writings' - st. vladimir orthodox church, · pdf filethe first few writings are from a...

WRITINGS'by

Olga Ladopoulos

Saline Evangelical Home Writing Group2002-2003

© 2009 by St. Vladimir Orthodox Church

Ann Arbor, MI

The first few writings are from a correspondence projectearly in 2002 between a fifth grade class in Maryland and theSaline Evangelical Home Writing Group. The fifth graderswrote Bio-Poems which were distributed to individuals in theWriting Group. They responded with their Bio-Poetns. Somecontinued to write to each other.

Olga Ladopoulos's other writings are in the order in whichshe wrote them.

Olga, 'Ola'Sentimental, weeps easily, sociable, givingWife of Ignace LadopoulosLover of music, history, and the BibleWho feels sensitive to others' feelings, joy when I can make

people happy, unselfish when sharing with othersWho needs somebody to love me in return when I love, my

sight back, and to be in nature with gardens, trees, brooksWho gives the impossible: my birthday torte to-a beggar, my

sofa to a laundressWho fears closed places I cannot open, elevators, flyingWho would like to have my sight, to know that my loved ones

are OK,peace to all the worldResident of Saline at the Evangelical HomeLadopoulos

, EmilyBright, energetic, sweet, responsible

Sister of Andrew

Lover of theme parks, animals, sports

Who feels thrilled when I score a goal in Lacrosse, nervouson the first day of school, cheerful when I'm with my

family and friends

Who needs to get involved in more sports, money to buypresents for my family and friends, to be nicer to my brother

Who gives hugs to my family, walks to my dogs, presentsto my friends

Who fears getting bad grades in school, getting introuble with my mom, spiders

Who likes to go to theme parks, hang-out with my pets, hang-out with my friends

Resident of Columbia on Evening Company CircleSeidel

Dear Emily,When I was 12, I was a boarder in school. I never liked math.

I liked history very much - and the Bible, because the Bible ishistory to me - and geography. I loved geography so much that,until now when I became blind, I had maps of all the world fromthe National Geographic. I would spend days studying the namesof all the cities. I loved it very much, and I loved very much thesubject botany because it had to do with flowers and we wereoutdoors studying the flowers.

It was when I was about 12 my family moved from jerusalemto Cairo, Egypt, but my sister and I wanted to stay in our school, anEnglish school in jerusalem, so we went there as boarders. Ourfriends were there. It was an elegant, very beautiful school - andvery expensive. I didn't realize how expensive or that my fatherhad lost all his money during World War I. He had to supply allthe bread and ice to the Turkish army stationed in jerusalem - andhe never got paid. I was very young and didn't realize we werepoor then. My father sold his factories and gave more than halfthe money to his brother who had more children than he had. Thisis how he paid for our school.

We went to primary school, preparatory school (like highschool), and college. After I had gone three years to college, myfather said, "Olga, I cannot send you for your last year because Idon't have the money." That was when I began to play the pianofor silent movies, and I made lots of money. I can't believe it - thatI was so well paid!

Ihelped support my parents and helped pay for my sister'scollege. My sister went to the American Mission College for Girls inCairo. I remember her uniform was lavender overalls with anAmerican flag right on the bib. I never imagined that I needed tosave some money for myself. It seemed normal to help support myfamily.

Olga Ladopoulos 3/14/02

Dear Mrs. Ladopoulos,My name is Ross Durham. I am 10 years old and I am in

the 5th grade. I live on 6365 Morning Time Lane, Columbia,Maryland 21044. I have 6 people in my family.

Some of my hobbies include playing sports and videogames, reading, playing with friends and watching TV. Are anyof those hobbies apply to you?

Some of the friends that I admire are Ryan Mace, JonathonStephenson, Jacob Stull, Michael Roth, and Tyler Dickerson. Iadmire them because they are fun to be around. For example,we play sports together.

I have a connection to you. I also like music. I have aquestion for you. Could you tell me what kind of music youlike? If you can, that's great. I hope you like my letter!

Sincerely,Ross Durham 3/7/02

Dear Ross,I like all kinds of music. I used to play classical music, but

when I played for silent movies it was semi-classical or classicalmusic you can hum. Of course, I also played all kinds ofpopular music of 1926 - 1929. Then sound movies started in1930 - only sounds, like a crash or a boom. Paul Whitman andHis Orchestra was the first movie I saw with music andspeaking. It was thrilling!

We didn't even have a radio yet, in Egypt where I lived. Iremember my first husband and a friend and I went together toa store to listen to a radio. We didn't have it at home yet. Itwas fascinating just to turn a button and listen to music fromall parts of the world. After that came the television, but thatwas much later.

Sincerely,Olga Ladopoulos 4/3/02

MYCHILDHOODINJERUSALEMI was born there in the Old City surrounded by the walls. Before

Christ those walls were there. Then it was just little houses, very veryBiblical houses, no balconies, just a few windows. Everything wastiny. The roads were narrow with pebbles. Only a donkey or camelcould pass - no cars. Because of that there were no gardens or publicplaces. You could plant something in your house. If that plant wasgreen but doesn't give any flowers, they would make flowers withcolored paper. Sometimes they would take a ribbon, yellow or red,and tie it on, and it looked like the plant was giving flowers.

I was there because my father's business was there. He ranbakeries and mills and ice factories which were all together in a hugebuilding next to our house. We were very close to King David's Gate.This was in the Armenian section of the city. My grandfather hadbuilt the huge factory there on land owned by the Armenians.Because of the factory, we were the first house in jerusalem to haveelectricity. The walls of jerusalem have three gates: the DamascusGate, the Jaffa Gate and King David's Gate. King David's Gate was notused too much for traffic because it was used to go to the cemeteries.The Catholic cemetery, the Armenian cemetery and the GreekOrthodox cemetery were outside King David's Gate.

We also owned a house outside the Old City on a hill in abeautiful, beautiful place. We could see the whole city from ourpatio. We were surrounded by trees. That house on the hill had noelectricity and no running water. We heated water on a very bigwood stove in the kitchen. It was hard. In the small house in the city,it was very easy. Behind the big house were fields and fields of wheatand all kinds of trees - olive trees, carob, mulberry, pine, cypress.You can't climb cypress.

Our game, when we came home from school, was to climb trees.My tree was a fig tree. I used to climb and eat figs. We would visit. Iwould climb down from my tree and go to visit another girl's tree,perhaps an olive tree, and we would visit. "And how is your husbandand your children?" We'd pretend to have tea with little pebbles.Then I would come down and go home to my own tree.

