Ida Alkalai on holiday in Momin Prohod

This is a photo of me on holiday in Momin Prohod [Girl’s Pass, a spa resort in Western Bulgaria]. It was taken in the 1960s. I suffer from asthma and every year I went on vacation there. There is a beautiful waterfall there. I’m with my mother, Matilda Shekerdjiiska, in the photo. My mother was born in Kyustendil. I suppose that my father saw her when he went to Kyustendil and that's how they met. She worked as a seamstress. She had her own sewing machine. When I graduated from the vocational school, I started helping her with the sewing. She didn't observe Sabbath because she had to work on Saturdays. I have seen her sew on Saturdays. But my grandmothers observed Sabbath very strictly. My parents were humble people. They respected each other and loved us, the children, very much. My brother was also very modest. We never gave them much trouble. They weren't very strict, but raised us warmly and lovingly. When I graduated from the junior high school, I wanted to study in a high school. Then my mother told me that I had to learn a craft and enrolled me in the vocational school. There I learned sewing and worked with my mother for some time. Sewing was what we did for a living. My mother sewed dresses and when I graduated from the vocational school I started giving her some advice.