1. Respondent ID
I: Age: 45
I: Sex: M
I: Country of residence: Romania
I: Respondent left the country: 17 years ago
I: Number of children: 2
I: Age of younger child: 6
I: Age of elder child: 12.

Respondent’s life in Romania and the reason of his departure
I: How was your life in Romania before you left away?
*Did you have a job? How was it?
* R: My first job was at “TRANSBUS”. I worked as a mechanic. I also worked in the army for two years.
* How did you manage with money?
* R: I had a very poor salary. The working conditions were very hard. It was hard to work outdoors – too cold in winter, too hot in summer.
* How was the atmosphere at home?
* R: Fortunately, we lived together with my parents-in-law. They helped me with money, now and then. We lived in a house in Buzău.
I: Where do your children live now and with whom?
R: We live in the same house. My parents-in-law have passed away, left the house to me and with the money we saved we have built another house. We live together: me, my wife and our children.
I: How did you get along with your neighbors in Romania and with the local authorities (mayor, policeman)?
R: Our neighbors were and are ok. We watch… those who leave on holiday tell the others, maybe leave them the keys of the house… If one has some work to do we help each other with tools, work, advice, car, anything. The policemen… you don’t know which is yours or which neighborhood they work for, you can see the priest more often. As for the mayor – we only see him on TV.
I: How did you decide to leave Romania? Had you worked abroad before?
R: Well… there were rumors… from a friend or another, you could learn how things were going in other countries, how much you could earn… we were less concerned about working conditions or food or clothes, but only about how much you could get and save. It’s an adventure when you leave first. After so many years there are still things I haven’t told about. I remember them when something happens or I see some pictures.
I also tried to work in Germany, but I didn’t succeed because of the people’s mentality. The Germans are cold when it comes to foreigners. In Spain they help you, they a bit different, gentler, they are more Latin, more hot-blooded. I don’t say it’s easy, because you don’t get to a Spanish immediately, it’s the Romanians that make your life hard. I hoped I would get some help from the Romanian to whom I had gone. He knew I would come, he was waiting for me. The Spanish were fair. They paid you exactly for how much you worked.
I: Further questions: Did you have moments when you were sorry you had left Romania?
R: A million times. It was hard… very hard and many couldn’t resiste any more. They came back home.
I: When you decided to go, did you establish a certain period after which you would return? Did you plan to achieve a certain thing?
R: No (not for a certain period – m.n.). I planned to achieve something in life, plant a tree, build a house, as we the Romanians say. I did plant the tree. I’ve got a small orchard in the country. I’ve built the house and I’ve started my own little business, in addition to the job I have. I get one or two more salaries from that. I buy cars in Germany and sell them in Romania.
I: Did you leave alone or with some relatives or acquaintances?
R: I left with two friends and went to our common friend who was waiting for us. We had talked with him while we were home. Of course, nothing was true, except his waiting at the airport and driving to the park near the block he lived in. He left us there. I lived in a park with them for one month and they couldn’t resist any more, they received money from home and returned to Romania. I lived in a second park for one more month. One of my friends came back after a while, but for the other one – I haven’t heard from him.
I: When you left away what did you expect?
R: Basically, I knew the streets weren’t paved with gold for me. We are usually hospitable. We offer a cup of coffee and some jelly… When I left Romania I was told I would work there. When I arrived it was about something else entirely and I didn’t accept that. I was supposed to go stealing. They were teaching me what I had to do and steal. Neither did my friends agree.
I: What do you remember about your first day after you arrived in the host country?
R: At that time there were just one-month visas. My air ticket was to Paris. It was beautiful. In Paris, from Charles de Gaulle airport, they picked us up in their bus whose cost I had to pay. It wasn’t free of charge. I paid one thousand Deutsche marks. They took us to a four-star hotel. It was nice. You had to use a card to go in. I didn’t know what to do with it at the door. The cleaning lady came and showed me how to go in. You also turned on the air conditioning and the television with the card… The bar was full of appetizers. It was different in 2000, when I left. Here we consumed what we had paid for. The second night we took a taxi to the railway station. We took a train – a high-speed train – to Madrid. We spent all the money we still had in our pockets for the train ticket. We arrived at the main station, but we didn’t have the money to get to the other station where the respective person was waiting for us. We didn’t have any phone number, but only a note which wrote the name of the station. We asked somebody on the platform and I think a second person accompanied us and told us where to get off. The Spanish guy had left his business and I still thank him and he told us to get off in the right station. The person was waiting for us, we met. There followed two wonderful days. My friend picked us up, took us to his place, we had a shower and ate something. He lived with his wife and two daughters in an apartment with three rooms. There was one more man and his wife and another young couple in the house. It was quite crowded… a whole team. It was in the afternoon. After the shower he told us what they were dealing with. They went through shops carrying bags with internal aluminum coating and stole cameras, laptops, clothes, marketable products. The girl was carrying the bag and the boy stole things and put them into it. The aluminum coating was anti alarm. He showed and explained to us, but we said no and good bye. We went out to the park – it was a big enough one – near a supermercado. We went to the park, found a bench and wondered what we should do. “Let’s resist”. I asked what the Spanish word was for work. It is trabaho. And we started asking here and there. Of course, we didn’t find anything. (He laughs.) We begged for food and we also got some from that supermercado. The women employees and the guardian of the supermarket noticed us and they gave us the foods that expired and should have been thrown away. They gave us bags of food. In principle, we had no problem with our food. (He laughs.) How did we manage with our sleeping? As it is in all civilized countries, the garbage was selected. The human waste… everything was ok. We found a mattress, it was a double one. It was towards the autumn, in August or September. We covered ourselves with a piece of bubble wrap. I remember it was from a fridge. The police came up, either they had been informed or a dog had indicated our track… They told us “look, it’s not ok for you to live here; we won’t hurt you; you have a visa”. We didn’t understand very well. We just read their gestures or… Later on they came and asked us “are you ok?”. They sometimes brought us sandwiches. It wasn’t easy. Maybe it seems it was easy judging the way I talk about all these. But it was hard, first of all because we didn’t know the language. If we had spoken English or Spanish… it would have been different. Meanwhile we learned, but not the literary language.