OlgaLadopoulos 1/17/02

LIFEIN EGYPT- 'IMPOSSIBLE'GIFTSI like to give things that people think are impossible.

When I was a young girl, my mother wanted to celebrate my17th birthday. Then we were not rich. We were poor. Sheordered a torte at a very, very expensive place in Cairo, atGroppi's, the very best pastry shop. She wanted to give me agood birthday and invite all my friends. When the day camefor my birthday, she gave me the money to take the tram topick up the torte, which was paid for in advance.

Here I am with the torte coming out of Groppi's, waitingfor the tram that will take me home. In Egypt there are manybeggars. As I walk I see a beggar sitting in the street, half-naked and very, very dirty. I stop and think to myself that Iam going home to celebrate my birthday. I am very happy -and here is a man starving to death in the street. I have justenough money to take the tram to go home. I have nothing togive him. So I give him the torte.

When I arrived home I said to Mother what I did. She said,"My poor child, that man will eat that torte and get indigestion."Imagine - a whole chocolate torte for many people! He maybenever had had chocolate. Poor man! Maybe he had indigestion.I didn't think of it.

We had our party with Mommy's cookies that she baked.

This is the second thing I did that you would think isimpossible. But it is possible. Where there is a will, there is away. In Egypt when I was growing, we didn't have a laundromator a machine. We had a woman who would go to the roof of thebuilding. Every apartment building had rooms on the roof forthe laundry women to do the wash. She would soap it and scrubit in a big tub and boil it and then rinse it in water that was blue.It was very, very clean, and the sheets were so white. Iremember the name of our laundress was Fatma. She was awoman of about 60 who was almost blind. She used to comeonce a week for our laundry.

One of these days, after her washing the laundry, she cameto my apartment to bring the laundry and get her money. Shesat down on our love seat. She sank into the down cushions.She was so pleased to be so comfortable, and she said it.

I said, "Fatma, I want you to take it with you to your home."So she took it. Of course, she didn't carry it on her back - an oldwoman, blind and tired. But in Egypt you can always findsomebody to carry things for you. We found a young boy of 15who, for ten cents, put it on his back and carried it to her house,which was very far. For him this was a lot of money. He wasvery happy and she was happy and I was happy.

It doesn't cost much to make somebody happy. I still hadmy birthday party. I could replace my love seat. It is so easy tomake someone happy. It did not ruin me to give the torte or thelove seat, but to make someone happy is worth millions for me.


EASTERINJERUSALEMThe Mount of Olives is where Christ was standing with his

disciples when he ascended to heaven. It is on the top ofGethsemane. It is called Mount of Olives because there are alot of olive trees there. There is a convent there for RussianOrthodox nuns. The convent there is not a large building. It isjust rooms, one room for each nun, next to each other. Thosenuns are very famous for their choral music, church music.Many tourists came to listen to them. They sang so beautifully.

Easter we used to go up to the Mount of Olives. Practicallyall of Jerusalem would group there picnicking under the olivetrees. We'd go to church with the family, of course, and thenwe'd take our basket of food up there and have a picnic. Wehad carriages with horses which took us up there.

What we liked best as children was the bell tower. Thenuns permitted us to go up and down the stairs, up and downall day long, but not touch the bell. While the mothers andfathers were picnicking, we went up the long, long, long, high,high tower with a point at the end. The stairs zigzagged uppast four windows. It was not that far but to us it seemed likeclimbing to heaven. But we were not allowed to touch the onebig bell.

After our picnic we should clear everything and makeeverything tidy - no mess at all.

[In Ann Arbor I belonged to a small Russian church, St.Vladimir, on Jackson Road. They were asking us for money torestore that bell tower in Jerusalem. It reminded me of myselfas a child going up and down those stairs.]

The second day of Easter, Easter Monday, my father wouldslaughter many lambs. He would provide a huge feast for allhis employees with the lamb, colored eggs and special bread. Itbecame a national holiday. The special bread was baked withcolored eggs in it. The bread, and all of the food, must go tochurch and be blessed by the priest. Then you cut it and give

it to friends and eat it. Whenever Russians meet, the must kiss3 times, one cheek, then the other and then back to the first.

The Arabs in Jerusalem have a special place where theydye clothes. At Easter they dip huge baskets of eggs into thedye pots. Many different baskets because each pot is adifferent color. The eggs come out nice, nice, dark colors, notpale. My father would bring huge baskets of eggs to the Arabson a camel - one basket on one side, one basket on the other.When they were dipped, he would give them to schools andhospitals and neighbors who were needy. All these had to go tothe church to be blessed before they were given away.


GRAPESIn Jerusalem a lot used to come on camels. Mother used

to do her own jam -lots of it to give away. Others would giveus different kinds of jam. Grapes came in big baskets oncamels.

When we were children we used to listen to the adultstalking. We heard that to make wine, people stomped on thegrapes with their feet. One time our parents had a wholebathtub full of grapes. My sister and I got in and stomped onthe grapes - with our shoes on! Of course, that whole batch wasruined.

When we realized we shouldn't have done that, we hid inthe closet. We heard our father saying loudly, "Get me a bigcane! I'm going to give them a good hiding!" and we trembled.He knew we were hiding and that we could hear him. When hefound us, he didn't do anything. He never beat us. He was awonderful father, very kind-hearted, very religious.


LIFEINJERUSALEMDURINGWORLDWARIIn the old city of jerusalem there were no trees - only

houses, houses, houses, and stairs going up and down. Therewere three broad gates going into the walls of the old city. Acar could go in but not far because the streets were so narrow.When the British with cars in came in 1917, that was the firsttime I'd seen a car.

During the War my father used to give a large loaf ofFrench bread and some kerosene to every house around us, toall the Armenians every day. One evening the ice factorycaught fire. All of the Armenians, men, women, children, cameto put out the fire. They were so grateful to my father. Whenwe saw the fire, my father evacuated us out into the streets.The Armenians put out the fire. By the time the fire brigadecame, it was all over.

My father liked everything very special, the best animals,the best flowers. It was his hobby. He loved that. We had astable next to the mills with pigs, rabbits, chickens, horses,donkeys. It was my father's hobby to have the best of thespecies. Among the animals we had a pig so big and so fat itcould not move any more. I saw with my own proper eyes thatthe mice made a nest in the pig's thigh. We had to put that pigto sleep and bury it. We couldn't even eat it, it was so fat.

