We used to get up early in the morning.
In the summertime, it wasn't too bad.
I used to wash my face, have some coffee,
try to eat some bread--
and sometimes I didn't have any bread to eat because I was so hungry...
that I eat the bread when I used to get it.
I used to eat my portion, and by the time...
the seven days got around, I didn't have any.
So my mother made pancakes--
black pancakes-- out of coffee grinds...
so I had something to put in my stomach.
There was no nutrition in it.
So I ate that and went off to work...
and wait till I would get the soup,
do some work-- whatever was required of me to do.
We used to work, in the beginning, 10 hours a day. Uh--
Then-- No. It was eight hours a day, seven days a week,
and then they cut it down to 10 hours a day, six days a week...
so we have time to get the ration.
Well, anyhow,
then I came home from work...
and waited for my mother to make some soup--
to eat some soup.
If we had beets, she'd cook beets. Sometimes we had horse meat if we're lucky.
And if we'd run out of fuel, we'd cut up some of the furniture...
to cook with.