night so she was home with us 3 kids and a black and white television.  That is how she learned English.  She would watch the 3 stooges, Abbott and Costello, in the Frankenstien and Mummy movies. We didn’t know it was a comedy, we were sitting in my moms lap and covering our eyes.  We were scared shitless and so was my mom.  Back then parents didn’t monitor what their children watched. They didn’t know about the dangers of exposing your children to violence.  But that’s another topic. I will continue my journey with you next blog.  nette