22 1224- (1) Chapter 1,2- Keith 's Biography

Keith의 mail이다

하이킹그룹 맴버들이 나이가 들어가니 건강상의 문제도 생겨

그룹이 만나서 함께 하이킹할수있는 기회가 없다.

작년까지만해도 키이스와 도나가 트레일러에서

 워터톤공원 쟈스퍼 공원에서 캠핑을 하면

나혼자 운전해 가서 조인해 같이 걷기도 하였다

그런데 올해에는 도나와 키이스가 몸이 좋지않아

잘 걸을수가 없어서 

이젠 같이 걷기하는 기회도 없어졌다.

사람의 삶이 이런것을 어찌 할것인가?

태어나고 늙고 병들고 죽는~

 

키이스가 자신의 지나온 삶을 회고하는 글을 메일로 보내왔다.

반갑다 이젠 메일로 만나야지~ ㅎ

 

 

Chapter One: The Early Years

 

  I was born at home on Monday, February 14, 1949, to Maarten and Jannetje Rietveld in the town of Zeist. I do not remember much about my time in Holland because I was very young. I had a four-year older sister, Corry. When I was one and two, I would sit on the kitchen floor in my diaper, observing all that went on around me. I was new in the world and learning about life. I was curious, and paid attention to attitudes and actions. A lot of what I learned at that early age I have been trying to unlearn all my life. I have no memory of my grandparents although they must have been around. I do remember that it hurt to have a bowel movement so I would hold it and become constipated, making it hurt even more. For privacy I would hide behind the long drapes in the house. There was one of those spinning merry-go-rounds behind our house. You know, the kind that the bigger kids spin with their hands. They are dangerous and I don’t believe they have them anymore. The older children were playing there. I wanted to join in the fun and crawled out to meet them. I got under the merry-go-round and lifted my head. My sister carried me back into the house. Perhaps I could use that as an excuse for all the mistakes I’ve made in my life, but I don’t think so. My younger sister, Lyda, was born around that time. My mother would take me for walks in the stroller and then later when I could walk by myself. I remember some woods near our house that I enjoyed visiting. There were train tracks nearby and I enjoyed hearing the whistle and watching the trains. From as early as I can remember I’ve always had a belief in God. Before bedtime my mother would read to me and pray with me. She told me about God’s Son, Jesus, dying on the cross for all my sins, and if I believed in Him, I would go to heaven. I didn’t know that it was possible to get out of bed without going on my knees and saying a prayer. I knew that God loved me and was with me always. My parents always prayed before meals and read the bible afterwards. We always sat at the table and had to finish what was on our plate. We would go to church every Sunday and had to sit quietly in the pew.

 

 

 When I was five, we immigrated to Canada on the big boat. Mom was seasick the whole time. When the big boat got into the Gulf of St. Lawrence it rocked slowly back and forth. I remember lying on the floor of the nursery and rolling from one side of the room to the other. We docked in Montreal and took the train to Edmonton. That was May of 1954. We spent that summer and winter in a converted chicken coop on the Bailey’s farm. It sat right on the hill on Hwy 14 (which is now the Henday) between Baseline Road and the Wye Road. It was a bitter cold winter, with lots of snow. We took our clothes under the covers and water would freeze at our bedside. My uncle and father worked on the farm. The boys would help locking the milk cows into their stalls. I was five and walked behind a cow to lock its neck. The cow kicked me in the forehead and I landed unconscious in the poop gutter. I received 18 stitches. When I woke in the hospital I had to pee really badly. I did not know enough English to explain my dilemma to the nurse, and my aunt had to translate for me. Next spring my parents rented a small house just north of Baseline Road near the ravine that is just west of the refinery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Elementary School 

 

I was six in September of 1955 and started school in the public system. My Dutch name was Cornelis, and the short nickname was Kees. My Grade One teacher wrote her name on the black board. She then went down the rows and had each child stand up and say their name. She then wrote that name on the blackboard in that child’s position in the classroom. When it was my turn, I stood up and said KEES. The teacher wrote on the blackboard CASE. I waved my arms and spelled out KEES. The teacher took the blackboard brush, erased CASE and wrote KEES. She looked at my name with a puzzled look on her face. Then she took the brush, erased KEES and wrote KEITH. She said, “We will call you Keith”. I have been Keith ever since. My trouble is school started in grade one. I was going to an English-speaking school and knew very little English. My two cousins were kind enough to help me out. They explained to me that the way English-speaking people say hello was, “Wanna fight?’ I don’t know why I got beat up after my first day of school. I ran towards home with a gang of boys following me. I hid in a culvert and stayed there until my mother and sister came looking for me. The next spring my parents put a down payment on a house at 7406 – 81 Avenue. The Edmonton city limit was at 75th Street. There was a big Hook sign saying, “Welcome to Edmonton. 125,000 friendly people.” From grade 2 – 4 I took the bus to Calvin Christian School Central. It was across the street from where the Royal Alexandra Hospital was later built. I caught the bus on the corner of 75th Street and 82nd Avenue. One cold winter morning I did not have my toque pulled over my ears, and my ears froze white. I was in great pain when they started to thaw. The teacher took me to the Glenrose Hospital, where my ears were packed and a stocking pulled over my head. The doctor took my tonsils out, seeing I was there anyways.