We had so many pigeons. We lived next to the ArmenianPatriarchate. The Patriarch himself would ask my father,"Please, Mr. Basil, throw some wheat for the pigeons." Thepigeons would come from all over jerusalem, and the Patriarchwould be standing high up on his balcony - and he would enjoywatching the pigeons picking, picking.

Every household, especially the Armenians, had pottedflowers. They would plant something green. Then, to make itlively and to make it colorful, they would stick somethingcolorful on the leaves, and it looked like flowers. We had a

room with windows where we had enormous pots with creepingplants that grew down the sides of the pots. The Armeniansput gold and silver on the leaves, and it looked very colorfuland so beautiful - out of this world!

In the same room where we had those pots, we had onewall that was only windows, and on one side we had stairs. Allaround the windows and on the stair railing up to the roof wehad hoya, a creeping plant with leaves that were very darkgreen, thick waxy leaves, very shiny leaves. It had flowers thatgrew in bunches like cherries. Each flower was a small littlestar, light pink, mauve and velvety. In the center of the starwas another little star that was hard, like a bone, the samecolor but very dark. It is beautiful. You see bunches of thoseflowers hanging from the vines like cherries.

[If you want to see it, you have them here in the BotanicalGarden. I also saw it in a friend's house. She gave me some. Itgave me leaves, but no flowers.]

On the roof my father had a small rose - very, very dark.We called it the black rose. Fragrant - we loved that rose! Allover our roof in pots were flowers, many flowers, and betweenthe flowers my father even planted strawberries.


A YOUNGWOMANIN THEAIRThis was before the war. It was a year when there were

not yet commercial flights. My sister was married to anEnglishman. He knew many men in the Air Force, the Marines,and the Navy. He had a friend, Fredrick Young, who was asquadron leader in the RAF(the Royal Air Force). He wouldcome home and with my sister and her husband at their home.I would see him there every night. He fell in love with me.But I was not interested. I was with (dating) my husband then.

He felt superior, with an attitude such as "we fly and therest of you don't." It would annoy me! I wanted to get even, to"show him." But how to do it? I knew a Maltese man who hada car dealership. He also had his own plane. I went to him andI said, "I would like to fly!" He said, "Why not!" I was sohappy. This was a two-seat, tiny open plane, called the "GypsyMoth." The pilot sits in front and the student - it was a planefor teaching - sits behind.

So when the day came, he took me to the airport wherethe plane was. There were many military planes there, andthere were lots of pilots leaning on the balcony rail waiting tosee what would happen with me and this man. I panicked! Isaid to him, "I changed my mind. I don't want to fly." I wasscared! He didn't want me to change my mind now, with allthe men watching. So I said, "Well, I want to see you take off,fly, and land first." I was trying to delay. When he came backdown, I said, "Do it again." And he did it again. The when Isaid, "Again," a third time, he said, "Oh no. This time you aregoing with me. You see all those men watching? They willlaugh if you don't!"

So I went to the plane as though to my death. This was anopen cockpit, with no door, and you put on goggles and ahelmet. They put me in behind him. They took off the stickthat sticks up, that the student uses to fly the plane. Theydidn't want me to grab it!

I had on shoes with a sport heel. My heel went into thehole and got stuck. I could not get my shoe out! I tried to callto him that I was stuck in the hole but he could not hear. So Itook my foot out of the shoe and left the shoe dangling, whilethe plane did all kinds of maneuvers. We flew over Cairo. Iloved it! When we came down, I said, "Again," and we did itagain. When we came down finally, all the men clapped! WhenI showed him my shoe, he said it was a very good thing I tookmy foot out of it. My leg could have been like the stick, andtried to move the plane this way and that when I moved!

When I came home and Fredrick Young came over andacted like he was the superman because he flew, I said, "Then Iam also a superwoman, because I flew!" At first he didn'tbelieve me. Then when I told him about my shoe, andexplained what the plane was like, he did believe me.

Olga Ladapolous 5/20102

THEDAUGHTERS'REBELLIONMy grandfather, my father's father, was Russian Orthodox.

He came to Jerusalem to live when my father was a little boy.My father and a brother were the oldest. Then there were fourother children, three girls and a boy. When his wife died heneeded someone to care for the children, and he sent back toRussia for someone to come. He married her and had twomore children with his second wife.

Grandfather was quite rich, so men were interested in thegirls when they grew old enough to marry. One evening heannounced that he had had good marriage offers " for you, andfor you," (for two of them) and he had accepted! He told themthe men would be coming to see them.

That same night the three girls and their brother ranaway! The brother went with them in solidarity. They did noteven go to bed! They had secretly become Catholic, and theywent to the convent and asked the nuns to take them in. Thenext day, when grandfather discovered his house was empty,he went to the convents looking for them, but the nuns said,"They are not here." The convent then sent them away, toEgypt, for their protection. One of the girls became a Carmelitesister, and one wanted to become a nun, but they would nottake her. She had a fistula on her leg that required anoperation every year, and she walked with a limp. Theysaid she was handicapped. The third girl later got married.The boy became a Catholic priest. Grandfather was so upsetand ruined by this, that a year or so later he put a gun to hishead and killed himself.

Later, when we (my father and his family) visited them inEgypt, we thought they were very nice people! They told usthat they had become interested in the Catholic Church duringthe times that my aunt was in the hospital and was cared for bythe nuns. The four of them, the three girls and the boy, werevery close, and they visited her and also got to know the nuns.

Olga Ladopoulus 6/17/02

CARRIAGESANDCARSThe place where I was born, in old jerusalem, cars could

not go; not even carriages could go. The only place cars couldgo was near the gates: Jaffa Gate, Damascus Gate and KingDavid's Gate near where I was born. It was easy for a car tocome in the gate near our home.

When the British came near the end of World War I, 1917,they entered with cars. That's the first time we saw cars. Theywere Ford cars. We never saw cars before that.

Doctors, for people who had money, were paid a yearlysalary. Whether we were sick or not, he would come to visit usevery day on a horse. I remember the name of our doctor-Calabian -an Armenian doctor.

We had a carriage with two horses for our family, like theones you see in New York City. Our school was outside the city.and we rode the carriage to school. It used to take us to churchand to friends outside the city and to hospitals in the newjerusalem outside the walls. There were carriages standingoutside the gates, like taxis. You'd hire a carriage and gowherever you wanted to.

At the end of the War, 1918, my father bought a Ford -and a Dodge. The Dodge was a beautiful car for the family togo where they wanted to go. The other was for business.


