<Begin Segment 42>

DG: You told me the story before about your food situation.

MH: You mean where?

DG: When you came back to the parsonage.

MH: Three family have to cook. Always we are the behind, last one. So how much my children hungry. We couldn't cook. Stove was only one, wooden stove. No more burn wood. We don't know how to do it. See, from Los Angeles we didn't know how to do it. I was very troubled and then after the church, people comes to eat. Of course, my mother is a good cook, but everything ate it and then even my mother make tsukemono, they take those too. And then so many guests, every day guests, for lunch. We never eat lunch with father because father and guests have to eat. So...

DG: So you bought your own food and had to share it with everybody.

MH: Yeah. There is three, two other, two family. They buy their own food and they cook themself and their family eat. But Sunday is so many student comes. And then after the church they can't go home. Seattle Pacific already finished lunch so my mother invite them to eat our place, that's the Nisei. Issei people finished earlier and they all comes to the parsonage have a tea and then eat, single people. Lot of single people. Everything. So we go home. We didn't have rice or anything. We remember the bread.

DG: So it was almost more difficult than it was in camp.

MH: I don't know. And then I went to the Bailey Gatzert school and then a lot of Japanese came back. PTA, no one asked the Japanese to become officers, and then they said, "We hated Japanese because of the principal." So likes the Japanese. Only Japanese favored. Favor the Japanese. That's why those people I don't like. "You came from California. You don't know anything about Seattle so we are asking you to become secretary." PTA. I said that I don't know anybody or anything, even I can't walk myself, but, "That's why we choose you for the secretary." So I was Bailey Gatzert school PTA secretary. [Laughs] Isn't that funny?

<End Segment 42> - Copyright © 1997 Densho. All Rights Reserved.