 

 

 

My mother was not very happy in Canada. We lived in a small two-bedroom house. We had no running water, and the bathroom was a one-seater at the edge of the property. The Edmonton winters were much colder in those days, and a trip to the outhouse was an experience. She could not drive and any Dutch people lived some distance away. She could not visit with the neighbors, because she knew very little English. When my brother, Peter, was born on May 2, 1956, there were six of us living in the little house. Mom longed for Holland, hot and cold running water, indoor toilets and showers, and Dutch-speaking friends nearby. She scrimped and saved and was soon able to take a trip home with my little brother. My mother was a great example of how to be careful with money. My dad was working as a janitor at the Woodward’s downtown store on 101st Street. He was paid weekly and brought his cash money home in a small envelope. We watched her take the money out of the envelope and count it. Mom would put one tenth of the money into a church envelope. One tenth of the money would go into a savings account in the bank. Four fifths of the money would go into her wallet for us to live on. This practice served me well in latter years. We had two sets of clothing, one for school and church, and one for home. We changed clothes when we came home from church or school. Mom would patch the home clothes but we had to take very good care of our good clothes. They had to stay nice until September, when they became our home clothes, and the very worn-out home clothes went into the garbage or to be used for rags.

 

 

 

 We said our prayers when we got up in the morning. We sat at the table for meals and could not leave our place until our plate was empty. Our parents prayed before each meal and read a devotional and prayed after the meal. We had a bedtime story and prayed again before going to sleep. There was only one Christian Reformed Church in Edmonton at the time, and we made the long drive from Whyte Avenue twice every Sunday. The services were in Dutch, which pleased my mother greatly. My parents believed in keeping the sabbath day holy. We had to keep our church clothes on all day and could not play outside. Sundays were for reading or playing board games. Mom would prepare our meals the day before. Absolutely no housework or yard work could be done on a Sunday. Even when we at the lake on holidays, we had to read and could not run around or go into the water. Every school day morning my sister and I would walk to the bus stop on 75th Street. We would ride together to the bus stop in front of Woodward’s, where my dad worked. I would stay on the bus but Corry got off and transferred to another bus, which took her to Calvin Christian School West at 111Th Avenue and 142nd Street. At seven years old in grade two I stayed on the bus for three more stops. I got off at Kingsway Avenue and walked one block to school. There was a boy’s entrance and a girl’s entrance. There were three grades split into two classrooms. Mrs. P. Van Ry taught all the grades in both rooms. She was also the principal. She was tough and had complete control. You did not fool around in her school. After school I would take the bus to Woodward’s, where I waited for my sister. We would then ride home together.

 

 

  For grade five I had to travel with my sister to the west school because Mrs. Van Ry only taught up to grade four That was tough because now, I had some of the same teachers that had taught my sister. Corry was much smarter than me, and the teachers always thought I should do better. I got 70’s and 80’s but my sister got 80’s and 90’s. I tried very hard but I just could not meet her scores. It was difficult being compared to my sister, both at school and at home. When Corry got into high school, she was always on the honor roll and competed on a TV show called “Reach for the Top”. I was discouraged and felt stupid. In grade five, at eleven years old, I fell deeply in love with a girl by the name of Coby. We hung around together and pushed and shoved each other. Sometimes I pulled her hair. Sometimes we even kissed! It was wonderful. I was deeply saddened when I had to go to a different school in grade six. In the spring my parents bought another house in the Newton District, 12207 – 56 Street. We were now closer to the Calvin Christian School East, on 36th Street and 118 Avenue. It was just a short two-mile walk from our house. In the summer I could ride my bike. My dad had found it leaning against the Woodward’s store wall. It had double bars and was ‘way to big for me. I had to ride it underbar.