Q: How old are you?
A: 46.
Q: How long have you been in Spain?
A: Well, M. was born here, so 17 years, almost 18.
Q: Do you have kids?
A: Yes, two, M. is 17 and Natania is 18. Natania with an “n”, not Natalia, she gets really angry when they call her Natalia.
Q: How was your life before you came to Spain?
A: Well, we got married in 1998, and my husband and I moved to a new city, we bought an apartment. But with our jobs we couldn’t afford paying for the expenses. Either we payed them and we did not eat, or we ate and did not pay. It was like that. And then I got pregnant so we decided to do something about it, we had to look for a solution for our family. Natania was born in Romania in 1999. When you have a child and see how many things you need to buy and money is not enough, you get desperate. And you listen to other people that leave and say they have a good job and live fine, and so I thought “then I can do that, I’m young and I will do it”. My husband said to me “I’ll go first to see how it’s like and then you come with the child”, so he came first in 1999.
Q: How long was he on his own here?
A: From October to March, 2000. It wasn’t long, because he said to me “if you don’t come I go back. It is not like everyone says it is. There are jobs but you don’t earn that much. We need to be together. I can’t keep on by myself”. I was also pregnant with M.. So I came here with an eleven-month-old baby and eight months pregnant almost.
Q: And were you afraid of coming here?
A: No, I wasn’t scared, because I thought “we have to get out of this situation we are in”. Everything seemed better that what we were going through in Romania. Although we had our apartment, our home, we couldn’t live every day that way. So I told him I wouldn’t go without Natania. We had to pay for a visa, so he sent money to pay for it, and that is how we both came. By bus, from Romania. It is three days travelling. The bus stops every three or four hours, but it is very hard, because the baby cried a lot and was very tired. But I was very excited about coming and starting something new and better for them.
Q: So the excitement was bigger that the feeling of leaving things behind…
A: Yes, I wasn’t thinking about that at the moment. If I had thought about it, maybe I wouldn’t have done it, I wouldn’t do it now.
Q: How was the coexistence in Romania with the community?
A: It was very good. We had just moved in and people were nice and friendly. We liked having friends, talking and helping each other. Also, I had many thing in my home that I left to them because I couldn’t bring them here, so I gave it out to our neighbours.
Q: Why did you choose Spain? Did you plan to stay for a while or go back?
A: We came here to stay some time and go back. And we chose Spain because it was the only country that received immigrants back then, in 2000. That is the reason why we chose it. We didn’t even how to speak Spanish. With time, we had many debts because the visa I had to pay was very expensive, and as my husband had no papers he worked very little, so we run short of money. So we decided to stay here to pay all of that and then to make money to go back. But we couldn’t. With two kids you can’t save enough money to decide and go back. When they started studying here and making friends, we decided to stay, so that they could have a good future.
Q: When you came to Spain, did you come directly to Murcia?
A: No, to Guadalajara. We stayed there very little time, two or three months. Because M. was born in May, and in June we came here to Murcia, because my brother was here and there were jobs for my husband, so we all came here.
Q: Did you brother come before your husband?
A: Yes, first my brother and then my husband.
Q: And what did he tell you?
A: Well, that there are jobs, but that people don’t always tell the whole truth. He said that there are jobs, so that my parents wouldn’t worry or suffer, but everyone goes through a different path. The jobs available in agriculture were in the countryside and it was tough and they payed very little.
Q: At first, did both of you work or did you stay at home?
A: I had to work too because my husband had no papers so he worked only on the afternoons. I had to look for a job during the mornings, while he stayed with the kids, and when I came back he went to work. We managed as we could. Little by little we got through.
Q: Did you find many difficulties here?
A: It was very hard because there were many people looking for a job, and Latin americans had the priority because they knew the language. I went to Caritas for help, but no one hired me because I did not know how to speak spanish. I was very disappointed. My husband had a job so I insisted that he asked for a job for me. And that is how we made it. Because you need people to know how you are. Us, Romanians, have a bad reputation, that’s the way it is, we had to fight it. There weren’t that many jobs, there were some but as we had no papers we couldn’t work, they wouldn’t hire you. I used to announce myself on the papers, saying that I am Romanian, and they called me to work in bars, but I didn’t want that because I thought it was not for me, not my place.
Q: Did you go through bad experiences that were worse than you imagined?
A: Yes, because I thought people wouldn’t deceive you, that what they say is the truth. Many things happened to us because we trusted people that tricked us, that took advantage because they saw we knew no Spanish.
Q: Was it hard to get the permits?
A: No, because I needed a job offer and with it you can get the residence. For one or two years. Then Romania entered to the European Community so there was no problem. But that wasn’t until 2007.
Q: Did you get help from associations or something of the kind?
A: The truth is that no one helped you. If you told someone your problems, they would tell you to go to Caritas or other places. I told people “I am looking for a job”, and they would answer “well, put announcements on the paper”. People in the church and everywhere. So no one helped, if we wanted something we would have to do it on our own. I went with my kids everywhere, people recognized me because I was always with them. My mom couldn’t come here to help me, my husband worked all day long, so I was all day with them. I took them to school, went to work, then picked them up from school, we went to the park, we did the homework, everything. I didn’t expect help from anyone, I think people were tired of immigrants. At that time there were many of them that came asking for help.
