I came here because everyone was talking about Spain, not for need (ES)

Q: Age?

A: 39

Q: How long have you been here?

A: 15 years.

Q: Do you have kids?

A: Yes, a six-year-old girl.

Q: How was your life like in Romania before you came here?

A: It was very good, to be honest. I was working in a cable factory in my town. I lived with my parents and my brothers, we had a good family life. I didn’t come here for necessity. I came here because everyone was talking about Spain, not for need, and I’m still here. 15 years ago Spain was better economically, so those who were here said you earned more. I was working in a factory and earning like 150 euros, once I bought a pair of boots that cost me half my salary. So I thought I could come here and buy a house, those were the thoughts of a twenty-something year old girl. I remember a girl I knew was working with me, her husband too, but she stopped coming, and her husband told me she was coming to Spain. I said I wanted to come too. She was coming here to pick up grapes, in Castilla de La Mancha. I said I wanted to go with her, so that afternoon she called me and asked if I wanted to come, I said yes. I asked my mother for 500 euros to come here and she was shocked. I asked for leave at my job so I could come back if things didn’t work out, but my boss wouldn’t give it to me and he insisted that I thought it through, that I should stay there. But two weeks later I came to Spain. And I had a bad time. I came with my friend to her aunt’s house, but it was hard working in the field. At home I had worked a bit because we had cabbage, but that was it. But getting here and working in the field picking up grapes, my hands were all cut, I had a bad time. I remember that once it was raining, so I thought “good, we can go home”, but no, we had to keep on working because we had to load the truck. My mother had a cousin in San Pedro. After two months working with the grapes, my friend went back to Romania but I came here. I remember being on the train from Madrid, that I didn’t understand a word, I didn’t even know where I had to get off the train. So I came here, I was fine living with my aunt, but I couldn’t find a job. The money I made with the grapes I spent it on clothes and stuff. My parents didn’t know I was having money problems. In Romania I didn’t have to pay for expenses because I lived with my parents. My aunt helped me to look for a job, because I didn’t know Spanish. The first job I had was taking care of an old lady for a month, I didn’t like it. Then I worked in a restaurant, from 9am until 3-4 am of the next day, 6 days a week, I did that for a month and then couldn’t stand it any longer. Then I cleaned a woman’s house for a couple of months, she was very nice to me, but then I went back to Romania, because I had a bad time here in Spain. I always had what I needed, but for three days here I ate rice and carrot. So I went back to Romania, I didn’t want to come back to Spain. But a friend called me saying that she was here and all the paperwork could be solved. So I came back here, worked in the same restaurant as before, then cleaned the woman’s house again, and then started working in a nursing home, well known here in Spain. I have worked there for 12 years. I like Spain but I miss Romania. My parents are there, my brother, my land. But I also like it here. I’m split. I have been here for 15 years so I have friends here too. Wherever I go I would miss both countries. Now I am okay, it is not bad as it was at first here. I have met very nice Spanish people here. I have friends here that I know will be there for me whenever I need it. But I miss very much my country. Especially this time of the year, at Christmas.

Q: Do you go often?

A: Yes, I’ve been there twice this year. I go with my husband and my daughter. We go every year, once or twice. The only time I couldn’t go for three years it was when I was pregnant and had my baby girl.

Q: What did you have to give up to come here?

A: I had to leave my family there. We talk every day. With my parents and my brother. We talk on the phone and we message each other too.

Q: What does your daughter think of Romania?

A: She loves it. Here we live in an apartment, my parents live in a house with a big garden, with dogs and cats, and my daughter loves that. This year she spent two months there during the summer. She says she likes going there in the holidays but she likes going to school here, her friends are here. Three days ago she cried saying that she was Spanish, not Romanian, and that hurts me. I tell her she is half and half. I will always be Romanian, no doubt. We Romanians can’t get double nationality, so if I want to get the Spanish nationality I would have to give up mine, and I won’t do that. I am Romanian, even though I have lived a long time here. I love Spain and Romania. I have been here for 15 years, it is too long, I have my house here, my job, friends… If I go to Romania I will have few friends because friendship vanishes, you see them once a year.

Q: Have you thought about going back to Romania?

A: Yes, I am thinking it. Especially during Christmas time, I think it every year. I would like to have a house in Romania and one here, and come and go. Honestly people here are very nice. They are like Romanians. Of course there is a bit of everything. Here you are very friendly, I like it.

Q: Do you inform yourself about what is going on in Romania?

A: Yes, I see online some news. Politics make me nervous, no matter what country it is. I don’t know much about politics, but I’m not very interested in it, it is always the same story. But I keep updated. Until five months ago I had Romanian channels on my television, but it was expensive. When I talk to my mother she tells me about politics too, so I am informed.

Q: Do you think Romania evolved since you came here?

A: I was very little when Romania was communist. But I talk to people that lived at those times, and they say that no one was hungry, everyone was employed. If you had no job they would place you somewhere and everyone had something to eat. It is true that you couldn’t buy as much things as you wanted, just 1 or 2 kilos of sugar per family, but no one starved as it happens now, here too. People in my town are okey, I have always had a good life. My brother sometimes earns more there than I do here. It depends.

Q: Was it hard to learn Spanish?

A: Some people say I speak fine, some say I don’t. Little by little I learned it. I am not scared of going to a country with a language I don’t know. I’ll find a way to manage. Languages don’t scare me. Speaking of European languages. And I started working in a restaurant. I didn’t even know what a paella was. I understood what I wanted, I don’t know. I had a bad time with the language when I started working in this nursing home in the kitchen, washing the dishes, because after a year they asked me if I wanted to cook. It was hard. But I am not scared of it, so I try. The first month I understood nothing, and without realizing it I started understanding.

Q: What differences do you see between both countries?

A: When I am in Romania I miss my home from here, my job. It is not fancy, but I love my job. In romania there are many trees, here there are very few. I get used very fast to the circumstances, no matter if they are good or bad.

Q: Do you send/receive packages to Romania?

A: Yes, like twice a year. My mom raises chickens so she sends me, also pork, sweets for my daughter. And I send her cheese and olive oil mostly. And blacks olives.

Q: Do you think your relationship with your family changed?

A: I think it is the same or even better. I have always had a good relationship with my brother, he is three years younger than I. We have always loved each other, although we didn’t show it. We miss each other and talk every day. He wants me to go back home, my parents too. It was hard for them when I left.

Q: Did they come here?

A: Yes, on vacations. My mother loves it, she says she likes Spanish people. They thought they were like the arabs, so they were surprised when they saw they are white. I presented my friends to them, they are good people, they liked each other. My brother came here to work but he didn’t like it. He liked the people but he wouldn’t like to work here. He was here for three months and he didn’t like it.

Q: Did you think about going to another country?

A: No, I would only go to Romania. When you are on your own you can, but with a child it is more complicated. It would be difficult to start from scratch in another country. I would only go to Romania.