00-10 mins: Introduction; life in Indonesia; Wasn’t scholarly lived until 1956 when they were forced to leave; Father Dutch mother Indonesian; Jakarta; Most people lived there for the employment opportunities like shipping; Father worked for a printing newspaper and came as a soldier to the colony in 1918; Very warm, scenic country; Humid; Trees were always green and the flowers always blooming; Tropical; Still has an uncle and some cousins there; Has become modernized quite quickly; Says Jakarta has become more modern than New York City; Population is very split in regards to wealth; There is the very poor and the very wealthy and very few in between; So rich they could own five or six houses; Left November 6th by boat; trip was suppose to take about 21 days but took 30 days because there was trouble with the Soues? Canal; Instead of going through India they had to go south through Africa; Her father, mother, and three youngest; Older siblings stayed behind because they were already married; Father did not want to become Indonesian citizen and it was very difficult for the Dutch to become citizens
11-20 mins: Father worried that, because he had girls, the system would try to take advantage of them; She was 18 when she left; Indonesian people did not have an education and the Dutch did not provide them with an education; usually the Indonesian people usually ended up being maids; Her mother had a mixed background as well; Went to a school with nuns who were very strict; education was gender segregated; class was not in session from 1-4 pm because it was too hot; Rice was the main staple in terms of food; Fish cakes, shrimp, crab, many kinds of seafood because it was an island; meat was expensive because there was no refrigeration; fish and chicken were sold live by vendors; maids would clean the meat or slit the chickens throat; hot spices were kept on the side; subject says that the hot spices might be eaten to encouraged perspiration; father preferred potatoes over rice; was shocked by the climate of Holland and could not buy the stockings or sweaters in Indonesia; They sold the warmer clothes on the ship but the kids did not understand how it could be so much colder; It was foggy when the boat landed and the kids were disappointed when they saw the dreary weather; There were no trees on the leaves and the land was flat;
21-29 mins: They expected snow and ice but there was no snow when they arrived; he had not been there for 40 years; they were taken to a little farm city; the bedrooms were cold and small; Transferred to Hege?; all you saw were cows and farms; they were very smelly; Indonesia was exposed to more diversity than Holland; The Dutch thought they lived in trees but in reality they were more educated than them; They knew geography of many places while the Dutch only knew Dutch history and Dutch Geography; Only two buses came each day and you needed to catch the bus and ride it for an hour and a half to get to the train station; they were catholic but most people in Indonesia were muslim; they respected each others religions; would go to midnight mass since they lived in the capital and the cathedral was close by; they had christmas trees and would decorate it with regular candles; they had furr trees and so they still used them for the christmas tree; the mountains were much cooler and thats where the furr trees could be found; left Holland after mother passed away and never liked Holland; people of indonesia were more friendly and outgoing
Second track
30-42 mins: they wear sarongs and a kebaja; younger ones wear dresses; sarong is a long,wrap around skirt; batik print; bebaja is a long sleeve top; subject designed dresses after highschool; took lessons on cake decorating after her children were born at the highschool; taught sewing lessons at st. Peters/carne center; showed them how to change patterns; the cake decorating teacher had asked her to take over cake decorating classes; her sister opened up oriental food store; she offered to teach chinese/oriental cooking and she has done it ever since; husband loves to travel so he doesn’t like it when she works too much; she really enjoyed Salt Lake City, Utah; she liked the scenic value of Alaska; the kids complain about what they haven’t done and her husband says “You’ve been to all 50 states and you still aren’t satisfied”; discussion of their travel to Alaska and their trip on the Alaska highway; Train was delayed from derailment; the train ride was scary;
43-52 mins: her son wants to go back to Alaska; he wants an office job or a job where he can dress up in suites; talk about the careers her kids wanted to do for work; she says she’s 44 at the time of this interview and has had three disks removed from her back; a fusion done; had a bone spur removed in her right shoulder; rotator cuff was torn