Q: Age?
A: 56 years old.
Q: How long have you been here?
A: For 14 years.
Q: Do you have kids?
A: Yes, three. They are 36, 34 and 33.
Q: How was your life like in Romania before you came?
A: I had a job, I was working in a factory with my husband, we both earned fine. We had some land. We survived. There were people that were having a bad time, but we weren’t that bad. We had jobs, land, love, money. Sometimes it happened that in the shops you did a big line and when you got there it was over, finished, there was no more. Like it happens now in Venezuela. If you needed something very much you payed for it more expensive at restaurants, if there was money.
Q: How did you manage with money?
A: Sometimes we had plenty, there were no more things to buy, a little time before communism was over. I lived through that, when you got 1 litre of oil and 1 kilo of flour. In our house we had a chicken, eggs, pork, cows, and that helped a lot. I lived with my mother in law and she took care of them. I never lacked anything. We had onions, potatoes, and what we needed from our land.
Q: How was your relationship with your family?
A: We were very united, my mother came regularly to visit me because I lived in another town. My brothers too. Whenever we were celebrating something they sent clothes, even today. I am the eldest of the siblings, I lost my sister some time ago and it was very hard. We are 10 siblings, they are all so good. As I left town when I got married, they spoiled me more so that I didn’t feel lonely. They always supported me and helped me.
Q: Who took care of your children?
A: I had a lot of help from my mother in law. She loved me so much, as her own daughter, she only had sons. She let me go work in the city and she took care of the kids. She helped me so much. Then she became sick and I took care of her for 10 years, until she died. We lived with her because she was a widow, and she was lonely, so when we got married we went live with her. I was so young, 18 years old.
Q: How was your relationship with your neighbours?
A: Fine, as everywhere there are some envious if you are doing better than them, the same that happens here. With the authorities it is better here, if I need to do paperwork I am always welcomed here, but there you have to be almost in your knees to get your paperwork done or go far away. In that sense Romania is not okay. Doctors, paperwork… it is almost an impossible task.
Q: Did you think of leaving to other countries, other than Spain?
A: No, I came directly to Spain. When communism fell I started working in a dairy, they almost didn’t pay me, it broke and the man couldn’t pay the people, he left to America, he was indebted. Years after, when money had not the same value as before, he started paying what he owed. Then I started working on the land and money was just enough for food. So I wanted to try somewhere else. One of my daughter was building her home, and started selling pieces of land to buy things, so that way I could not work the land anymore. So I decided to come to Spain, earn money to finish the house and go back. I came in 2003, in 2004 I had a job offer to stay here, I started learning the language…
Q: Did you come on your own?
A: Yes, I came by myself, because of the adventure. At first I couldn’t find a job, it was hard. But if I went back I would have had to sell more things to pay for the trip. So then a man hired me, he was smart and I learned to speak with him. And then I found more jobs. I went to Valladolid for two years, and there I learned everything. Then it was easier to find a job and all.
Q: Did your family come after you?
A: No, they stayed in Romania. Little by little they started coming, as they needed to earn more money. When I came they stayed all together with my husband and my mother in law, but my kids were older. When I came here I already had grandsons.
Q: How did you feel here?
A: I felt weird but I do even now. Loneliness is harder every time, I always think of going back. I am planning to buy an apartment in Romania and go for 2-3 months to see if I can accommodate my life there, and if I can’t I come back here because I won’t sell this house. If I go back to Romania I would have to be alone too, because it is not okay to go live with my children. Nowadays it is different, people don’t like intruders, so let them live their way.
Q: When you came here, how did your children react?
A: They weren’t angry, they thought it was just a change. They knew it was a good change.
Q: When you came here did you have a plan?
A: Nothing, it was an adventure. We came 16 in a van, it was not very legal. Once we had to cross the border walking, I don’t know how. He couldn’t go through the controls so we went through the Pyrenees, if I had to do it now I wouldn’t. It was such a risk. Some of the people in the van were meeting someone, but I said “you can leave me wherever you want because no one is expecting me”. I came thinking that I was going to pick grapes, the season was starting, and as I didn’t know the language it was possible because you don’t need to speak on the field. But I didn’t know the map of Spain and in Murcia there is no grape picking. The ones who came here to do that had to go to Madrid and Toledo to pick grapes. And I stayed in Murcia, I didn’t even know how to pick a train. So I met this man that lived by himself, he was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Civil Guard of Valladolid. He bought me a dictionary and that is how we communicated. He told me to go to Valladolid with him, he would make me a contract, and then I would have to go to the Spanish embassy in Romania so they gave me a visa and I would be able to find a job legally. This was glory to me. We were living 10 people in one apartment, I helped them pay rent, but I had no more money because I had no job.
Q: Did something bad ever happen to you that you didn’t expect?
A: Thank God nothing bad happened to me. Things always got better. It depends on who you get together with.
Q: Where do you spend the holidays?
A: I spent many Christmases on my own, here. It is very cold in Romania, so I preferred to go in the summer or to save it for when there was an event like a wedding so as to see the whole family.
Q: What do you like best here?
A: I like everything. I got used to the food, I started eating with olive oil and I love it, I take care of myself with the food.
Q: And something you don’t like?
A: There is nothing I don’t like. I celebrate the festivities here, Holy Week, it’s as if I were Spanish. Everyone here spoils me and say that they love me more than in my hometown. They all behave very nicely with me. I also try to respect everyone and be sociable. I always go to the activities in my town.