NO GUNWith a carriage we could go from jerusalem up to jericho

and the Dead Sea - a very, very long trip. It was scary, also,because we encountered wolves and wild dogs and hyenas. Myfather always had with him his hunting gun. On one of thetrips, coming back home from jericho to jerusalem, my fathergave his gun to his accountant who was on horseback. He said,"you take the gun. We have the carriage." Little did he knowthat, even with the carriage with father, mother, my sister andme, the horses stopped and didn't want to go forward at all.There was a wolf eating a dead donkey on the road. It wasnight, and all we could see was the eyes of the wolf shining likefire. The horses reared up and shouted. They didn't want togo at all. The carriage stopped - one wolf! If there had beenmore that one wolf, we would have been attacked. The wolfwas happy eating the dead donkey.

My father knew that wolves are afraid of fire, so he waslighting matcher. He had a big box of matches which helighted one after the other, one after the other. The wolf waseating the donkey and he did not attack us. It was just luckthat the coachman was able to make the horses go. Finally,after he hit them and hit them, he got the horses to go past thewolf. When they were past a little bit, they started running.

My father swore he would never, never go in the carriagewithout his gun. There were no bears like here or lions like inAfrica, but in Jerusalem there were wolves, hyenas and wilddogs and wild pigs.

Olga Ladopoulos 6/20102

RELIGIONI am a Russian Orthodox. The system is like that of the

Catholics except the Catholics have a Pope and we have patriarchs.The Catholics have only one Pope while we have five patriarchs.Also the Pope isn't allowed to marry, but the patriarchs can marryand have family. The Catholics shave their heads but thepatriarchs have beards and let their hair grow. They do it like theydid in the time of Jesus, like the disciples.

Our holy communion consists of wine and a drop of water andsmall pieces of bread in the wine. The water symbolizes how whenChrist was crucified he was thirsty. To receive communioneveryone comes in turns, one after the other. The priest takes agolden spoon from a chalice with the bread and wine and everyonedrinks from the same spoon. When we were children and hadcommunion we could wear those communion dresses. When wecame back our mother would rinse them in water and then washthem. She would take the water she rinsed them in and use it towater the plants.

Fasting is very sacred, especially before Easter. For the adultsthere were forty days of fasting. The children would fast the lastweek only. But we did it! Fasting meant that every day you don'teat meat, butter, eggs, cheese, anything that had life. You couldhave fruits, vegetabes, olives, nuts. Come Easter, you had yourcommunion; then you could eat anything you want! That's whenyou were in trouble. Dead weight.

I have my communion here once a month. I call my priestevery month and tell him I'm ready for communion. He comes andtakes me out in my wheelchair. We do a little prayer and I havemy communion and come back to my room.


ANIMALSTORIESThis is a story about the pig. I was a small girl, maybe 9

or 10 years old at the time. We were living by my father'sfactory and there was a stable with mules, donkeys, and horsesbecause we had carriages. He was also very much involvedwith the chickens, pigeons, and pigs. So we had a pig, amongall the other pigs, that was so heavy, so big, that she was justlying down waiting to die. She couldn't move! So one daysome mice made a little nest in her thigh - she was so big andfat they could just make a little hole right in the fat. It was sostrange! I saw the little mice coming in and out, out and in,and she didn't feel anything! People would come to seethinking, "What is this phenomenon?" It was something to see.

Of course we put the pig to sleep. In Jerusalem there wereno zoological gardens at the time to give the pig to for animalsto eat. None of us wanted to eat it; it was disgusting - so fat!So we had to bury it, maybe under an olive tree.

We had a lot of pigeons. When my father used tothrow wheat grains for them to eat (we had the mill) pigeonsfrom all around would come to our yard. It was wonderful towatch, their heads all bobbing up and down.

We always had cats and dogs and canaries. At one timewe had twenty-seven canaries, beautiful canaries! We hadmany cages, but there were two rooms in our house in Egyptthat had balconies that went out over the main road. Our planwas to sacrifice one of those balconies and cover it with netwire. We would then have just the door opening up to theoutside and planned to put an old tree trunk in the center upthrough the top of the balcony. That way we could just let allthe birds out to be free in the area. This was our project.

It never happened because we had to flee Egypt. Theywere burning houses so we had to give away all the "family" -the canaries, the dogs, and the cats. We left Egypt and went toLebanon.

When we were little children we lived with young kittens.I and my sister, being two kids, had everything in pairs.Kittens: one for her, one for me. Dogs: one for her, one for me.lt just so happened that we had two kittens the same age. Theywere whitish with some black spots. Those poor kittens were soused to us loving them and playing with them that they let usdo whatever we wanted. They accepted everything and liked it!At this time our mother had a room where she made dressesfor us, did her mending, and so on. She called it the sewingroom. She had a sewing machine, which was a singer, and ithad a cover. She used to take off that cover and when turnedupside-down it was just like a cradle. You could put the cats inthe cover. My sister and I would wrap the kittens like babiesand place them in the cradle. They would go to sleep while werocked them. The poor things were wrapped up like mummiesexcept for their heads. They couldn't do anything but sleep.But they were happy, very happy. We would playas if theywere our babies and we were there mothers. Of course wewould want to take their temperature, it was part of being theirmothers. We tried to put the thermometer in the kitten's mouthor in her behind just like it was done to us! But mommy caughtus just in time. Poor things!


OURBEDSMy parents' bed was made of brass - a large bed for two. Once

the bed was done, there was something like a slip down to the floorfrom higher than the mattress. It was all lace and embroidery,white and starched. The top part also had the same thing on thebedposts, starched white, embroidered lace. Between, there wasmosquito netting. The white lace was hand crocheted and thenembroidered, sometimes white, sometimes pink or blue.

And then the pillows! They were eiderdown with starchedwhite cotton pillowcases embroidered with their first names -'Alexandra' for my mother, 'Bazil' for my father. Bigpillows, thensmaller, then smaller pillows - all starched and embroidered. Thesmallest on top was the size of my hand, made with very, very softfeathers.

The cover was also eiderdown. Theirs was royal blue, alsowith embroidery and lace. It was made perfect. It looked like aroyal bed. Even in my crib was an eiderdown cover, pink satinembroidered with silver. My brother's was the same, but in blue.(I kept my bed cover till my son was born. I used it sometimesbecause it was so elegant, so different - not practical!)

But the babies were not free. They were wrapped up like asausage with lots of ribbons tying the baby in a thing like a pocket.Even the arms were not free. The poor baby! All you could see washis face. Behind his head was a very, very soft pillow. My son wastied into one of those things only to take pictures. My boy wasfree.

