Friday, August 5th - how everything began

How everything began... 

No worries, we are not starting with Winnetou... ;-)

We are having the wish to move to Canada already for a long time. Various members of our family have moved to Canada over the years. For several years our summer holidays brought us to the various provinces, we saw a lot. Provinces we covered in this time were Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI for the east, but also Alberta and British Columbia in the west. What we found out is that the more european influenced east part of Canada is what fits us best, specifically the Maritimes.

After various plans, which were later cancelled as not being practicable or worthwhile pursuing, we decided for the Provincial Nominee Program of New Brunswick, specifically in the category Entrepreneur. Should mean: we will be self-employed!


Our business will be a german Cafè & Bistro. By acquaintances we learned that german cakes and sweats are of interest in Canada. We ran some investigation on this and found out that this really seems to be an opportunity. Furthermore this is an opportunity how we both (mother and daughter) can immigrate. Now many of you will say: do you have experience with such a business? No! But in Canada you can have the courage to try something like this out. The only thing we know: everybody has been satisfied with the food and the sweat dishes we prepared. And that is encouraging. Of this we will need a lot in the coming future!


After a very short processing time, our immigration application was positive and we now do have the hoped for visa in our passports. Now we are selling our house. As soon as this is done, we will order the container and book the next possible flight. Our wish is to be in the plane end of September :-)

Quite optimistic, but our real estate agent is optimistic about this as well, so: everything will turn out well!


The name of this blog will also be the name of our business. Why "the-kiepenkerl"? Very simple, we are from Westphalia,  so the name fits perfectly. And it should also be possible to pronounce by english speaking guests. It has a relation to us and our past, as although we immigrate to Canada, we will still stay what we are and what makes us what we are.

We are heading to the greater Moncton area, in the province New Brunswick. This city is very central, is a very active larger city here and still close to the water. From the landscape, it is a mixture of various regions, cultural mixture between former scotish settlers, acadians and different emigrants. This alone makes it very attractive.

By this blog, we will keep our family, friends and colleagues informed about the status of this project, in the coming weeks and months, so make sure to stop by here regularly!