- Respondent ID
- 1. Age: 14
- 2. Sex: M.
- 3. Absent parent(s): Both
- 4. Country: Spain.
- 5. Did they go together or individually? They left together several years ago, when Respondent was very young. They come home once a year, on holidays.
- 6. Respondent lives with: grandparents and brother.
- Details of Respondent’s life before:
I: Let me see: you are fourteen. Your parents went abroad long ago, I suppose you don‘t remember when, as you were one or two years old…
R: Approximately.
I: Which of them do you keep in touch with more often?
R: With Mom. We talk over the phone almost every evening.
I: Why with your mother and not your father?
R: He is…at work, most often.
I: Who helps you, if needed, with your homework?
R: I do my homework alone. When I was in primary school grandma helped me sometimes.
R: Both your grandparents…
- Details of Respondent’s life after:
I: What does your mother work?
R: She is a housekeeper.
I: Why did your parents have to go abroad?
R: I don’t know.
I: Who is taking care of you?
R: My grandparents.
I: How do you get along with them?
R: Very well.
I: Are there any problems? Do they scold you if you don‘t go to bed on time or you turn the music too loud?
R: Rather because I don‘t wear my school uniform.
I: I didn‘t like to wear it, either.
R: Hm.
I: Do you have other relatives in the town?
R: My god-parents. They live in Buzău.
I: How do you get along with them?
R: We get along well. The same… They often visit us.
I: All these years, have you ever had any problems? Have you been put in hospital?
R: No, I haven’t.
I: Do your friends and colleagues also have parents who are out of the country?
R: I know a few colleagues from middle school, whose parents were abroad. I don‘t know about the family situation of my current colleagues.
I: When did you start high school?
R: On the seventeenth of September this year.
I: Let‘s speak about your colleagues from middle school. Did you feel closer to them, did you have more common subjects to discuss?
R: Not really. We talked like any other friends.
I: Do your current colleagues know your parents are abroad?
R: Yes.
I: Do you feel that they have a special attitude, they envy or pity you?
R: No.
I: Do you know what your mother worked here before he went away?
R: I don’t know.
I: Do you know what your father worked here before he went away?
R: He was a construction worker.
I: What does your mother work there?
R: She works as a housekeeper.
I: What about your father?
R: Still a construction worker.
I: Do they send you any presents?
R: yes, they do (He smiles)
I: Can you give an example?
R: Well, now… Last Christmas they sent me… (He laughs discreetly.) Santa brought me a tablet and a bag of sweets.
I: Do you like sweets?
R: Yes, I do. (He smiles)
I: Do they send any money, for you in particular?
R: Not to me in particular.
I: They send money to your grandparents and they administrate it.
R: Right.
I: Is there anything you want and hope to get with the money from your parents?
R: (He whispers) I don’t know if there‘s something.
I: A better phone, better clothes, a bicycle… if it is…
R: I‘ll get these on merit, if I get them.
- Internet-based communication
* Technical.
I: Do you have internet at home?
R: I do.
I: Through a tablet?
R: Through phone and computer, but my computer has broken down.
I: When did it break?
R: A few months ago.
I: Why don‘t you have it repaired?
R: …
I: Who pays the subscription?
R: The internet subscription? Grandma pays it.
I: How long have you got the internet?
R: I‘ve got it since I was six, when I also got my first computer.
I: Was it bought on a special occasion, for your birthday or for Christmas, or it was just bought?
R: Just bought as a present.
I: Have you ever written letters by hand?
R: No, I haven’t, except to Santa Claus when I was younger.
I: Did you post the letter, did you give it to your grandmother, did you leave it on…
R: I left it on the hall table. (He smiles… actually he makes a puff, some special exhale…)
I: Do you use internet programs to communicate with your friends and colleagues?
R: Sure, I use Facebook, Messenger…
I: Then you have a Facebook account. Do your parents have one?
R: Yes, they do.
I: Both of them?
R: Yes, even Grandma has one.
I: Therefore, you communicate through Facebook, don‘t you?
R: Yes.
I: With your parents you communicate through phone, PC…
R: Through phone.
I: What application do you use?
R: Messenger.
I: Is it you that calls or they call you?
R: Sometimes I call them, sometimes they call me…
I: Who calls more often?
R: Mom does.
I: How did you learn to use the internet?
R: I learned alone. Mom and Dad showed me how to use it and in years I myself have understood how to work with it.
I: What else can you do on the computer, apart from communicating with your friends and parents?
R: I play games.
I: Does the computer help you with your homework?
R: If I don’t know what to do, yes, it helps me.
I: Have there been any situations where you would have liked to talk to your mother but you couldn‘t?
R: Yes, there have been some.
I: Can you tell me about such a situation?
R: I‘m afraid I can‘t.
I: Do you exchange e-mails with your mother?
R: No.
*Content.
I: How often do you talk to your mother?
R: Almost every evening.
I: Do you remember your first video communication with your mother? When was that?
