<Begin Segment 10>

TI: Okay, so you didn't have to go to school. So did you have a job at Topaz?

KY: Yes, see, I think I told you earlier that I was thinking about a nursing profession and so I said, well, I'll work as a nurse's aide at the hospital which I did all during the time I was in camp. But that sort of cured me, it isn't what I wanted to do, so it was a good experience in the sense that it helped me to sort out some things.

TI: So what was it about being a nurse's aide that turned you off from wanting to become a nurse?

KY: I don't know. It sounded glamorous but when you really got down to it, it wasn't, so I wasn't going to be... I didn't feel that it was for me.

TI: So you were a nurse's aide for the duration you were at Topaz. I'm curious, what kind of cases or patients did you see at Topaz?

KY: Well, it really came down to just caring for the patient. You gave nursing care, that's primarily what the job consisted of.

TI: But I guess I'm curious about what kind of illnesses or injuries or what type of things did the hospital handle?

KY: Oh, they did everything, physical injuries and if I remember, it was a regular hospital so they took care --

TI: So they had births and injuries and people just getting like the flu or pneumonia and things like that.

KY: Yeah.

TI: And your father was a chef, how about your mother, did she have a job?

KY: No.

TI: And your sister did she have a job?

KY: She was a student while we were in camp.

TI: Now with the money you made in camp, what did you do with that money?

KY: Sixteen dollars a month. [Laughs] Oh, I guess we ordered things from the outside. I think at this particular time that sixteen dollars didn't get you very far. So I don't remember like I have to save for this or that. I don't remember how I spent my money. Maybe we bought some things.

TI: So how about the social life in Topaz for you?

KY: I have to say that I didn't join any of the groups, just did things with friends, but I was not a person who participated a lot in the social activities.

TI: So things like dances, nothing.

KY: I didn't.

<End Segment 10> - Copyright © 2011 Densho. All Rights Reserved.