Q: Age?
A: 48 years old.
Q: How was your life like before you made the decision to leave your country?
A: At first I left my country by myself, in 1999, and left at home my wife and little daughter. My wife worked as a nurse and I worked as a mechanic in a factory. But after the communism in Romania the expenses were very high, everything changed. We had our apartment and we had to leave it because we couldn’t pay for the high expenses.
Q: Was it because salaries were low or expenses were high?
A: Both, because maintenance expenses of the house, the heat for the winter and the everyday food, they were all very expensive. Still nothing stabilized in the country. So that is why we decided to leave-
Q: Do you think the situation is the same now?
A: It is not like before, you can tell. When I left Romania it wasn’t even in the European Community, now many investors entered Romania, many things changed and it is noticeable. It was harsher before. Other countries couldn’t invest in Romania because it was not stable. During communism Romania had many big factories. I used to work in a factory with 3500 workers. But now that ended, it is different. It was a big, difficult change for us, because we were the generation that had to enter to this new life and we didn’t know how.
Q: Why couldn’t you?
A: There was no way to do it. Small businesses started to be bought by foreign investors, it was smaller and more productive, so many people lost their jobs. Before there were few investors, people couldn’t trust Romania because it was unstable.
Q: How did you make the decisión to leave?
A: Before that I used to leave Romania. I lived six months in Germany, then I had a work contract in Israel for a year. We thought that if we both worked we could pay for our home and the expenses, but it wasn’t like that. Everything was expensive, mostly food. For example, in Romania the price of gasoil is the same as here or even higher, and the ones who have higher salary there earn 500 euros, so it was harder. The banks were unstable. If they lent you 1000 euros, you had to give back 1800, 80% of interests. And the economy went down.
Q: What did you feel when you got here?
A: When I came here, it was a long trip. It took me 20 days to get here. Because to leave a country that used to belong to the communist block, even though we never belonged to Russia, I needed a visa. It cost a lot, I left Romania without a visa, illegally. So after 20 days in Europe I got to Spain. My brother in law worked in the greenhouses in San Javier. I was very excited to prosper, wanted to improve our way of life. But it was little by little. At first I started working picking broccoli, and they payed very little. I worked only in the mornings and earned 2500 pesetas back then, that it is like 15 euros. But I knew that little by little I would earn more and build a better life for my family and I. My dream is that my kids have a good life.
Q: Did you think you had a greater chance of developing better here?
A: I never dreamed of going to another country to become a businessman, I was satisfied with a salary and being able to live fine, working. That is it.
Q: How was your adaptation here?
A: It was hard at first because I didn’t understand. But I had my wish, I knew why I was here. I cared about the language, made an effort to learn it. I had like four months just to assimilate the words, I didn’t know what they meant, so I didn’t speak. And after gathering all those words I started speaking and trying. As it is a latin language it is similar to Romanian. No other language could be easier than spanish, although it cost me a little. My wife learned more than me, even though I got here first. She got here on November 12th. When my kids started learning the language I learned from them. What was harder was the summer heat, and it is worse now. Each year it is worse. It is different than in Romania. The heat here is more humid, I don’t know how to explain it. In Romania it is also very hot, but it does not bother me as much. Here you can’t sleep at night. We have a great time in winter, it’s the best part for us.
Q: What did you like best and worse from here?
A: I like many things. I am thinking about going back to Romania. The thing I will miss the most is the Mediterranean food, with a lot of seafood and fish, and the fruits and olives. The ham I like, but I don’t like that much meat.
Q: How did you leave in Romania?
A: It was hard leaving my family because we get along very well. Since I came here both my parents died. But now it is not like before. Practically I left everything and started here from scratch.
Q: How do you communicate with people in Romania?
A: Good, we talk on the phone, phone calls mostly. I have many minutes on my phone to call, it is cheap, so when I have time I call.
Q: Who do you talk to the most?
A: With my friends that work in Romania, with my nephew, family, and sometimes I call for birthdays. I’ll tell you something: if my wife asks me what I ate two days ago I don’t know, but I remembered a friend’s number to call him for his birthday and I remember what I did 20 years ago. When my mother died she had a percentage of Alzheimer, and she told us about things of when she was a child, like the price of things.
Q: How do you think your family evolve?
A: We had more opportunities here. It was easier here. Economically speaking, we had much more chances here than in Romania. I think that if you make an effort ad study and have a goal, you can do it. Here and in Romania too. But in Romania I didn’t have as much economical means so as to do it.
Q: How did you learn the language?
A: At work, just trying. I am ashamed to say that I had two work mates that I can’t understand a word they say, no one can. Even now. I have worked at the same company since I got here. They cut words, speak very fast, overlap words. I understand them most because I have worked with them for 18 years. People ask me what they say. I learned with the people. I was lucky to work with an Ecuadorian that spoke slower and I could understand him better. If I didn’t understand something I could ask him.
Q: How did you meet people?
A: The truth is that we don’t have that many groups of people we know. Coworkers, people my wife knows, the parents of my kids’ classmates… But we are not very integrated.
Q: What do you think is the difference between people here and in Romania?
A: Spanish people party more. They are the most festive thing. I was lucky to live in Belgium as well and in Germany. In Spain there are people in the streets at one in the morning. I don’t think it is bad, everyone is as they are, you have to respect each other.
Q: Do you think that is what surprises people the most?
A: Not me because I got used to it. But if a German comes here… Spanish people are louder, noisy. Once a painter friend told me that his boss took him to Luxembourg to paint an apartment, and he forgot something outside so he yelled from the balcony to his companion and everyone looked at him badly, he was used to shouting like that here. It is different.
Q: How often do you go to Romania?
A: We used to go to renew our passport, or to weddings of family members, but now we go every two years. We would like to go in summer, but it is more expensive, the plain would cost more than 1000 euros. Usually we go in low season, like May or October, because it is cheaper.
Q: What do you think a story about this would be like?
A: I don’t know. A nice story. Some people had a very bad time, but it was not our case. Some people leave and have a harsher time.
Q: To conclude, what are the biggest differences between both countries?
A: In Spain there is more civilization, it is different. You have to take into account that in Romania we have been enslaved for 45-50 years, and a country does not change so easily its mentality. In Spain it is better. There are good things in both countries. In Romania there is still too much to do to reach Spain’s level. Romania is not in Europe’s level. People need to change their way of thinking. Young people are growing up with the right mentality, they didn’t live during the bad times. We suffered, my parents and my family, you had to fight with yourself to have good thoughts. My grandfather had 50 hectares, communism took it all, even the animals. They were all enslaved by communism, and they grew up with a hate to communism. This hate does not go away easily. Now we are democrats. But it was also a disappointment because people thought that when communism ended we would be like the Austrians, but that didn’t happen. Trust was lost. There are many smart people in Romania, but when they see they have to fight the mentality of people, they leave.
Q: Do you inform about the situation in Romania?
A: I used to have a channel on the television, I paid for it, but the machine broke. I like to inform myself. And now you can tell that they chose a better path. Many thieves were imprisoned, and that changes things. And as Romania entered the European Community, now rulers can’t do whatever they like, they are controlled from the outside, and it is noticeable. The last time I went many roads were fixed and all, but there is still a lot to do. As a country, Romania is beautiful, very green, but a lot has been stolen. Once a wise man that lived in France and went back to Romania said: “Romania is so beautiful that they couldn’t destroy it all yet”. Much has been destroyed, stolen. Whoever has power does whatever they want, and the powerless have to hold on.
