Tag #141536 - Interview #78604 (Adela Nissimova Levi)

We had classrooms with desks in the orphanage. Everyone had a specific place where we prepared for the next day. We also had a dining-room where we ate. The cook was Auntie Totka from Popovo. She was a Bulgarian. The food was good, especially in comparison with the other orphanages. In the evenings, when we prepared for our lessons Mrs. Dimitrova, also a Bulgarian, would help us in all the subjects, except Ivrit. She tested us and the other teacher, whom we called ‘giveret’, prepared us for the subjects in Ivrit. Mrs. Dimitrova carried a ruler and when you said something wrong, she would slap you and say, ‘Go and prepare better next time.’ When you made noise in the classroom, you were punished by standing up for some time. There was even a music teacher in the orphanage: his name was Iliev. He lived very close to the orphanage. He taught us and we had a mandolin band and we performed at some gatherings. I played the mandolin, but I was also an actress. We prepared some performances for the end of the school year or when our sponsors came. I don’t remember the plays, but they were children’s ones i.e. fairy tales, or something improvised related to holidays such as Chanukkah, for example.

The school was full day. We got up at six o’clock, did some gymnastics, had breakfast at the orphanage, polished our shoes, and went to school. We had packed our school bags the night before. At lunch we went back, we had lunch and then went back to school at 2pm. We came back at 5pm. We prepared for our lessons and then had dinner. We were also given some cheese sandwiches to eat at school in the morning.