Thirty Years in Canada, One Simple Decision

2026-01-19

Dare to dream — but also dare to do.

One fall morning in 1995, I received that magical envelope containing my Canadian immigration documents — with one clear condition: arrive within six months, or the application would be void.

The decision was surprisingly easy. A programmer might call it a simple if–else statement:

IF I go and don’t like it, I’ll buy a one-way ticket back to Germany.
ELSE I’ll spend the rest of my life wondering: What would my life have been like if I had followed curiosity?

People often said, “You’re brave.”
No — staying and let this opportunity slip would have been brave.

Today marks exactly 30 years since I landed on Vancouver Island and opened a brand-new chapter in this ongoing saga called life.

No regrets.