Milena Pechoušová

Milena: "Look, they put a lot of people in Pretoria because they thought they would learn Afrikaans. The Czechs refused... The Czechs said, 'We need to learn English first because we know one language you can only speak in the Czech Republic and those Slavonic countries.' So we weren't much for learning Afrikaans. They tried to drag us into the church, but they didn't succeed either." Author: Who tried to drag you there? Milena: "Well, those friends of ours, for example. So when they saw that... they didn't try. We had this family that we socialised with quite a bit. But we had some friends, but in South Africa, they never let you know you were an expatriate. Because there were so many emigrants here. And people spoke badly, and they still speak badly today, that they didn't notice. They never laughed that maybe you'd say it wrong." George: "Even though you could see their corners curling up slightly. How many times did you say such an outrageous thing that you didn't figure out until later after you'd learned a little bit? 'Jesus Christ, what did I say!' And they usually didn't laugh, or we didn't experience anything; they would sneer at us." Author's note: "And the friends you had, were there people who weren't Czech? Or did you hang out with Czechs enough?" Milena: "The Czechs stuck together." Author: "And what do you think was that?" Milena: "I think it's because you can't speak properly." Jiří: "Also, when you went out into the countryside, the Burs were not really interested in that." Author: "Like some tramping or camping?" George: "Sort of... So when we wanted to go with some people, it was again Czechs or Slovaks. We lived here in peace and harmony then. We used to tease each other a bit other too, but only for fun. Not that there was any chauvinistic..." Author. Because you guys came in on one plane, you got separated into these different hotels." Milena: "Hey, so, for example, on those maps, there were about 25 Czech women. There were a lot of them who started at Siemens. Siemens, they liked Czechs there. Czechoslovaks."

Milena: "We only spent a week at this hotel they put us in because it was expensive." Author: They did not pay the hotel for you? Milena: "They paid us a week after they found a job, and then we had to take care about ourselves. However, the job- you started at 90 cents an hour, right? 70 cents? Something like that. It was about 70 cents an hour in that glass factory." George: "I first worked on those air conditioners for a week." Milena: "Well, I don't know. We wouldn't have been able to afford the hotel. Now I couldn't eat the food, so we moved to a cheap hotel, and there I couldn’t eat the food at all. We lasted about a week there, too." Jiri: "No way. One day." Milena: "Well, we said, 'We have to go to an apartment.' So we went to an apartment, two Czech families, one apartment. Because we didn't have anything for that apartment. So we rented an apartment together with two other Czech families. It was one bedroom, big living room, kitchen, and bathroom. They also had two children, and we had one child. So they were sleeping in the living room, and we had this small bedroom. We slept the first week before he got his pay; we slept on the floor in this sleeping bag covered with coats. And for the windows, so people wouldn't look in our windows, because there was one tenement over here, and there was another tenement over five yards on the other side, so we bought a couple of sheets, and we put those sheets in place of curtains. That's how we started. And on the emigration department, the Africans made all kinds of collections. If you didn't need something, they'd bring it there... We took three spoons, three forks, three knives, and some pots. Well, that's how we started. And so every time he got his first paycheck, we'd go and buy two mattresses, the foam ones, that's what we slept on the floor. Then you bought a drill and made a bed, rollaway beds. That's how we did something every week." Author: "There was a paycheck every week?" Milena: "Yeah." Author: "And how long did you live with the other family? That must have been a little nerve-wracking, too." Milena: "That was nerve-wracking, too. That didn't work out too well. We were there with them for about two months, and then we found... we went to a smaller apartment, an older building." George: "We left on bad terms." Milena: "Because of it... They then went to Canada eventually anyway." Jiri: "He was the other father, slurping while eating. And little Jirka used to tell him, 'You don't slurp when you eat,' and it pissed him off. I'm sorry. I forgot that we're on a tape recorder here." Author. It is ok, you can speak in a way which is “normal” for you. Milena: "Well, it was all these kinds of: 'You have a different taste than I have.' Maybe not? Cooking together, that didn't work. Well, but for the beginning, until we found another apartment still."

Milena: "The atmosphere on the train was incredible. The train was full to the border. It was as if people couldn't speak, as if they completely..." Jiri: "Everybody was sitting gloomy, nobody was doing anything... And the moment we crossed the border, it was..." Milena: "Where are you going? Where are you going?" Author: And was there any harsh control at the border? What was the process?" Milena: "They checked, but they didn't check that you had to do everything... we brought our high school diploma, and we managed to take that. The atmosphere was terrible because you didn't know who was sitting on that train."