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Macaulay Honors College
at Baruch, Spring 2011Professor Els de Graauw
ITF Emily Sherwood -
Authors
▪ Alyssa Alicino
▪ Brandon Baksh
▪ Ru Xiao Chen
▪ Belinda Chiu
▪ Els de Graauw
▪ Becca Glickman
▪ Elisabeth Greenberg
▪ Doris Hu
▪ Peky Huang
▪ Toby Joseph
▪ Haesol Jun
▪ Nika Kartvelishvili
▪ Farrukh Khan
▪ Holly Kiang
▪ Julian Kipnis
▪ Kar Yi Lim
▪ Yang Lin
▪ Cait McCarthy
▪ Sofya Moshkovich
▪ Mariya Tuchinskaya
▪ Ying Zhang Login
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No Union
Carolina is a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania. At her workplace, the formation of an union is discreetly prohibited. Below she speaks about what happened when workers attempted to form of a union:
Seven years ago, there was a paper and they told us how many things the owner is doing for us and blah blah blah, and some organization came around the building and tried to spread some flyers of how important it is to be in union and blah blah blah. They didn’t let us to get in touch with those people. The management found out and they said oops, that’s it.”
I Took Second Grade with My Son
Carolina, a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania, relates one instance where her lack of English language skills was frustrating for both her and her son:
[There was one bad experience], in the first year when my son takes the 2nd grade, but he was supposed to be in the 3rd grade, and he had the teachers. And I went in the afternoon to pick him up and she try to explain me about my son work, and I said yes, yes, yes, and I don’t know if I understand like ten words of whatever she told me. And I come home and my son started crying because he didn’t understand whatever she asked him to do on his homework, and we took the dictionary and we were looking for each word what it is meaning. And it was really hard, because he didn’t know any English and the teacher put him in the line with the other kids that were in the class. It was hard. I took I think the second grade with my son at the same time, learning words in English [laughing]. […] I think that one I suffered a little bit, but I forget already and now you reminding me.”
Sense of Community, or Lack thereof
Carolina,a 48-year old immigrant from Romania who has resided in the United States for over 13 years, relates the difference in sense of community between her hometown Onesti and her current residence in Maspeth, Queens:
You know, in Romania, in that block we live in Romania in a city, in an apartment… in a block… how you call… in a block, no? And each family in each door know the other family. We are like a big family, you know. So if you meet one on the stairs you talk and talk and talk and someone else passes says, “hi, how are you? How is life? How are the kids?” So now it is a big, big difference. […] Here, I barely know the name of the lady next to me up and the house next to me down… since you say only “Hi” and “Bye” once in a while.”
I Forced Myself to Learn English
Carolina, a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania who has been in the United States for 13 years, now completely understands English and speaks it well enough that others understand her as well. She explains why she found it necessary to learn English:
No, no. They didn’t force me, but I forced myself because I have to live here. And if I didn’t know how to speak and I didn’t understand the people around me, I was supposed to find a job. I was supposed to speak some words in English at least to tell my name, phone number, blah blah blah, the address. I did it for myself, no one helped me. I paid for three months [of] second language learning.”
Disappointing Experiences in the Land of Opportunity
Carolina, a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania, had a shocking awakening when she arrived to what she earlier in the interview had referred to as a “wonderland.” Here, she describes her first disappointing experiences in the United States:
And when [my husband] came here in May, I think and we came during the summer vacation, I think in July and he found the rent in the basement and I was so scared, because I never saw people live in the basement underground (laughing). […] I saw the lights just day and night, because they don’t have a window, just a small window and in the outside they have the backyard and uhm… garbage. It was put in front of the window and it was a rain in that summer, heavy rain, and all the garbage come outside and during the night all the cockroaches came and run on your bed, and I was so scared and now upset… and I told him if this is America that you’re dreaming, I take my kid and I go home. And in one week we left back for Romania and I left my husband here.”
100% Romanian
Carolina is a 48-year old immigrant from Romania. Despite the fact that she has resided in the United States for over thirteen years and has integrated here, she still identifies entirely with Romania:
100%, I am Romanian. I was over 35 years older [when I immigrated to the United States] and my roots are there you know. I don’t think I am sacrificing myself to be here. I integrated into this country. I know I have to do this, that I follow the rules and everything. But in my heart, I am over there; it’s like I belong there [rather] than here.”
The Conglomerate of Nations and Language Diversity in NYC
When asked why she decided to live in New York City, Carolina, a 48-year-old immigrant from Romania, replied the following:
We know that New York is like a conglomerate of nations. They speak all the languages, the accent doesn’t bother too much and we live here easier like this than in other parts of America. We are accepted as with our accent.”
American Wonderland
Carolina immigrated from Romania and has resided in the United States for over 13 years now. When questioned about the reasons for why she and her husband came to the United States, she responded:
Yeah, [my husband] won a lottery and he wants to see how it is in this country, because in the other part of olden Europe, America is considered like a land of wealth [draws out word]. The wishes you put in your mind, you know, it’s a wonderland. They call America a wonderland. […] Yeah, and they want to see if real life is like movies, like we saw on TV.”