There was not anything like nylon or 'drip dry'. Everythingwas linen, cotton, or pure silk. My mother, when she got married,her dress was made of silk brocade, off-white. When I got married,it was winter, so I took my mother's dress, the lower part, andmade a cape and put white fur on the collar. It was a beautifulcape to go to church.


COULDIT BE?I met a man during the war, in 1944 or 1945, who said he

saw mermaids! He was a Romanian sea captain, CaptainKrynikoff, with the Merchant Marines. During the war he hadtravels on the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea and the BlackSea. He would come to our house, to my sister's house in Cairo.We could talk Russian together, because we were Russian. Hetold us that he saw what seemed to be mermaids, half-humanand with a fish tail, with long hair, and women's breasts. Theywere making noise that sounded like melody, or song. He didnot go closer with the ship. What did he see? Who knows? Hewas not a crazy person. He was a reasonable man.

Olga Ladopoulos, 10/7/02

ON COMMUNICATINGWITH ANIMALSAND PLANTSI think some animals are almost human. They look at you,

and they know. With every dog I had, I felt that way, especiallythe last one, in America. It was my son's dog. It was put to sleepto have it's teeth cleaned, and never woke up. Oh, it was terrible!And also trees, and plants, I feel that they are like humans. I feltthat way when I was a little girl, too. Now, why don't I feel thesame toward spiders, or cockroaches? Or snakes? Why is that!

Here is a story! My sister and I were at the Cairo Zoo. It is avery, very beautiful zoo. My sister was looking at the monkeys,and they were curious. She had an idea. She had a small mirror inher purse, and she gave it through the bars to a monkey. Themonkey, a female, took the mirror and peered into it, and lookedand looked at herself. She made faces at the mirror. She sawherself! Then her mate came and slapped at her, and took themirror. He went high up into another corner, and he looked athimself. He also, looked, and looked. They really seemed toknow they were looking at themselves.


JERICHOWhen I was a young girl before World War I, maybe 4 or 5

years old, my family used to take us very often to jericho, notfar from jerusalem. We went especially in the winter becauseit's warm in jericho, which is very very low, not far from theDead Sea. jericho is known for her oranges and citrus so weused to go there in winter and eat oranges, nice big ones,delicious oranges.

There were no cars yet, so we went with our carriage withtwo horses and a coachman (like the ones in New York). Fatherand mother and my sister and I were sitting in the carriagewith the hood covering us. If it rained we had a specialsomething rubber covering the carriage and us so we would notget wet. But the coachman got wet. Poor coachman, he wouldbe all wet.

Behind were the donkey with our provisions for a week ora month and one horse also with provisions. My father'Saccountant always rode the horse behind the carriage andstayed with us in jericho. If he felt he had to go for family orsomething, he would take the horse and his gun and ride tojerusalem and back. The roads were dangerous because therethere were wolves and hyenas, but with a gun you felt strong.

When we would reach jericho, there was a very nice littlehotel. We would live in this hotel. They grew oranges in theirgarden, and we were free to go there and eat them. They wereconsidered the best oranges in the world - Jericho oranges!


RIDINGMy mother loved horse riding. jericho was a place she

could ride. In jerusalem, at that time, it was not permissiblefor a woman to ride a horse. In jericho she could ridesideways. She would sit sideways with her legs together.

So one day I said to my dad, "Daddy, Mommy rides ahorse. The horse is very big for me. Can I ride the donkey?"

He said, "Yes,"so he put me on the donkey with my legson each side. The donkey was walking, and my daddy wasbehind making sure I didn't fall. I had a little ride, and thenthe donkey stopped to sniff the ground and he put his headdown.

"Daddy, Daddy, I will fall!" I slid on the neck of thedonkey onto my face. My nose bled and bled. I still have thescar on my nose.


THEDEADSEAThe Dead Sea is very very much below sea level. They call

it 'dead' because nothing grows in it - no plants, no fish, noshells - because it is so salty. Many people, until now, go thereas a seashore. They say it is good for arthritis. We used tothere and swim. In this sea, if you're a swimmer, you can neverdrown - it's so heavy you float. You can even sit on the waterand read the newspaper.

Biblically it is very close to Sodom and Gomorrah. That iswhere Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt because shelooked when God said, "Take your family and go. Don't turnback ever." But his wife turned to see what was happening, andshe turned to salt.


OURCHRISTMASINJERUSALEMWhen I lived in Jerusalem we didn't have Christmas trees

like you buy here, but they were pine trees. My father wouldbuy a very nice, very big piece of a pine tree - or a small pinetree. Our family room - dining room - sitting room was theonly room we had heating in. It was a big room. For Christmaswe would empty it completely, except for the stove, and wewould put chairs around and leave room for the children torun around the tree. There were all sorts of decorations andwe had candles clipped to the tree. All the decorations werethere also.

For every child that came my mother would sew a littlebag, and she would sew the name on each bag and hang it onthe tree. Inside she would put a small little gift for every child.We would go around the tree holding hands - and jump anddance and sing our carols in Russian and some carols inFrench. Father spoke very good French.

One Christmas the tree caught fire from the candles. Ofcourse, Father and many of his employees put out the fire.After that we always had electric bulbs instead of candles!


THEHOSPITALITYOF MYBEAUTIFULAMERICANFRIENDSWhen I first came to the United States, I came to live with my son,

daughter-in-law and my three grandchildren. I was supposed to takecare of the children and help them. The second day of my arrival Ihad a telephone call- a lady who wants to speak to me. I wassurprised. I looked at my daughter-in-law because I had no friendshere, and she said, "O.K.,O.K."

I answered, and the lady that was speaking to me was calledFran Miller. She said, "I'm calling you because I know you justarrived yesterday. I have your name from the Immigration Officewho has the names of all new arrivals." On the phone she told me,"We have an organization called International Neighbors. We wouldlike you to come to our home. We will pick you up in our car, andyou will come to our home, and we will have a cup of tea and we willhave a chat."

So they came and picked me up and took me to Fran Miller'shome. Being there I met many other people who had come before me- maybe a year or two. They were from all over the world - French,Far Eastern, Egyptian, South American, Belgian, Italians, Indians.These people are some of them visiting, some came to be residents.We belonged to the group called International Neighbors. This groupwas founded by a very known lady called Esther Dunham. Herhusband was a professor of anthropology at the University ofMichigan.

