"The
school may possibly move to some point on the west coast. Commander Heinmarsh, who is in charge, and
tours the country picking up students, stopped here this week and among other
things they discussed prospective sites for the school if moved. This was at a meeting of all teachers. For one thing the housing situation is bad
here. Boulder property owners won't rent
to 'Japs.' So instead of building houses
for the instructors the Navy plans to pull up stakes and leave- from all
indications. My roommate is all enthusiastic about rumors that we may go to
California; since he once attended UCLA; but I prefer it in Boulder - 13 hrs.
from home instead of 2 days. And as yet
I haven't had the opportunity to explore the nearby mountains....
"Every
evening after supper, I go down to the room of my dictation instructor, Mr. Toyota,
for 40 or 45 minutes of speaking Japanese.
He's a very enthusiastic teacher and invited me down without a request
for help or anything. In class, he has a time, because his English is so bad
that he can't get anything across to us in the line of explanations. Even if he does know the proper word, his
pronunciation is so bad that none of us recognize it. Yesterday the boys got tickled at him, while
going through some long winded explanation, and I think the old fellow got
slightly angered...The old fellow really does have a brighter side. Sergt. Beatty discovered how to get on the
good side of him the other day when referred to him as "O sensei
sama." Sensei means teacher, and we
usually call him that; but the O makes it more polite, and the sama does the
same. So, together - it was about like
calling him a god. The old fellow beamed
anyhow. A comment on the beauty of the
Japanese characters which he has drawn will also bring a broad smile."
-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his
family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday, February 24, 1945.
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