Adaptation in the host country
I: After you arrived where did you live during the first days?
R: We lived in a park for two months.
I: How difficult was it to find a job?
R: We started going around Madrid, up and down, without paying the subway. We practically jumped over those barriers. We heard Romanian around. By word of mouth, people from Buzău took me to other people from Buzău and found me a job somewhere in the country, at a pig and bull farm. They reared bulls for meat, not for bullfighting. I went to the respective village. There were two or three people from Buzău. I went to the farmer, he told me what I had to do and he hired me. He paid me eight hundred Deutsche marks plus housing. I only spent on food, but from time to time he let us sacrifice a smaller pig without deducting it from our salary. He was a fair boss. The job at that farm wasn’t easy. I worked there for three months. He sold it and the new farmer didn’t want to keep any Romanian worker. He didn’t say why. He just didn’t want to. I found a job in the nearby village. It was summer and they had to collect the straw. A truck was going ahead and we just threw the straw in. One man threw them, another one arranged them… It wasn’t easy there, either. From the straw I passed to another job in construction business, another one in the kitchen work. Then I worked as a guardian… I never did my job as a mechanic. I was a forklift driver, a car driver…
I: Were there any situations when some things went worse than you had expected? What exactly?
R: First of all, it was the fact that my friend didn’t offer me a job, he asked me to steal. The, the fact that I lived in a park… When I remained alone some guys came to me one night and beat me. They were Moroccans. They took me all I had.
I: What did you best like in Spain?
R: The mentality. The positive thinking. The hello you get from every unknown person. You enter a store, they say hello to you. They continue saying hello until you answer “hello”. I first asked “do you know me? ” “I don’t know you “, but “that’s sort of how we work”.
I: What didn’t you like there?
R: Everything is set, it’s ok. Maybe their calmness, they never hurry. I saw a bus queue. “What are you doing?” “We are standing in line”. The bus waited for as long as needed for everybody to get on. Everybody would get on through one door and get off through the other door. Everybody would stand in line. I hardly believed that.
I: Further question: Wouldn’t you like to see the same in Romania?
R: Oh, yes, I’m dreaming of that.
Relationship with family (mainly with the child) and role in the family before leaving abroad
I: Who took care of your children? Are you satisfied with the way they are looked after?
R: My wife, her mother and my mother. There were three caretakers. Everything was ok. I never worried about that.
I: How was your child while you were away?
R: She was ok, at least physically, but mentally I guess she wasn’t ok. There were telephones at a sort of a post office where it was cheaper. But we wrote each other, sent photos, season greeting cards… I felt it wasn’t ok. I still do. And she… was happy for the presents, for what she received. But… “Daddy, I miss you ” or something like that…
I: Did you send money home? How often? Who administered the money? Were you satisfied with the way the money sent by you was used?
R: When I got the salary, twice a month. After I… after two or three years I settled myself. Approximately after each salary I got I used to send money home. I also had enough expenses there and not small. The rent cannot be compared with the rent in Romania. The food was the same as it was here, even cheaper.
I: Did you use to send parcels/presents home? How often and for whom (only for your children or for your relatives, too)? What did you put in the parcels?
R: I did when I afforded. They were for Maria, for my wife, for my mother, father, parents-in-law. There were so great promotions! Twice a year there are great discounts in Spain, eighty percent discounts for every item. You afforded to buy almost everything twice a year. Eighty percent from one hundred means twenty.
I: Did you receive parcels from Romania? How often? What was in?
R: No. Those parks made me eat anything, anytime and anyhow, sleep anywhere. Sleeping is important. It doesn’t matter where you sleep. And I also learned to start from zero anytime. No matter how old I am. My wife still asks me how I can sleep anyway. I sleep on a chair, in the car or on the sidewalk if I get sleepy.