Q: When you came here, were your kids still living together?
A: No, the eldest daughter was married, and the youngest one too. I still have a son who is single, he doesn’t want to get married yet. They all have their home.
Q: Do you still send money?
A: Yes. My parents still live there and I want to help them. Last year I went to two weddings and stayed for two months there. I had to help my youngest son buy and fix things fo his home. Mostly I send money for my kids, and some for my parents too. They are alone and it is very cold. I have a brother in Almeria that wants to go live with them to take care of them, he has a house next to theirs. I think sending packages is not worth it, some people still do it, but sending something is more expensive than the package itself. I didn’t want my kids to send anything. I prefer to send money.
Q: How do you communicate with your family?
A: Now things are so advanced, we make video calls and sometimes I even have dinner with my daughter this way. It is entertaining. They know I am on my own. I have internet here. We call each other, maybe I call them more because I have more time, but they call me too. I had Orange before on my mobile phone but it was very expensive, now I have DigiMovil of Movistar and it is cheaper because it has a plan with free minutes of phone calls. I also have a computer and recently I bought this music thing, to entertain myself. We have always been in touch with my family. Before I had a cellphone I went to the public phone, but then I bought one and it was easier.
Q: What would have happened if you didn’t have internet access or a phone?
A: It would be harder because you don’t see the other’s face, I would have worried and wondered more how they are. As you can see each other’s faces it seems that you can see them grow. It is not like before.
Q: Do you need anything else to communicate?
A: No, maybe I need some company. But they don’t feel that because they are together, they have their families. I am a bit lonely, ups and down. But we talk every day, how much depends on the time we have. We talk a lot, I don’t need more.
Q: What did you talk about the last time you spoke?
A: I talked with my single son. I asked if there was slaughter, because there still are there. He told me it had rained, it was cold, there was still no slaughter…
Q: When you talk to your daughter are you grandsons present?
A: Yes, I see them and we talk, they make me drawings. They are 16 and 11 years old.
Q: Do you think they have a better life than before you left?
A: I think they have a normal life. My parent say they don’t lack anything, that they have plenty of things. Before they were younger and lacked more things, but not now. I have a sister in omania that is better than I am, she has 16 workers, a shop and a restaurant. She always makes sure that my parents don’t lack anything.
Q: In Romania does you family live apart from each other?
A: Yes, they are scattered in many places.
Q: How long did you stay in Romania the last time you went?
A: Almost two months. I went because two of my nephews got married.
Q: Did anyone have health problems when you were here?
A: Yes, one of my sister, she suffered a lot and I always helped her. I went to visit her some time before she died, so as to say goodbye. She wanted so much to live, and we helped as much as we could, payed for whatever was necessary, but there was nothing to be done. She had liver cancer, and with so much chemo her veins were destroyed. She wanted to live so much and fought for it. She was very pretty and a good person. I had a picture of her here in my house, but I hid it because sometimes it made me really sad. My mother in law had hypertension, she was not that old.
Q: Did the relationship with your children change since you came?
A: It is the same, they have always been the same. They told me if they needed anything, they tell me things…
Q: Did your daughter in Paris have to leave looking for a better life?
A: My daughter left for a job, she wanted a better life. My grandchildren are studying in French, they barely speak Romanian. As they are in school, they know more French than Romanian, both their parents work. My other two sons are in Romania. Both have been working in Spain for 6 years, but they went back because they didn’t adapt. They worked as truck drivers in Barcelona and other places, and I think that they deceived them because they were young and they didn’t pay them, something like that happened. They found it hard to adapt. My daughter is fine in Paris. As her kids are studying there they won’t be going back to Romania soon. I am almost there, wanting to go back in some time. My brothers and parents are expecting me, they want me to go back.
Q: How did you start learning Spanish?
A: When I came here I knew nothing, not ever how to say “water”. Here I learned it fast, the man of Valladolid bought me a dictionary so that I learned. It was easy for me because I knew how to read and write, I learned fast. I started learning words with the dictionary and soon I could communicate. So here I always speak in Spanish, but with my kids I speak in Romanian. With my Romanian friends here sometimes we speak in Spanish and when we realize it we laugh. Or sometimes we speak mixing both languages, but we understand each other. I think I dream more in Spanish.
Q: Did you make friends soon?
A: Yes. Most of them are Spanish. We go out a lot. I don’t have much contact with Romanians here, we are not that much as in other places, like Almeria.
Q: What did you expect here before you came?
A: I thought that not everything you hear is as good, so I expected the worst. But it was the other way around, all better, all positive.
Q: If you could go back in time, would you do the same?
A: Yes, I would have come here. I think the same of my siblings, they are all so good, workers, like gold. Some left Romania for some time but most of them are in Romania. They went back because things are better there, they earn almost the same, they want to be close to their families.
Q: Would you go to another country rather than Romania?
A: No. My daughter says to me that if I don’t want to be on my own I could go to Paris. I have another friend in Arizona that says I can go there to work, he has been calling me for 4 years saying you earn a lot of money there, I am thankful to him but I don’t care that much for the money.
Q: What are the main differences between Romania and Spain?
A: There are many differences. Customs, traditions and things like that. The parties are the same, you eat, drink and sing. You have a good time wherever you are if you are surrounded with good people.