<Begin Segment 22>

SY: So were there a lot of people in camp that were the same age as you?

NS: Oh, yeah. I mean, family, it depended on the family, what family went in camp.

SY: So did you make a lot of friends in camp?

NS: Oh, yeah, lots of friends. I missed them. Of course, I don't know them now. [Laughs]

SY: Now how did people get together that were about your age? What would you do...

NS: Oh, we used to have fun. We used to go out and... we had to have picnic sometime, we'd go to movie sometime, we had all kind of activity in camp. Too bad you didn't go in. We had lot of activity, we had dancing... we had dancing, we had parties, we had, gosh, what else did we have? Movie was every night. You got tired of going, though, 'cause you see every night.

SY: So once you got settled in camp, once you got settled, then you had a... then it got better?

NS: Oh, yes. Get to meet friends. All my friends went someplace else, so I have to start brand new.

SY: So you didn't know really very many people when you got there.

NS: No. But I got friendly with everybody. And then we went to... nighttime we always had movies, so in the barrack, I mean, our camp they call it "boot," it's a hill, and they have the movie thing set up. And so we could see from the, where we were sitting, the movie place is down, so we're sitting high. So you could see real good. We used to have, we used to have fun doing that, and climbing up and down.

SY: So there were, did you end up being around people that were the same age as you?

NS: Oh, yes. Oh, there's lots of people. I mean, some people were going school, see, some of 'em are going school yet. The ones that my age, there were quite a few. There were quite a few in camp. I was surprised. They all graduated about the same time.

SY: And all your friends were working, too?

NS: Well, they got some kind of job, yes. They didn't want to do nothing. If they didn't, they went and helped in the mess hall, clean up. Like my mother used to go help. And then she got, later on, she got fifteen dollar too for washing the dishes and setting the table and things like that. So they were happy. Next door neighbor, Mrs. Sato, she went and picked up my mother every morning and she used to go work.

SY: So because you didn't go to school in camp, then you have a lot more free time.

NS: Oh, yes. That's why I had this kind of job that I did, odd jobs. Taking care of the baby and everything.

SY: And so that took up a lot of your time.

NS: Oh, yeah, every day. That school was on every day except for weekends.

SY: And did you have to help take care of your family, too?

NS: No, no. My baby sister was five and Mama was there, so I didn't have to take care of her.

SY: So in general, how would you describe your experience in camp?

NS: Well, it was very boring because you can't do everything what you want. But like I was lucky that this lady that helped take care of the baby took us, took me outside of the camp to go shopping. We were in Arizona, so she'd take me down in the town, what do they call that town? Arizona.

SY: It was the close town?

NS: Yeah, I forgot the name of the place, closest town. They were big town. I mean, for the country it was a big town.

SY: And she would drive you outside of --

NS: Yeah, she would drive me and I'd watch the baby at the same time.

SY: She would go shopping?

NS: Oh, yeah, I got to go out. I had to get a permission.

SY: And do you remember how people treated you when you went out?

NS: Oh, yeah, they were nice. They were real nice. They thought I was Mrs. Strickland's daughter or something 'cause I was holding the baby all the time. [Laughs]

SY: So you never got any kind of racial...

NS: No. I never had that experience at all.

SY: During camp?

NS: During the camp, no.

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.