Childhood Years - My First Impressions of England

Translation

Dear Tante Georgel, dear Onkel Friedel,

In the first place many congratulations on your birthday. Sadly I can’t give you a present this year but I hope you will be happy with my letter. Will there be Streusselkuchen for your birthday tea? How Papa would have enjoyed being there. Write and tell me what presents you had.

My German is getting worse from day to day. When I do speak German it is half German and half English. It is terrible but can’t be changed.

I have a terrible amount to learn. Last week I came second in my class. What do you know – I may be getting riding lessons next holiday. At present I play a lot of tennis and it is hard to learn. Every week I have an extra lesson from a teacher. When I started I could not return a ball. Now I am better.

Yesterday we went to London and heard the best pianist in the world. It was in Queen’s Hall. Sir Henry Wood conducted. I have never clapped so much as I did there.

I am getting fatter and fatter. I have again put on weight. I think I weigh 99 lbs. Today is Sunday and when I have finished this letter I shall go into the garden. I read a book and eat sweets and lie in a deckchair. It is very warm. At present I am reading a wonderful book. It is very funny.

When all the girls are together reading their books it is very funny because one laughs and the other cries. We do a lot of nonsense and annoy the teachers.

I hope you enjoyed your birthday. Greet everyone from me.

Lots of love.

I am in a hurry and my handwriting is not good.

LORE

Translation

(...)
Cooden
Sussex

Dear Tante Georgel and dear Uncle Friedel,

Many thanks for your last letter which gave me much pleasure.

I am now on holiday and have more time to write my letters. Yesterday I received my school report and I shall copy it out for you at the end of this letter.

The last days at school were great fun because we fool around.

You can’t imagine what I and two of the girls got up to. At midnight we went down to the sea in our pajamas, dressing gowns and slippers. Don’t mention it to Oma or she will die of fright. It was prima prima. It started like this: The three of us were talking after lights out in the dormitory. This was not allowed and some stupid girls told us if we were not quiet we had to go outside. This happened in the last but one night of our term and during the last three nights we are naughty. After the girl told us we decided to get out and crawled into a cupboard with sliding doors. We made a lot of noise climbing over shoes and hangers but then we kept as quiet as a mouse. After a short time we told each other ghost stories and then we thought about what we could do next and decided to go down to the sea.

Opposite our dormitory is a fire escape but before one can climb down, a door has to be unlocked. We went back to our room, took torches and waited till all were asleep. And then we went to work. To our horror we could not open the door to the fire escape and it made such a noise that we thought the teachers would rush out of their rooms but all remained quiet. So we had to walk through the house to get to another door. The steps creaked sometimes under our feet but it wasn’t too bad.

In the end, after a long search, we found the key and got into the garden of our school. We stepped as carefully as possible over the gravel and came to the street. There we looked around and made sure no policemen were in sight and then we went as far as the next cross road. We saw people and ran into the house next to our school which was empty. We had to climb over a fence. After many attempts we arrived at the sea and came back without anyone seeing us. (I did not write to you in great detail because I want to tell you other things.)

It is very nice here in Cooden. We have a beautiful big house with a splendid flower and vegetable garden. Nothing will come of riding this holiday because soon the hunt begins and I wouldn’t be good enough to take part. But to compensate I play more tennis.

Yesterday I was accepted in a club and the girls there are very nice. There is a tournament and yesterday was also one. I did not win anything but it was very entertaining. At school everyone said I was very good considering the little time I have played. We are divided into groups and I was in group 4. I had to play everyone in group 4. In the end I was so tired I could hardly play anymore because I had to play against 8 people. There are also boys. The points you get in tennis are 15:0, 30:0, 40:0, 50:0. When I played one girl for example and lost the first game I was given a start of 15. If I lost again I had a 30 point start etc. That made the whole business easier. One had to play 5 sets against everyone.

There is a tournament every week. Yesterday I played again, the second time doubles. I prefer to play with 4 because one person is at the net and, when possible, the ball can be smashed which makes it more exciting. I also went to the cinema and saw two wonderful films. One was very funny and was called ‘Ask a Policeman.’

We cycle a lot and next week we want to go on a cycle tour. It is great here to go swimming because the beach is lovely. We have a hut where we keep crockery and all we need and we have lunch and tea there. This morning we went swimming before breakfast. You will have noticed that I am writing this letter on a different day.

Recently we also visited Tante Eileen’s grandmother in Brighton. Otherwise there is nothing new.

Love and kisses,

LORE

Please pass my school report on to Oma