In those first months in America, fellow worked as a clean-up man and on the docks in Long Beach, California,

learning English by watching Sesame Street, and by discussing with his wife after a day's

work, what his foreman had been yelling at him.

And I said, I'm going to work.

Son of a bitch.

She said, I don't know what does mean.

I don't know, but let's get the dictionary out.

I had to be a musician and then look it up and son, son, son, son of somebody.

That's fine.

Then the bitch, you know, the female dog said, oh, right, female dog.

So son of the female dog, that's got to be a puppy.

Bella was very, very into learning English.

I mean, he got some books, some cassettes, you know, and we listened to the radio and we

watched TV.

Bella spoke, well, the English is the Marta.

Marta's English was awful.

Bella wasn't much better than Marta's.

This is episode two, American Hustle.

As Bella has always told it, after defecting from Romania, he and Marta stayed in a $7

night motel in a CD part of Los Angeles.

He worked at a restaurant cleaning up at night and as a dock hand, unloading cargo for

cash.

...