This is my class baking for our Senior Citizens project tea.
I am very lucky because my Granny is taking part in the project. We have to interview our senior citizen to find out about the past and how life was different then. This is what Tessa told me.
Tessa as a small child
Hi my name is Tessa. As a small child there were four children in our family and my parents also adopted another four children. We lived in Fish Hoek for a while. . My dad worked as a musician and my mom satyed home to look after the children.The kinds of jobs I remember people liking to have were bank managers, magistrates, school teachers, nurses, shop assistants, bakers, pharmacists, policemen, soldiers and builders. Before I was old enough to go to school, I remember baking with my mum, sewing, with my gran, and playing with my brothers. My favourite toys were dolly tea cups, riding a bicycle and playing with a soccer ball or a tennis ball.
Tessa’s Primary School Days
I went to the Alfred Beit School and I got there by bicycle. We had school subjects such as Maths, English, History, geography,Science, Biology, Art and Sewing. At that time we wrote in our books using a dip and scratch pen. We didn’t know wbout ball point pens yet. Computers weren’t invented yet. If children were naughty the principal was allowed to beat them. On the playground we played marbles, hopscotch, skipping, hoolah hoop, yoyos, catches, and tennis stingers. We had lots of homework at night.
Tessa as a teenager
As a teenager I remember wearing big wide skirts and folding shoes. Cell phones weren’t invented yet. At school we could do a few extra murals such as chess, art club, tennis, hockey and drama. We also had netball. In my spare time I liked doing swimming, reading books, and riding bikes. In the evenings we would listen to the radio, go to see a film, or visit friends. If we want ted to visit a friend we used the ordinaryphone or we went to their houswe and asked if we could play. When I was sixteen I went on my first date. In those days people liked to go to dances, movies or parties on dates. We loved listening to music on records. My favourite singers were Nat King Cole, Elvis presley and Pat Boone. The movies or films I remember likingthe most were the Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music, Dr Zivargo and some Elvis Presley films. For supper we ate a lot of vegetables, potatoes and my mom liked to make pap to eat with meat. We had a servant that helped to clean our home.
How has South Africa changed since Tessa was a child?
When I was a child there were much fewer cars and buses. There was no TV and the telephones were different to today’s telephones. There were no cell phones. Everything was very different to today.
Does Tessa have any interesting information about her own grandparents?
My grandpa was not well because he fought in the World War. I remember that my granny played hockey in a funny long skirt.
We made autocollages about our senior citizens today using a programme called Microsoft Autocollage. Here is mine.
