Evelin McCarvill
Originally from Austria, Teacher, Victoria, BC

 

photo_icon 112 Photos | sound_icon 1:27:03h Oral History Interview | file_icon Full Transcript

 


Evelin McCarvill immigrated from Austria to Canada in 1975. She grew up in a small town called Weitensfeld in Austria, in the region of Kärnten. After she turned 17 years old she moved away from home to spend two years in Munich. During a trip through Europe she met her Canadian husband Rob McCarvill in Paris in the metro. After traveling together to the south of Europe she decided to visit him for a year at his home in Victoria, BC. The year after they got married in Austria and Evelin moved to Canada and both of them started to raise a family. They had two children, Martin and Nikky and during that Evelin took classes at Camosun and the University of Victoria to become a teacher.

 
 

 
 
 

It’s true… because it… the family was there then and the family is here now.

– Evelin McCarvill, Victoria, BC 2015 –

 
 
 

 

___________  
PHOTOGRAPHS

 

 

___________  
ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW

 

 
 
 
 

 
 

I don’t really associate with countries but I guess I’m probably… if I have to make a decision more Canadian than Austrian at this point…

– Evelin McCarvill, Victoria, BC 2015 –

 
 

 

___________  
RESEARCH MATERIAL

 


I didn’t really think it was that different you know I was just like, like traveling and… at the time it didn’t really strike me at that different. One thing that I noticed that things were a lot calmer. Like in, in Europe everything seemed a bit hectic. Like people were more excitable and when I arrived in Toronto everything seemed really calm and people were just slower you know but… and… and then another thing… I came to my aunt’s house and there was nobody home and all the lights were on and the door was open. And that’s… really seemed strange to me. Cause even in a small place like Weitensfeld we would lock the doors at night or at least if we went out but… so that seemed very different to me.

 
I don’t feel… I’m either… I’m a citizen of the world, you know… it’s just… I don’t really associate with countries but I guess I’m probably if I have to make a decision more Canadian than Austrian at this point just because I don’t really know that much about Austria about what’s happening there. I couldn’t tell you very much about Austria… I know the Austria that was there but I don’t know the Austria that’s there now…  
 

EVELIN MCCARVILL ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW
BC Through Arriving Eyes
British Columbia

File Format Wave   Resolution 24 Bit   Sample Rate 44100 Hz   Length 1:27:03
 
During the interview Evelin McCarvill tells her experiences coming to Canada with her Canadian husband Rob. She is talking about her Austrian background, her first impressions of Canada, language barriers, raising children & missing home.
 
Archived at UBC cIRcle