Interview comments

Hi everyone, I have briefly looked at a few of your interviews but have not yet watched ALL of them! We will highlight some in class as we get time. Thanks for trying to use technology for this interview project. It was/is a learning experience for all of us. As we (teachers) are encouraged to integrate more and more technology into our classes, I figured this would be a fun way to get you online and begin posting your work online. As time moves, I am sure we will only get better and better. And more comfortable. 

So, here is a bit of my father's immigration story for you. He was born in Indonesia to a wealthy father and mother. My grandmother was French Indonesian and my grandfather was Dutch Indonesian.  During this time Indonesia was struggling for independence from their foreign rulers, the Dutch. My father tells how the people really hated his family and it became harder and harder to go out without endangering their lives. I have pictures of my dad in a dress with his personal nanny, all in front of the huge mansion. My dad does not remember this time as he was too small. His parents took the family to Holland to live. There, they were considered to be Indonesian and again were not fully accepted. While most of the family money was lost in the move...their wealth was mostly in land, which they obviously couldn't take with them. My grandfather had dreamed of moving to America so he put his family on the lottery system. This worked under a quota system as we have discussed in class. Every year a certain number of people were chosen to immigrate to America. After 11 years of waiting and hoping they finally were able to move here. They went through New York to then cross the country to get to Venice, California. 

My dad was put into St. Monica's in Santa Monica. No one spoke Dutch so he and his siblings had no choice but to learn English. But his parents were not as quick to learn. My father took great advantage of this as he ditched class to nap in his neighbors houses as they were away at work. He wrote notes and tricked his parents into signing them to excuse him from school. It took almost two years for everyone to catch on and for him to get kicked out of his high school. He was happy about this as he then could attend Venice High with his "hot" neighbor. (ends up being my mother) He succeeded (mostly because he got my mom to do all his homework for him) and went on to marry and have two WONDERFUL children. wink wink. 

Alright, enough for now, hope you have a good night. See you tomorrow. Don't forget we will have an immigration quiz on Friday.

Mrs. Spotts