2010 - Going Coastal. (Part 6 of the 'Magers in Canada' Miniseries)

Having friends in California certainly has its advantages. It was good that we had started the new year with sun and warmth instead of wintery prairies because on her new project Sonja got thrown into a cold and dark place in the province of Manitoba. Winnipeg, or Winterpeg as the natives call it. Need we say more?

At the University of Manitoba

The job was alright but there were limits to what one could mentally endure wheather-wise. The seemingly endless winter, the constant black and white, and minus 40C plus windchill made her back out of her contract, and escape to the west coast of Canada only a few months later.

North Vancouver

By March she had lined up new employment at a New Zealand based start-up company, with a ticket in her pocket to actually visit down under, where it happened to be warm and sunny.

Downtown Auckland

After her return to BC a car was bought, and an apartment set up, and while Roland packed up the condo in Calgary and organized the move, Sonja had set up their future life in Port Moody, British Columbia.

Reunited in Vancouver

New friends were made easily, especially with that revived hobby of Sonja's. By May she had a new (used) motorcycle, and ventured off to explore the coast and the lower Mainland.

While Roland spent his summer vacation with his best friend at the jazz festival in Montreal, Sonja and a certain moto-blogger buddy of hers went on a motorcycle trip through Washington and Oregon.

Downtown Montreal

Yakima Canyon with Bob - on our way to IMBC2010

In fall we had the opportunity to visit Vancouver Island again. It was another exciting and busy year, but all went well and we had finally arrived where we always wanted to be: At Canada's We(s)t Coast!

On the Island

Pitt Lake (Lower Mainland)

Once upon a Time...

… there was a small picturesque town in the Black Forest. In the early times populated by the Romans, it thrived through mining (mostly silver) in the Middle Ages. It withstood several wars and destruction by fire, and today the old city core shows well maintained traditional timber-framed houses from the 18th century. The town's name is Haslach.

The people here seem to have a funny bone. For example we found a statue of a pig (Doesn't this one looks like Babe?).

They show how much they care by making pole warmers for street lamps (what the…), and by warning you of the dangers of falling conkers.

They also have a Fiat Vintage Club.

Overall a seemingly peaceful and innocent place.

But… there has been a dark side.

Towards the end of the Third Reich Germany had over a thousand concentration camps, and one of them was right here at the hard rock (Amphibolite) mine 'Vulkan' in Haslach, where 1,700 prisoners from 19 different countries (but mostly French Resistance, Russians and Polish) were kept from late 1944 until the end of the war, and forced into labour in order to build a secret underground factory for machinery of war. Most of them didn't survive the inhumane conditions and torture.

Every day the prisoners had to walk through town and up the hill, whether they were wearing shoes, bandages, or were barefoot. They were starving and poorly dressed for the weather conditions. Some local folks tried to help by leaving food along their way but there was not much more that they could do without endangering their own lives. 

Other even poorer souls were held within one of the old mines and never saw the light of day. Men were beaten with sticks until the sticks broke, others were shot without reason. It is said that one of the most brutal German camp wardens was a man who had left school after second grade, because he could not keep up with the other children.

Today there is not much left from the gruesome Nazi activities. After the WWII the French Military had the mines destroyed, and sealed them off forever. 

Vulkan Memorial (Google Translate).
The gate in the back is the last remaining entry to the mine.

Unfortunately many of the devils in charge back then were able to lead relatively unharmed lives afterwards, like the commander of the Vulkan base camp Karl Buck (Google Translate), who was sentenced to death by the allies various times, but eventually pardoned and lived for another twenty years as a free man in Germany.

For German generations to follow, places like this one are a constant reminder that we must not allow crimes like that to ever happen again. A plate at the memorial claims: "One is not only responsible for what one does, but also for what one let allow to happen." (by Roman Herzog, former Federal President of Germany). 

2009 - Making Lemonade. (Part 5 of the 'Magers in Canada' Miniseries)

Nothing changed in Roland's job. Recession simply passed him by. He was still happy and content at his company, and busy keeping his boss happy, and the regular paychecks coming. So, this will be a somewhat Sonja centered posting, as she ventured off 'making lemonade'. A lot!

Cypress Hills Provincial Park

Unemployment definitely wasn't the best way to start a year. However, it was inevitable, and when Sonja finally collected her pink slip, and left her probably best job ever, she was mentally prepared for it. By summer she would have had applied for over a hundred jobs to no avail. But hey, the year had just begun, and so we flew to Germany to spend some time with family and friends.

We also visited the neighboring prairie province Saskatchewan but there was nothing really to write home about. Then we followed the invitation of our friends in California to spend some time in the sun.

In summer, with Sonja still between jobs, and on her umptiest application, we went on another little vacation, and spent a week on the island (Vancouver Island that is.). Our sojourn got however mildly but somewhat pleasantly interrupted by some telephone interviews that Sonja went through, and by the end of our sojourn she had two job offers lined up.

Late summer Sonja's sister and her son came to visit (and the little guy learned to walk). With Sonja's plenty of free time at hand, she was more than happy to show them the Alberta top tourist attractions. 

In October Sonja had decided on a new job in consulting. For her things turned busy again, it was back to all work and little play, but it felt good to have a purposeful life again.

We also got good news from Germany. Our application for dual citizenship had been granted by the German government, meaning we were set to apply for Canadian citizenship, and would be able to remain German citizens.

For Sonja her seven months of unemployment had been tough, as she wasn't used to staying put. 'The lemonade' she made was good: She traveled a lot, picked up canoeing, got back into motorcycling (Guido's fault, that is!), and subsequently commenced with her two-wheeler blog. Unemployment? The heck with it! 2009 hadn't been bad at all.

Life is good!