But I didn’t know the map of Spain and in Murcia there is no grape picking. I came thinking that I was going to pick grapes, the season was starting, and as I didn’t know the language it was possible because you don’t need to speak on the field. Some of the people in the van were meeting someone, but I said “you can leave me wherever you want because no one is expecting me”. He couldn’t go through the controls so we went through the Pyrenees, if I had to do it now I wouldn’t. Once we had to cross the border walking, I don’t know how. We came 16 in a van, it was not very legal. Q: When you came here did you have a plan?Ī: Nothing, it was an adventure. Q: When you came here, how did your children react?Ī: They weren’t angry, they thought it was just a change. Nowadays it is different, people don’t like intruders, so let them live their way. If I go back to Romania I would have to be alone too, because it is not okay to go live with my children. I am planning to buy an apartment in Romania and go for 2-3 months to see if I can accommodate my life there, and if I can’t I come back here because I won’t sell this house. Loneliness is harder every time, I always think of going back. When I came here I already had grandsons.Ī: I felt weird but I do even now. When I came they stayed all together with my husband and my mother in law, but my kids were older. Little by little they started coming, as they needed to earn more money. Then it was easier to find a job and all.Ī: No, they stayed in Romania. I went to Valladolid for two years, and there I learned everything. So then a man hired me, he was smart and I learned to speak with him. But if I went back I would have had to sell more things to pay for the trip. At first I couldn’t find a job, it was hard. I came in 2003, in 2004 I had a job offer to stay here, I started learning the language…Ī: Yes, I came by myself, because of the adventure. So I decided to come to Spain, earn money to finish the house and go back. One of my daughter was building her home, and started selling pieces of land to buy things, so that way I could not work the land anymore. Then I started working on the land and money was just enough for food. Years after, when money had not the same value as before, he started paying what he owed. When communism fell I started working in a dairy, they almost didn’t pay me, it broke and the man couldn’t pay the people, he left to America, he was indebted. Q: Did you think of leaving to other countries, other than Spain?Ī: No, I came directly to Spain. Doctors, paperwork… it is almost an impossible task. With the authorities it is better here, if I need to do paperwork I am always welcomed here, but there you have to be almost in your knees to get your paperwork done or go far away. Q: How was your relationship with your neighbours?Ī: Fine, as everywhere there are some envious if you are doing better than them, the same that happens here. We lived with her because she was a widow, and she was lonely, so when we got married we went live with her. Then she became sick and I took care of her for 10 years, until she died. She let me go work in the city and she took care of the kids. She loved me so much, as her own daughter, she only had sons. They always supported me and helped me.Ī: I had a lot of help from my mother in law. As I left town when I got married, they spoiled me more so that I didn’t feel lonely. We are 10 siblings, they are all so good. I am the eldest of the siblings, I lost my sister some time ago and it was very hard. Whenever we were celebrating something they sent clothes, even today. Q: How was your relationship with your family?Ī: We were very united, my mother came regularly to visit me because I lived in another town. We had onions, potatoes, and what we needed from our land. I lived with my mother in law and she took care of them. In our house we had a chicken, eggs, pork, cows, and that helped a lot. I lived through that, when you got 1 litre of oil and 1 kilo of flour. If you needed something very much you payed for it more expensive at restaurants, if there was money.Ī: Sometimes we had plenty, there were no more things to buy, a little time before communism was over. Sometimes it happened that in the shops you did a big line and when you got there it was over, finished, there was no more. There were people that were having a bad time, but we weren’t that bad. Q: How was your life like in Romania before you came?Ī: I had a job, I was working in a factory with my husband, we both earned fine.
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