ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...
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taken to an apartment which initially we shared with another Czech family that had come<br />
over at approximately the same time. It was in Astoria, in Queens, right under the<br />
Triborough Bridge. But it was very convenient because it was right across the street from<br />
an elementary school, PS 85, which I went to <strong>for</strong> the next five years.<br />
Q: Up to this point I take it you hadn't had any English?<br />
PERINA: No, no. I didn't know any English <strong>and</strong> started school a year late. I was six <strong>and</strong> a<br />
half when I began the first grade. I never went to kindergarten. I recall that in my first<br />
two years of school I had special classes to learn English pronunciation, especially the<br />
“th” in English which is one of the hardest sounds <strong>for</strong> <strong>for</strong>eigners to pronounce. But I<br />
picked up the language rather quickly, as kids do.<br />
Q: What were your father <strong>and</strong> mother doing?<br />
PERINA: Well, my father had a first job washing dishes in a restaurant in Manhattan, <strong>and</strong><br />
it didn't work out very well because his English was not very good. In his first week, he<br />
burned his h<strong>and</strong>s with lye which he had mistaken <strong>for</strong> soap. So he lost that job rather<br />
quickly. My mother went to work as a housekeeper <strong>for</strong> the family of an older, successful<br />
Czech businessman. She later worked in his company, which was an import-export<br />
business. My father got a job as a waiter at the University Club in New York City, <strong>and</strong> he<br />
worked there <strong>for</strong> about a year. Subsequently, because he knew some French, he got an<br />
office job working <strong>for</strong> the French Line, the French steamship company that had ships<br />
going across the Atlantic. He worked there until we left New York in 1955.<br />
Q: Did you find yourself acting as the interpreter <strong>and</strong> all <strong>for</strong> the family <strong>for</strong> the early part<br />
of the time?<br />
PERINA: I don't recall that specifically because my parents did have to learn the<br />
language, <strong>and</strong> I think they learned it fairly quickly, although I'm sure I learned it faster. I<br />
think within a year or so I was pretty much into the kid culture of the 1950’s: trading<br />
cards, Captain Video, Davy Crockett, <strong>and</strong> all of these things. One of the good things that<br />
my parents did was always to speak with me in Czech. Sometimes parents try to help<br />
their kids by speaking English with them at home, <strong>and</strong> usually this does not help kids<br />
learn the language but leads them to <strong>for</strong>getting their mother tongue. We always spoke<br />
Czech at home. I still speak Czech with my mother today <strong>and</strong> in casual conversation<br />
speak it with a native fluency.<br />
Q: Did you stay in Astoria?<br />
PERINA: We stayed in Astoria <strong>for</strong> about five years, almost to the point where we got<br />
citizenship. But we had some friends--- actually the family which <strong>for</strong> a few weeks had<br />
shared the Astoria apartment with us--- who moved to Clevel<strong>and</strong>, Ohio. They wrote that<br />
the cost of housing was lower in Clevel<strong>and</strong>, jobs more plentiful, <strong>and</strong> so on. We moved<br />
there in 1955, <strong>and</strong> we became U.S. citizens there in 1956. I became a citizen through my<br />
parents when they were naturalized. I lived in Clevel<strong>and</strong> until 1961 <strong>and</strong> then moved to<br />
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