That was the first time I went to a house. One time I went to thehome of the president of the University of Michigan. His name wasFleming. His house was called the White House of Ann Arbor. Oh!What a house - and the library! Books, books, books all over, up tothe ceiling! I enjoyed it very much. I didn't meet Mr. Fleming, but Imet Mrs. Fleming. Some of us dressed in American clothes, but manywere dressed in their native costumes - Indians in saris, others inbabushkas, some from Iraq and Iran.

I met there a woman who came from the same country I camefrom - Egypt. She didn't speak English, so was very glad to have metranslate to Arabic. We became very great friends. She lived in AnnArbor. Her name was Aida. She is dead now.

Every month, once a month, we met in a different home. Ourhostesses received us from the very first day and made us feelcomfortable and welcome with cookies and coffee or hot chocolate orwhatever we wanted. We in return invited them to our homes. TheAmericans always picked us up in their cars. Of course, everynationality would give us for tea something from her country.

An Indian woman gave us gave us something we had never,never eaten - silver! It is very thin like cobweb. It is put on the cake.You eat it on the cake. You don't feel it as metal. The very, very richuse gold. We were served silver. For us it was all new - and for theAmericans, too.

When we went to the Japanese International Neighbor, it wassushi - big trays full of sushi. It is like a piece of bread and on thetop is a seafood roll. It's good. I can't say I love it very much. I'mnot used to eating raw things.

I served international cookies - Greek, Russian, French, English.I was expert in cookies. I have a recipe for cookies that has no animalfat - no butter, no milk, no eggs - no cholesterol. It is wonderful! Ithas corn oil, orange juice, honey, a little bit of sugar, cinnamon. Ifanyone wants the recipe, I have it in my head.

The founder of International Neighbors was called EstherDunham. Others were Fran Miller, Evelyn Taylor, Margaret Hough.Evelyn Taylor is the only one that I know that is still alive. I cannotgo any more. They want me very much, especially because of myfive languages. They need someone to translate especially for Arabsnow from oppressed countries.

I thank the American hostesses for their warm (in French it issaid 'hot') hospitality. I can never forget. I thank them. I pray forthem. God bless America - a million times!


A SURPRISINGMEDICINEWhen we lived in Cairo, my son had jaundice. He was very sick.

We had good doctors there, and they were not just Egyptian. Cairowas very international. Our Dr. was Swiss, Dr. Lendi. He could nothelp my son. He tried; he gave medication, but it did not help.Rurik, my son, was a dark yellow color. He couldn't urinate; his littleurine was like coffee. He was very sick.

My mother-in-law, who was a very simple woman, a goodwoman, said to her son (my second husband, who was not the fatherof my son), "Why don't you have her try our old-fashioned Greekway?" That meant a barber, who is also sort of a doctor andpharmacist. He makes potions, his own inventions. You are drinkingsomething and you don't know what it is!

So my husband said to me, "Why don't you try it?"I said, "I'm afraid," but I wanted my son to be well. My mother-

in-law said, "Trust him; it will be O.K."So the barber came, and he had in his hand, when he came to

my son's bed, something in a piece of cotton. I could only see that,the cotton. He told me it was a blade, a Gillette blade. I wastrembling! He lifted my son's upper lip and made a little cut upthere; I don't know what you call that where it attaches. It wasbleeding just a few drops. He wiped it with the cotton, and that wasit. He also had with him a bottle with a potion in it the color of dirtywater. He gave him to drink, about a teaspoon. Then he gave thebottle to me and said, "He has to finish the bottle."

I looked at him and asked, "Please, what is it?" I was afraid.He said, "Don't worry, Madam. This is water from the

watermelon. I left it up on the roof, under the stars, and I made aprayer. It will help your son."

My son got better! With the first teaspoon he could urinate, andhis urine was clearer. And with the second, even clearer. And again,and again, until it was all clear! I told Dr. Lendi what I did, whathappened, and he smiled. He said, "It wasn't what the barber gavehim; it was time to get better."

Who knows? You do things when you are desperate for help.And he got well. My son will be 73 in April, and he is healthy!

PYRAMIDMy first going to the Pyramid was going in the Pyramid. We went

in and it was dark. Every now and then there was a lamp. I know wewere going up. The stairs were wooden -like a ladder. It must havenot been made at the time the pyramids were made. We reachedseveral rooms - the first room, the second room, the third room.They must have moved the things to the museums. We climbed upand up to see what? Just empty rooms. For me it was scary. I don'tlike feeling claustrophobic or being in the darkness, so when wecame out I was very happy to ride the camel and have a nice ridearound the pyramids.

The museum in Cairo is a beautiful museum. I went to themuseums in New York and in London, but the museum in Cairo isvery, very beautiful- everything! When I was first married to myfirst husband, he took me to the museum in Cairo to show meantiquities that his father had given to the museum. There was aplaque with his father's name, Barlas, on it. My married name wasBarlas.

THEZOOLOGICALGARDENIN CAIROThe Zoological Garden that we visited very often in Cairo was so

green. They had many kinds of animals. There was a snake, a boa, avery big snake. There was a zookeeper that showed people how thesnake can hypnotize a little rabbit and then swallow it whole. I sawit with my proper eyes! My whole family saw it. The snake openedhis mouth - very big mouth- and the little rabbit just went in, andthe snake swallowed it. You could see it going down!

The Zoological Garden is very known. It has a small like in theTea Garden which is built so that you can have your tea on platformsbuilt over the lake. It must be a man-made lake. I used to go therewhen I was pregnant with my son. I had morning sickness, and myhusband took me to have my tea there before he went to work. Myfriends said, "You go so often to the Zoological Garden, and you willbe pregnant for months. You will end up having a little monkey!"

Olga Ladopoulos F-14-3 2/20103

MONKEYSIN CAIROWe went to visit the Zoological Garden with my sister and the

children, my son and my sister's daughter. My sister had thebright idea to give the mirror from her purse to the monkeys. Itwas an enormous cage with several monkeys in the cage. One ofthe monkeys (it must have been a female) took the mirror andwent high, high up in one of the corners of the cage and beganlooking at herself, and making faces, and looking and looking. Allof a sudden her mate (I suppose it was her husband) came up toher and smacked her on the head and took the mirror. She wasscreaming and running away from him. Then he was startinglooking at his face and making faces and keeping the mirror veryclose to his face, exactly what she was doing. But he didn't wanther to look in the mirror. He wanted himself to look in the mirror.

