Q: Age?
A: 41
Q: How long have you been here?
A: Almost 5 years.
Q: Do you have kids?
A: No, I’m married but no kids for now.
Q: Did you have a job in Romania?
A: Yes, I was a Romanian and French teacher. Here I teach Romanian, to sons of Romanians that were born here, so they can keep in touch with the language and know the culture of our country. They say that their country is Spain, and that they know very little about Romania. I give classes in many schools here.
Q: How did you relate with the people in Romania?
A: I had a very good relationship with everyone, neighbors, students, parents. It was such a good relationship that when I came here they told me to go back.
Q: Did you know what to expect here in Spain?
A: Yes, I knew. It is a project of the Education Ministries from Romania and Spain. They sent 67 teachers to Spain to teach these classes of Romanian. So I knew what I would do here.
Q: And why did you accept to come? Do you think it is better here?
A: I had another motive, because my husband worked here. I was in Romania and he was here, it was hard, so I decided to come to be with him. It was better if we could live here.
Q: What did you feel when you got here? Was it like your husband described it?
A: Kind of. It took me a long time to adapt. There are differences, but my husband helped me. Also I was in touch with many Romanian families that helped me a lot. That is why I speak better Romanian than Spanish, because I am always in touch with these families. But I like it equally, here and there.
Q: How did you learn Spanish?
A: Reading, with books and dictionaries, with exercise books. I make an effort to practice and learn more. With movies, listening, with CD. And now I am taking a course of Spanish for foreigners here in San Pedro. I learned it all here in Spain, before I came here I knew very little. My husband knows much more, he is a translator. He came here a long time ago, in 2001.
Q: Have you always lived here?
A: Yes, my husband is a truck driver so he moves all around, but I do.
Q: Do you go to Romania for the holidays?
A: No, we spend them here.
Q: When do you go?
A: Mostly in summer. For example I leave tomorrow to Romania, I go for a week. But generally we go in summer. I think two years ago we went for Christmas. I think that is hard for Romanians here, they want to spend the holidays and special occasions with their families in Romania, but it is not always possible.
Q: What do you like the most and the least from here?
A: I like everything. We have a good relationship with the community, with the town hall. We also have a Hispanic-Romanian association, I am the president. We have a quite good relationship with everyone, with parents, neighbors, with the people in the town hall. What I don’t like, I don’t know. What shocked me when I came here is the landscape, the geography is different from our country. There are less trees. It is more arid and dry here.
Q: Who did you leave in Romania?
A: We left our families there. My mom is alone now, my father died two years ago, and the distance makes it hard. I also had to quit my job there and left my students, my friends… But I have new ones here. It is a new world, with new friends, you have to adapt.
Q: Are you still in touch with the people there?
A: Yes, with everyone. The schools, teachers, students. When I go to Romania I see them. We do it through the Internet. With my mother I talk all the time, every day. Now that she is alone it is quite difficult for her. Usually I call her.
Q: Did you ever have the need of sending money?
A: Yes, we send all the time. My mother in law is also alone, so once in a while we send them money or gifts, sometimes food or candy. My mother in law comes here often, my mother never does, she doesn’t want to. My father wanted to come but as my mother didn’t want he never came. I don’t know what I can say to my mom to make her come, she doesn’t want. My mother in law came more because she had a surgical intervention, something in the cornea, so she came many times. She likes it here, she likes more bigger cities. I think it is because she is alone, so she needs to be with people.
Q: Do you inform yourself about the situation there?
A: Yes, we receive a lot of information from the Internet, by mail, with the Romanian embassy. From Romania we receive emails from the schools and ministries. We have information. I think Romanian families here all have a parabolic to see what happens in our country.
Q: Do you think Romania evolve since you got here?
A: I don’t know, we want more changes. Romania has a long way to go to reach the European level, it is below the average. It hurts us to all Romanians. It needs more infrastructure. It has so many beautiful places and landscapes, but there are no roads. A lot needs to be done. I think it evolved very little.
Q: Would you go to another country if you had to?
A: Maybe, probably France because I know the language and teach French too. I would like to go to France.
Q: Would you go back to Romania?
A: Yes, we miss Romania.
Q: Do you have a group of friends here?
A: Most of them are Romanian, we are not very much in touch with Spanish people. Teachers of the school, directors. We have many friends.
Q: Have you felt prejudged here?
A: No, I didn’t feel that. Here Romanians are well seen, they are workers, no one has stolen anything. I don’t think it is okay to generalize, if one person did something it doesn’t mean we are all the same. We are all integrated, everyone has their jobs, I didn’t feel that here.
Q: How are your student’s families?
A: Some families live better than others. One family has six kids, the father is the only one who works, their mother doesn’t work, and it is hard for them to survive. But we try to help everyone. All families are different. I can say they are all workers, very young, an average of 35-40 years live here, that have come here, many of their kids were born here. Many. I have almost 200 students, only in this area.
Q: What is the association you preside?
A: It is a cultural-educational association. We organize cultural activities, expositions, festivities, exhibitions at schools, dances, Romanian food, so people know Romania better. Spanish people like our food, dances, the traditional gowns. The most typical food is a cake with nuts, chocolate, raisins, we usually eat it at Christmas and Easter. Also de sarmale, with minced meat, rice, onions, that you put in a roll with cabbage and vinegar.
Q: Do you think people leave Romania to look for something better?
A: Yes, in general. People leave to look for a better life, some people come to reunite with their families. For example if their father came here some years before, the rest of the family comes too. Some come to see and explore how life is like here, to enjoy. In most cases it is to reunite with your families.
Q: How did you adapt to the weather?
A: I love hot weather, hate the cold. In Romania it is very cold, nowadays -2 or -3. During the winter it reaches -30 degrees. I like the heat, so I am happy here. It wasn’t hard to adapt.