R: I don‘t remember.
I: Who is the one that usually calls?
R: Mom calls me usually.
I: Would you like to talk to her more often?
R: I would.
I: Why don‘t you talk more often?
R: Well… she is at work, she is out. She arrives home late in the evening.
I: What do you usually talk about?
R: About how it was at school, what I have done today…
I: When did you last talk?
R: Last night.
I: What exactly did you talk about?
R: About regular things. She actually scolded me because I hadn‘t put on my uniform. (We both laugh.)
I: (I point to the clothes he is wearing) Is this your uniform?
R: No! (We both laugh heartily)
I: Why don‘t you wear it?
R: It‘s awful. It‘s not really my thing.
I: In addition, it is a uniform, it standardizes you. (He laughs.) Does she ask you what you would like her to send or bring to you?
R: No, she doesn‘t.
I: Do you ever ask her for something…?
R: No, I don‘t.
I: When you talk to your mother or father, is there anyone else in the room or you always talk just the two of you?
R: Just the two of us.
I: If you are at home isn‘t your grandmother around or near you?
R: Oh, yes, that‘s right. We all talk.
I: Do you turn the speaker on and talk as if you were all together?
R: We talk in turns.
I: Are there any things which you feel you can only discuss with your mother?
R: No, there aren‘t. (he hesitates)
I: Are there any things which you feel you can only discuss face-to-face with your mother?
R: I don‘t think there are. (he hesitates)
I: Do you show your mother what you have done at school?
R: Yes, I send her pictures of my drawings.
I: Does she comment on them?
R: Yes, she does. She usually likes them.
I: Do you speak about them or she just likes them?
R: She just likes them. (Again he exhales as if he spared a smile.)
I: You say your mother scolds you now and then over the phone. Have there been any other reasons, except the uniform?
R: No,… not important ones.
I: Did your mother keep in touch with your teachers when you were in middle school?
R: She only talked to them when she came home, otherwise not.
- Relationship with absent parent(s) (important stages/significant moments):
I: How often does your mother come to Romania?
R: Once a year, in summer. She stays here for two or three weeks.
I: She last came in summer this year…
R: Right.
I: Do you remember what you did together?
R: We went to the seaside, to Costinești.
I: Did your father go with you?
R: Yes, he did.
I: You went to the seaside. What did you do next?
R: We stayed home, around…
I: Did you meet your other relatives?
R: Yes, they visited us and we also visited them.
I: Did you go out, just you and your mother?
R: Both in group and just the two of us…
I: Did you talk more in peace, late in the evening?
R: Until two o‘clock.
I: They didn‘t send you to bed, did they?
R: No, they didn‘t.
I: They enjoyed being with you. What did you talk about?
R: I don’t know… any longer… About anything a child can discuss with his parents.
I: What do you study?
R: Architecture.
I: Are they happy for you?
R: Sure.
I: Do they encourage you?
R: Yes, they do.
I: Do you talk about that?
R: When there‘s something to be said, after a test or something…
I: Have you ever been to them?
R: To Spain? No.
I: Do you know where they live?
R: I saw it on Google Street View.
I: Where exactly do they live?
R: They live somewhere near Madrid.
I: Can you describe the place?
R: It‘s a two-story house, not very large.
I: Do they live on the first or on the second floor?
R: Half on the first floor, half on the second floor.
I: Once again: what does your father work?
R: He is a construction worker.
I: What about your mother?
R: She is a housekeeper.
I: Do they tell you about their work?
R: No, they don‘t.
I: Do you know that from your grandparents?
R: Yes.
I: Would you like to go to Spain?
R: Yes, I would.
I: For good or just on holiday?
R: On holiday.
I: Why not for good?
R: Because Spanish is a difficult language and because… it‘s… different.
I: Have you ever been abroad?
R: No, I haven’t.
I: Did your parents leave for good? Are they going to return to Romania for good, not just on holidays?
R: They had intended to return to Romania before, but they went back to Spain. They earn more money there.
I: Is there any perspective of their return for good?
R: I don’t know.
I: Do you feel there are some advantages in having your parents abroad?
R: There are more disadvantages.
I: Which are those?
R: I don‘t have someone near me. Most often my grandparents are… they don‘t have that approach of younger people. They remained…
I: What about the advantages? Clothes, phone…
R: I would have got the clothes and the phone anyway.
I: More special toys?
R: …
I: All these thirteen years haven’t you felt any benefits?
R: I did. They are basically financial benefits.
I: You say your grandparents have a rather…
R: Old think.
I: Can you mention a difference between the way your parents think and the way your grandparents think?
R: My grandparents think that the uniform (he laughs) is like it was in their days: compulsory; unless you wore it you would bear the consequences; but it‘s not like that now. My parents have understood that.
I: How old are your grandparents?
R: Grandpa is in his sixties. Granma is fifty-six.
I: What about your parents?
R: I don’t know exactly. They are both in their forties.
I: Thank you!