Feeling Ashamed of the Old House of Rocky Docky

Biene wrote this post.

Angelika’s bedroom was huge and so bright and colourful.  She even had a piano in the middle of the room, and her mom made her play some tunes. Then she left us alone, and we spent some time in the park-like yard playing badminton on the lawn.  We had fun and laughed a lot.  Later we sat on her bed talking about school and joking about our teachers.

Suddenly I heard barking and a male voice.  Angelika’s dad, the manager of the municipal hydro corporation, had returned from his office with their German shepherd dog called Torro.  Angelika and Torro greeted each other exuberantly.  Angelika’s dad looked on with a big boyish smile on his face.   Then he turned to me.

“You must be that special girl I have heard so much about, “he said.   “Don’t be afraid of Torro; he is very gentle and would never hurt anyone.  Come and pet him so he gets to know you.”  Overcoming my fear, I managed to stroke Torro gently on the back, which he seemed to like.  He sat in front of me, staring at my face expecting more attention.  Angelika’s dad looked very easygoing and friendly.  He laughed a lot and made me feel at ease.

My first visit with Angelika and her parents at her beautiful place was coming to an end.  Her dad told us to go to his Volkswagen Beetle so he could drive me home.

“I’ll take Torro as well,” Angelika’s dad told me, “but he has to go in the car last.  He’ll get agitated and bark at you if he is in before you. He is very possessive of the car.”

When Angelika and I were settled on the backseats, Torro jumped in last, and I could see how happy and proud he was to sit beside his master. A car ride was a unique experience for me since we had never owned one.  We rode by bus or train and did a lot of walking and biking. Initially, I enjoyed the ride in the cute little Beetle, but the closer we came to my street, the more apprehensive I felt.  I did not want Angelika and her dad to see The Old House of Rocky Docky.  I felt ashamed to live in such a shabby small place and feared I would never be invited by Angelika again.I feigned carsickness and asked to walk the last stretch home.  I think Angelika’s dad sensed why I wanted to get off and let me go without protest.

A Visit to Aurich

Biene wrote this post.

Every day is a new experience for children, and I enjoyed every day of my new life—no time to think of the past. The school was exciting because of our inspiring and kind teacher. With so many families living nearby in the camp, my brother and I had many friends. We spent most of the time outside playing in those endless meadows surrounding the base. There was never a dull moment because someone would always come up with an exciting activity or game. We skipped rope, played ball games, did yoga-type gymnastics and often invented new poses. We had talent shows singing and performing songs we had heard on the radio. We played old-fashioned games like marbles, hopscotch, hide and seek, catch or make-belief games. Sometimes we would collect daisies, dandelions or other flowers for braiding wreaths or lie back in the lush meadows and daydream.

Looking back now, from an adult perspective, life for my parents was not that idyllic. They were eager to have a place again to put down roots and call it home. But time dragged on. Sometimes my mom would take us to the picturesque town of Aurich, where my dad had found a temporary position as a dental technician at the local dentist’s office. My mom would slip quietly into the beautiful old church to kneel and pray for a few ‘Our Fathers’ on those outings. Often it looked like she was crying. My brother and I loved these town outings because my mother would buy us cones with whipping cream, a region specialty known for its sweet and rich cream from happy cows grazing on those lush pastures. My mom would drink East Frisian black tea with little “clouds” of heavy cream, also a specialty of the region.

The promise of a New Hat

Biene wrote this post.

It was on such a day in January 1953 that our lives changed forever. It had been clear and cold. Our tobogganing hill was slick and fast. Many of our friends were out, and we raced down the steep street again and again. One of my friends wore a new fur-trimmed hat which I liked very much. It was so much prettier than my hand-knit wool tuque. She had just received it in a belated Christmas parcel from her aunt in the West. She also shared some chewing gum with us, which we never had before and enjoyed tremendously for the first time in our life. What a wonderful place the West must be, I thought when I looked at my friend with the pretty hat trying to blow bubbles with her bubble gum.

It started to snow softly when suddenly I saw my mom approaching us. She never called us home before supper. Puzzled, we ran to her. Taking hold of my brother with one hand and me with the other, she told us that we had to go quickly to town with her before an important office closed. Despite our protests demanding to stay with our friends, she pulled us hurriedly along. I started whining, insisting that she at least buy me a new hat as pretty as the one my friend had received from the West. My mother pulled us relentlessly along without responding to my increasingly vocal demands.

Eventually, we reached the office. My mother signed and received some papers. It was pitch dark when we headed home. I was exhausted and hungry by then and had given up whining.  Suddenly I heard my mom whisper that I would soon get a new hat in the West. I was too drowsy to understand what her words meant.