When the zookeeper came, the male monkey knew that hewould take the mirror away, so he was all around the cage tryingto find a place to hide the mirror from the zookeeper. One of thezookeepers tried to take the mirror from him - and finally did takethe mirror from him. He told my sister, "Don't do that again. It'sagainst the rules. It excites the animals!" They understandsomething, those monkeys. They're very much like humans. Yousee, he knew the zookeeper would take the mirror away from him.

It's very common in Egypt - on every corner you will see aman, a poor Egyptian with a goat and a monkey. He will have acan to collect money. He will entertain the crowd with his animals.The monkey climbs on top of the goat - anything to amuse thepeople. They love sugar cane, the monkeys. They are very cleverthe way they eat it. They peel it and then suck it, suck it, suck it toget the sugar out and they throw it away, just like humans do.

We tried to have a monkey at home and keep it on thebalcony, but it was too dirty. We didn't like it.

Olga Ladopoulos F-14-3 3/6/03

CANARIESWe had canaries. I had 27 canaries. We had many, many

canaries - some big cages, some very small with just one.During the war with the blackouts when we couldn't go out, wehad a very good time looking at the canaries.

There was one male that had a wonderful voice. He wassort of gray - or light green with yellow. He was a very tinycanary. He was in love with an all-yellow female. She wascalled Kukla, and he was called Kitzo. She wouldn't listen tohim. She didn't like him, but he loved her so! He would sing toher. He loved her like crazy. He would be in front of herflapping his wings, and she didn't care a hoot! So what she didevery time, she would take Kitzo by the tail, holding him in hermouth upside down, and she would go up and down, up anddown with her head using him like a yo-yo. She was a little bitbigger than him in her body, so to her he was like a little toy.He would let her do that because he loved her. She didn't lovehim. There was no mating.

In the end we had too many canaries. We were planningto sacrifice one of the three balconies and put wire mesh over itand put a tree trunk in the middle and put all 27 canaries freein that balcony. But because we had to flee from Egypt, wegave the canaries all away to friends who were staying.


FLEEINGWe had to flee from Egypt in 1956 or '57. They were

burning houses of anybody who was not Egyptian. Theymarked houses that they planned to burn, and our house wasmarked. We had to go away. The Egyptians wanted to get ridof all the Europeans.

My dog I gave to my maid. I gave her money. I said, "Youtake care of her."

We went to Lebanon. We were there 13 years. Then thesnipers came there. The Syrians wanted to take Lebanon fromthe Christians. The Lebanese are Christians; they are Arabs.There are Muslims there, but the government is Christian.

It was hard for me in Lebanon because I could not have amaid as I had had in Egypt, and my husband could not start hisbusiness because he was ill. I started a guesthouse. Once aweek I had a woman come to clean and do the laundry. Myguests were Christians who were coming to Lebanon, fleeingfrom Egypt, also. I cooked for them breakfast and lunch.

Then we fled to the United States. My son came first withhis family. I went to England with my husband. When my sonwas settled here, and my husband died, then I came to the U.S.It was the end of 1970.


TUNESOFMYTIMEI love you very much, and I never missed one of your

activities. You would come and take me in my wheelchair andbring me back.

And all the tunes you played! I know them from the daysI played in the silent movies in Cairo. They're the tunes Iplayed at intermission - all the hit tunes from the '30's. Everytime you played you reminded me of the time when I was very,very young. That is why I love going to the singing group,because you play the tunes of my time.

I pray for you to be strong. You are young and you arestrong and you will be O.K. You'll come back to us here andyou'll be with us again like you used to be. This is how wewant you. .

Love,Olga Ladopoulos 3/13/03(for Audrey Belitsky)

FROMMUSICTO COOKINGWhen we lived in Cairo, I played the piano for the silent

movies. Our conductor was a Jewish Russian violinist. Hechose the music for the films. If it was a cowboy film we playedone thing, if it was romantic we played romantic music. It wasclassical music. During the intermission sometimes I wouldplay, just by myself. I would play hit songs. And believe me,the audience would sing along! When you play for the movies,it isn't good for your playing (for your technique), because youcan make a mistake, and you can cover it.

How I met him, the conductor, was the following. Therewere brothers, and one of them had a music shop, where theysold pianos and other instruments. Somebody said, "you cango to the shop and practice in the back corner," and introducedme to him. I practiced there every day. That's how heknew me, and could see that I could play and that I needed themoney.

I have stage fright to play by myself, without music! I didnot like to memorize. I always played with music. After that,never! The only time I memorized a piece was when I was ten,eleven. It was a recital of our school of music. Other girls and Iwere the first students of the Jewish School of Music inJerusalem. But I accompanied many people on stage, singers,without fear. I had music, and I would think, "The audienceis listening to them, not me."

I sold my piano after we moved to Lebanon from Egypt,my husband and I. He was twenty years older, and he was sick.I thought, "Howcan I make enough money to pay the rent andbuy food, take care of us?" So I opened a guesthouse. Whathappened about my piano was that I had to have beds, andother things I had to buy for the guesthouse. It was alwaysfull, with twelve people. They all came from Egypt. And I hadno servants. I used to cook for them, and they had breakfast,

lunch and dinner. Thirteen years I had the guesthouse. Itchanged my life completely, from music to cooking!

My son was grown and he had children. I took care ofthem. They came to me every day, in the guesthouse, whiletheir parents were at work.

Olga Ladopoulos 3/20103

SPYIN EGYPTIt was the year 1956 - the Canal Suez War. In Egypt in

1956 the war over the Suez Canal happened when the Britishand the French attacked the Egyptians because they wanted thecanal back. The Americans intervened and said, "Get outBritain. Get out France. And let the canal stay Egyptian."

During that time, my sister was married to an Englishmanwho had a very big position at the Marconi Telegraph Companyin Cairo, Egypt. He was the Director.

My sister and I decided to take our children, our son andtheir daughter, and our husbands to Lebanon that summer fora month in the mountains. My sister's husband, whose namewas Charles, was going to join us later.

While we were in the mountains we listened to the newson TV - and, 10 and behold, the news said that my brother-in-law, Charles Pittuck, was arrested as a spy. So my poor sisterthe next morning early went down to Beirut to the BritishEmbassy and said, "My husband has been arrested as a spy.What do I do?"

