October 28, 1964

Oct 28, 1964

Dear Mom and Dad,

Today we received two more letters from Don – one dated Oct 12th which was a carbon of your letter and one dated Oct 20th. It sure varies – the mail from Brazil. Both letters were very interesting and he is certainly getting around down there.

This morning about 8A.M. our lovely Swiss kdg. teacher called to tell us that the school Board wouldn’t allow her to take Kenny. She had told me the first day the kdg. was full (17) and that some children were home now and would come back after the Xmas vacation while the present children stayed home. So we started again trying to get poor Kenny settled. At this rate he'll be sixty before he ever starts school. One of the Embassy women has her daughter in a French Kdg. so I got that number from her and Jim had someone at work call as the teacher only speaks French. She said for him to come Mon. and bring his slippers and a snack. If this works out it’ll be the best arrangement because it is every morning (the Swiss one was only 2 afternoons a week) and Jim can drop him off and pick him up as it is near where he works. Also he will be getting a head start on the French. And he will know the little girl in the class Jo Ann (the other American besides him) because she takes religious instructions with him. I’ll cross my fingers that this works out.

Today we have a house guest. Kevin Bell (age 8) had lunch and is spending the night with us. His mother is still in the hospital. They are watching her because it was a head injury and concussion. He is a sweet little boy and the kids were thrilled to have him. His father discovered that he had a few cracked ribs and Kevin has a big bandage on his forehead with several stitches.

Jim arrived home tonight with our new VW bus and it is really colorful – bright blueish-green and very nice upholstery. Now that we can ride comfortably the weather will probably turn miserable. Winter is coming – because yesterday when I was at the Silvahof – the workmen were taking down the hundreds of planters with geraniums from all the balconies. It’s a shame to see the flower boxes coming down – they make the city so beautiful. One of the workmen got on the elevator with me and pointed to the three children and told me he also had 3 children in Italy. He was smiling when he said it but his eyes looked sad. It is too bad these people have to leave their families to support them.

The Sun. afternoon we went downtown – the streets were filled with people – just walking, looking in the store windows. It was chilly and rainy and I thought why are these people doing this? Then I noticed them and it was groups of It. men or Spanish men – These poor people live in a room and are sending every penny home. They can’t afford to go to the movies so they just walk the streets to get out a little.

Tere has a sister and brother-in-law working here and their 3 children are home in Spain with the Grandmother. It’s too bad that countries like Spain and Italy can’t seem to prosper a little.

Well Jim brought home Time magazine and I’m anxious to devour it.

Keep well – don’t forget to write,

Love
Jim and Dina