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PW: Well, to back up, you've got to tell us who is Sandy.

RO: Oh, Sandy was, yeah, it was very interesting, because we were living in the apartment when I was teaching back in Fresno. So then it was a lot of young people in that pool and a lot of young people were there. And so then we had a friend, a common friend, a friend who I knew from high school and also was a friend of Sandy, but I didn't know that. and so then she had said, well, I think what it was was my apartment, because the window there that faces the walkway, people would walk by there and look in the apartment, so then we didn't have curtains or anything. So then I took some tissue paper, and I glued it on to the window and so I said, "Well, I'll go ahead and create a design," part of the holidays, too. And so she had, apparently had conversations with this other friend that we both knew who also lived in the apartment, say that, oh, "Who's this guy that taught... what is this thing about?" So she said, "Oh, that's Bob Ogata." She said, "Oh, let me introduce you to them." So then she eventually, we were introduced, she was also living in another part of the apartments, so then we became friends and got to know each other better.

PW: And you were both students at Fresno State at the time?

RO: No, we were both teachers at the time. She was teaching at, was it Birney Elementary, I think? Yeah, I think so, and I was at Fresno High School.

PW: That connects up back to your story.

RO: Right, yeah.

PW: She went with you to Puerta Vallerta?

RO: No.

PW: No?

RO: She was still in Fresno, she didn't go with us. I just went with my other friend, but she was taking care of them, and the mail that came to the apartment.

PW: Then she joined you and then you got married in Switzerland. And did she stay with you the whole time that you were teaching in Munich? How did that work?

RO: Oh, yes, we were married in Switzerland. Then, of course, as a result, then we were allowed quarters for married couples. And basically, the first one we had was a garret apartment on top of these apartments, and there's that space at the top where the maid's quarters were. So that was our first little apartment until we were given regular quarters that were in the main part of the building. So yeah, our life began there, our firstborn.

PW: And you were teaching (middle/high) school?

RO: I was teaching... interestingly enough, when I got to Munich American High School, then I was introduced to the faculty. And the other art teacher that was in the high school was also Japanese American. His name was Ted Akimoto, he was from a family in Arizona, and so then he also was married to a Caucasian woman. So all of a sudden there's this connection that's made. So that was important because he was very instrumental in introducing us to what Munich life was like, especially for Americans. The symphony, the opera, the museums and the places to eat and on and on and on, so they were very crucial. I mean, the fact that, because our firstborn was in Munich, so then Sandy had to be, how do you do laundry and this and that and whatever, because those things were all kind of specialized in certain areas. So you befriend these people, and the Munich faculty is a faculty that was lot of young unmarried people that loved to party. We would make up reasons why we would party, and we were introduced to this and so on. And there was another group of the faculty that didn't so much, they had children and whatever. But then for people that were basically without children, these were the same people that went skiing together, so we went skiing in Austria, in Switzerland and Italy, everywhere. So with that connection that was made throughout the year with these people that became very, very good friends of mine for years.

And it was wonderful because it changed our lives about living in a foreign county and having to function. We lived off base, there was no base, these were just apartments that were leased out then to Americans. So then we had to go ahead and wanted to go shopping. We had to go downtown, of course, it was a place that we could buy things, American commissary, not a commissary, but that kind of thing. So we would spend most of our time in the, what do you call it, where all Germans were doing what they were doing. We wanted to be a part of that community, so we took German classes and we spoke German as much as we could, as often as we could and so on. And people were very, they were very forgiving in the fact that then we were trying to go ahead and speak. Of course, then a lot of the Germans thought that, seeing this Asian guy, they assumed that I was probably from Japan. That was the association they had. Very interesting that we would go to Octoberfest, was this huge beer event that was happening with all the breweries in Munich, and they would have a huge tent with an oompah band and picnic tables, and we would all get together and have beer, and you're just sitting around. One time we were there, and some German people that were sitting next to us. And the guy picked up my arm, and picked me up so we could stand on the seating part. He says, "Allies, Allies!" [Laughs] Then that was an awakening. Can you imagine that?

<End Segment 22> - Copyright © 2023 Densho. All Rights Reserved.