Esther Feldman Icikson - October 23 & 29, November 5 & 12, 2001
Srednia Asia
How many people?
My mom, my dad, my sister, my brother and I. Um, we were assigned to this family. They took us in. It was um, the government assigned each family a family to be put into their dwelling. They did not live in a hut, they lived in a regular home. It was, I think, built from stone or rock or something or maybe mortar. Um, and they had a big room, it was a husband and a wife. And I do not remember her name. But I do remember his name. His name was Adam Beck. And they were a young couple. Um, they took us in because that was the order of the government, I think.
How did you speak to them?
Russian. They spoke Russian too.
They spoke Russian?
Yes. And we were put into this little room. And this was actually their kitchen. They cooked there. And um, they, they, they still--they, they lived differently. They um, um, they grow sheep, they raise sheep. Um, they work in the fields. Uh, they wear fur coats that they make from their sheep. And uh, the women, they sit on the floor, they sleep on the floor, they sit on the floor when they eat. Um, in the morning when they get up I remember she would take a little bit of water and the, the floor is made, it's a, a ground floor. It's not like uh, uh, wood or something, just the ground.
Dirt.
Dirt. And she would take a little bit of water in her hand and she would go around her room to sprinkle it on the dirt while she was washing her face at the same time. Uh, while she was washing her face with that water, it--she, she sprinkled the dirt floor.
Why?
So it wouldn't be dusty.
Oh, I see.
And there wasn't so much water there evidently. I don't--I think that was probably the reason. Um, they eat on the floor, they sit on the floor.
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