Internet-based communications.
* Technical
I: How do you prefer to communicate with your family: visually (through video conference), in writing or through audio calls (phone calls or online applications)?
R: There was a private post office, as each neighborhood had its own. We heard each other over the phone.
I: Did you have access to internet in the host country? Where?
R: No.
I: Did you usually call or your family called you?
R: I had no phone in the house I lived in.
I: Were the phone conversations enough for you?
R: If you want to get something, you must also give something.
I: Today, if needed, what applications would you use?
R: WhatsApp.
I: Were there any situations where you would have liked to contact your family, but you couldn’t?
R: Fortunately there weren’t. There weren’t any problems. A cold or a one-night hospitalization of the child… my wife being a nurse… But we were young.
* Content.
I: How often did you talk? How long?
R: Quite often. Every two or three days… we talked often enough.
I: Did you talk regularly or only on certain special occasions – anniversaries etc. – or whenever you had some news to communicate urgently?
R: Often.
I: Would you have liked to talk more often?
R: When I missed them I called and talked to them.
I: What did you mainly talk about with your family? For instance, what did you last talk about?
R: About what I had done, what they had done, things that wouldn’t separate us or make the gap larger. About what I had bought, what food I had cooked… just to keep our relationship warm and close. Many people who left abroad to work have separated or divorced, quite many.

Relationship with family after departure (important stages/significant moments):

I: Was your family doing better than before your departure?
R: I felt that they were doing better.
I: How often did you use to come home?
R: About once a year. In the last two years my wife came to me on holidays and I didn’t come home. She enjoyed it a lot.
Relationship with the host country environment
I: Did you eventually get used to Spain?
R: Yes, in about two years…
I: Had you known the Spanish language before leaving for Spain? How easy ca you manage now?
R: I hadn’t. Now I can understand, I can speak, but not the literary language.
I: Did you make any friends? Are they Romanians or locals?
R: Yes, I did. Romanians. It turned out that way, that was the straw or I preferred that. Most of them brought their families with them. All of them have cars, houses, they made a good living. That’s all. There was a single one who succeeded in making it better.
I: Let’s imagine we are in 1999. Would you leave again?
R: Yes.
I: Why? Can you tell me why?
R: For that mentality. I still tell my wife that, whenever she wants us to leave, I will agree. I would move for good. I wouldn’t start from zero again, with just a small bag.
Plans
I: What plan would you leave with?
R: If I think thoroughly, very thoroughly, my plan wouldn’t be to make a good living, but to achieve something.
I: Would you like to go to another country?
R: No. My wife’s sister can arrange and call us to Canada. No. What for? My parents-in-law have passed away. My mother and father are still living. Spain is not so far, it’ four thousand kilometers away, it takes four hours by plane. I could take them with me. I know Spain. I know where to go and ask for help, after all.
I: Tell me something more, what you tell your friends…
R: Here’s one part: when I was alone in the second park I noticed there were some prostitutes around. I hadn’t known that. In Spain prostitution and drugs are not legal, but they are free. You are allowed to consume drugs, but not to sell. Spain is famous for the most numerous clubs. In the second park I found a few fridge boxes and I made up a shelter for myself. The girls gave me food and cigarettes just to let them into my shelter with their clients. They were protecting me and I was protecting them, as a man. They had no protection. There was no pimp. Man came, one more or less drunk, another …
I: Were there any season holidays you didn’t spend in Romania?
R: Yes, there were. We the Romanians who had become friends used to gather in one apartment, each of us bringing something to eat, some music and… that was the New Year’s Eve for us.