Q: Did you tell your kids about your situation?
A: No, we didn’t tell them anything. Even at the times we had no money or no job, they didn’t find out. We didn’t want them to suffer. We did not bring them here for them to suffer too. They didn’t realize, they were in their own planet. Some times I felt pity because they would go to a classmate’s home and their grandmother or uncle were there, but we didn’t have that at our home. We went through it all.
Q: And when they grew up did you talk about it?
A: Yes, once we went on a trip to Romania we told them why we had come to Spain and everything. They saw how things are like there, and they understood the situation. They know it now.
Q: Do you think the situation in Romania is similar to the one when you decided to come here?
A: It is more or less the same. People that have a job in a factory, like us, don’t earn much, not enough to live well and have a good life. I think the situation is the same. We don’t know if we did it right, but at that time we couldn’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, we decided to leave, even though we didn’t know what to expect here. But when we got here we both fought to get through it.
Q: Did you think it through before you came or was it spontaneous?
A: We thought it a lot, we spoke with my family and with his. One of his sisters also came here but went back to Romania because she has five kids and she left them there and couldn’t live without them.
Q: What did you like most when you got here?
A: What we like most is the sea, when we can we go there to the beach. Also the weather and the situation we are living. We are not stressed, we don’t have a lot of money but we can live okay every day. It is important. What we don’t like is the situation now, that people are tired of foreigners. Even though you know some people for many years, they still have prejudices, they don’t talk about the same thing to you than they do to others. But it doesn’t affect me anymore, worse things could happen.
Q: Who did you leave in Romania?
A: My parents, my brothers, all my family, I’m by myself. Friends too, coworkers, people from my childhood, everyone.
Q: And how do you communicate with them?
A: We used to talk more at first. Even though it is easier now, we used to write letters and call each other and talk. But every time the situation gets cooler, more distant. Nowadays I only talk to my family. My parents and brothers, my husband’s family. Now I talk with my mother almost every day, with my brothers I speak two or three times a week, and through WhatsApp.
Q: Did you ever have to send money?
A: No, not to them, they are fine and have their pay.
Q: How did you life here evolve?
A: I think the most important aspect is familiar. What I love most is my family, my kids, my husband, that we are fine. I think we are much better now. Before we used to live in one bedroom, the four of us. And now we own an apartment, we are on our own, we are a bit better. And that is important. That they have the illusion of achieving what they want, that my husband is okay and happy, and I am okay too.
Q: Are you conscious of the situation in Romania?
A: Yes, there has always been problem there. After the revolution, there has always been problems in the government and in everything. I am not surprised of what goes on there.
Q: Do you inform yourself?
A: I read a bit about it on the papers online. But not even when I lived there I was interested in politics.
Q: What do you think will be the social evolution there?
A: I don’t think it will go well. Even if a good president is elected, it is limited by the government, so he can’t do anything. And communism is still present in many people’s heads. People haven’t changed yet. Many people have left, to Europe and the United States. Young people always leave and get good jobs, everyone leaves because of the political situation in Romania.
Q: How is your social life here?
A: It is a mixture. Some of our friends are Spanish, but also foreigners, many Ukrainians and Romanians too. We met some in church, others have worked with my husband. We went to each other’s houses, we see them once in a while, we talk. There are less Romanians. Only a woman lives here, the others live farther away and are busy, they have jobs, so it is not the same relationship.
Q: You came here knowing no Spanish? How did it evolve?
A: We knew nothing. I learned with my kids when they did their homework, also by watching the television, things like that. When I had to go to the doctor I used the dictionary and wrote a list of words so to communicate. It was hard, it took me two or three years until I started speaking more. It is not very difficult, many words are similar to Romanian, so that way it is easier to understand. I understood it more than I spoke it. So when I went somewhere with my husband I would listen what they said, translate it to him, and he would speak, because he is not shy, I feel more embarrassed.
Q: To conclude, what are the main differences between both places?
A: The set of mind that Spanish people have is different to Romania. How they live life, they like more living and enjoying. Maybe they leave work and forget about it and enjoy life. Also the tranquility there is here. You have a job, things more or less solved. When you go to an office people treat you differently, they are more polite and educate. It is harsher in Romania. The differences are noticeable. Also in Romania there are good things, people invite you to their homes, they are very hospitable.
Q: If you saw a play about migration in Romania, what story would you expect?
A: I don’t know. About a desperate family that doesn’t see another solution than leaving and building a life someplace else. They have to at least try another country, if it doesn’t work they can go back. When you are young you have to do that. Some older people leave too, like 50-year-olds, they leave because their children live in another place. In the end, we want to go back, we are always thinking about it. We go back because it is our country. When you go there you feel like you are tied to it, I don’t know, something happens, even though things are the way they are.