The British Embassy told her, "No way you can go back toEgypt. You are to go back to England until we see whathappens with your husband." Her daughter also had to goback to England. They also said, "Your sister, who is married toa Greek and is not British and has nothing to do with this war,can go back to Egypt. Let her be at home and wait until we callher. "

When this all happened, there was not a declaration ofwar yet. This happened just months before the war. So here Iam back in Egypt with my husband, very much afraid.Whatever I do I want it to be honest - and here I am mixed witha spy. Terrible! I am waiting for the British Embassy to callme. After a month war was declared. The French Embassy andthe British Embassy were closed. Who takes care of theirbusiness is the Swiss Embassy.

So the Swiss Embassy calls me now the war is declared. Igo to the Swiss Embassy. They received me nicely, and theytold me they could not help me much because he was not aprisoner of war. If he had been arrested during the war, theEgyptians would have executed him immediately. The SwissEmbassy said, "We cannot do anything. It's you, Madame, onlyyou, can go to see the prosecutor, the one that arrested him.You are a woman. You speak their language. Be nice to him."

So the next day I went to the Egyptian Tribunal. I waswalking the streets with my husband and my son, and I wassaying, "Oh God, open a hole in the street and swallow me up."I was so afraid, but I loved my sister and my brother-in-law, soI had to do it.

So my first visit to the prosecutor - here I am in his office,a man who hardly smiles. "What do you want for Mr. Pittuck?You are not a relative."

I said, "He is my sister's husband. It is Christmas. I justwant to send him a little candy."

He told me, "Definitely, no. You are nothing to this man!"I gave him my card with my name and address and said, "Youare welcome to come for a cup of coffee." In Egypt we drankTurkish coffee in small cups, and it is so heavy. On top there isa foam of coffee and it sticks to your lips. Your lips are allbrown. I used to call it the coffee that you drink and eat.

He didn't come immediately, of course, so I went again tothe police office and asked him, "Please. It's Christmas. I justwant to send a small package."

This time he was nicer. He said, "OK,I permit just a smallpackage like this," and he showed me with his hands. That dayhe came to our house and had a coffee so we became morefriendly. I was so happy that he became more nice to me andto my family. I felt more safe.

So I made a large package, like this, full of dry fruits andchocolates and biscuits - calories, calories, calories- so my

brother-in-law could not starve. The prosecutor became sofriendly and so nice, he said, "I will permit you to see yourbrother-in-law. But be careful. Don't say anything about thewar. There will be detectives behind you watching. Just speaknormally." He came to visit us often, sometimes even twice aday.

After they arrested Charles, and before the war, I could gointo his house. I saw that things were stolen - jewelry, whiskey,champagne - all this was stolen. When war was declared theyput red tape on the doors. I could not go in any more.

I am now facing my brother-in-law, and it is war. He triesto make me understand without telling me that he had a list ofhis contacts in a book. He cannot tell me. I have found it. Howcan I tell him? He told me he had many books I might beinterested in - and I answered that I had already taken some ofhis books and was enjoying them. I hoped that he understoodthat I had found the list. (He told me after the trial that he didunderstand.) Before I found the list, I didn't know and mysister didn't know that he was a spy.

Our conversation in the prison was about what I had senthim. Every week I sent him a basket full of food - quails andducks, steak and kidney pie, and he would share it with theother prisoners.

In the meantime, Mr. Hadidi is coming every day, and webecame great friends. He fell in love with me. He said, "Youare never alone."

I said, "No, my maid is always with me." He was marriedand I was married, and he was falling more and more in love. Isaid to my husband and my son, "We have to let him come." Iwas so scared for my husband and my son.

In England Queen Elizabeth was very, very young. Shesent her private lawyer to assist at the trial. Here I am in Cairoin court, the first day of the trial, and the queen's lawyerapproaches me. He says, "I saw your sister, and she wants me

to tell you she sees you on TV." The trial was televised all overthe world. It was a big trial for the Egyptians. It was somethinggreat for the English. So when he was approaching me the firstday of the trial, behind him there were detectives. Theprosecutor told me there would be. So when he asked me,"How is your brother-in-law?" I told him, "He is fine. He isloved in prison."

What I said was true. He played ping-pong with theofficers every day. I couldn't say anything else because I knewthere were detectives behind him, but he didn't know that.

The prosecutor, when he was coming to my house, said, "Iam the prosecutor. As prosecutor I have to ask for themaximum penalty - hanging. Will you forgive me?"

I told him, "I understand it is your work. If you have tosay it, you have to say it."

All the Egyptians were hanged because they spied formoney against their own country. My brother-in-law wasacquitted. They didn't have anything on him - no, nothing!

What he said during the trial:"I am a member of the Guezira Sporting Club in Cairo."(Other members included Rita Hayworth, Ali Kahn, Mary

Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Paulette Goddard. My sister was amember because she was married to a Briton. I could go thereas a guest of my sister.)

He said, "I was one day there, and somebody from theBritish Embassy says, 'Mr. Pittuck, would you like to help yourMother Country?'

'Of course, what do I have to do?''Tonight when you go home, go to the fourth floor to your

neighbor, Mr. Swinburn.''Thank you, I will do so.'I went to see my neighbor Swinburn. I entered the room,

and all of a sudden the door opened, and I was arrested before

I even knew what it was about. If I had known more, of course,I would have said no."

My finding the list in his book helped because theEgyptians found no evidence. So they had nothing on him -nothing. He was the only Briton that was acquitted.

Swinburn got 10 years. Zarb, a Maltese British citizen, got15 years because they found out he did it for money. All theEgyptians were executed because they were traitors.

The trial ends. I run from the court room, take a taxi toMarconi Telegraph Company and said, "Please stop everytingand send a telegram to my sister, "Charlie is acquitted!" Thatwas the first telegram that my sister ever received.

A few minutes after I got home the doorbell rang. It wasthe prosecutor. After that we were planning to leave Cairo andflee to Lebanon. I can't tell him we are planning to leave. I amscared he can make us stay there. I told my husband, "I amleaving. It's up to you to call the shipping company and geteverything packed up and sent to Lebanon."

The next day the prosecutor came. My maid wrote, "I hadthe pleasure of telling him, 'Olga is gone!'"

Then I wrote to him saying, "I thank you for all you havedone. It is better that I left the way I did. You are a marriedman and I am a married woman. We both have ourresponsibilities. I will never forget you. Thank you."

Poor little girl like me who was scared of even killing a fly- wanting everything to be honest! I had to do this all bymyself. Everyone was surprised how I handled it.

Years later my brother-in-law told me he was a spy forEngland. When the British government asked my brother-in-law what he wanted, he answered, "All I want is to go toJamaica." And he did. He and my sister lived there for acouple of years or more.


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