The Interview

Below is the transcription of that interview that Ms. Levithan and Ms. Kirsch did for us. We looked at it this morning and now you should know what those ellipses and brackets are all about! You can now do what we did — listen to the interview and look at the transcript together.

Oral History Transcription
Edinger House
Fall 2007

Monica Edinger: Mr. San Juan, where did you come from and when?

Carlos San Juan: I’m from Mexico. I come from Mexico City and I came to this country nine years ago. So I came on October 2, 1998… The first time that I came to the States, I came when I was still in college. I came here to spend the summer in Texas. I was doing an internship… on an exchange program… that was my very first time… summer of ’96. I was here for about three months and that was my very first time. And after that I fell in love with this country. After that I came to visit several times and when I came to New York I knew that New York was the place where I had to be. So I decided to move here in ’98.

ME: Thank You. So you gave us a lot of information about why you came. Before I go on…where exactly from Mexico are you from?

CSJ: Mexico City. It is the capital of the country. So that’s where I’m from it’s where I’m where my family is right now.

ME: You may have traveled in many other places besides Mexico, I mean the United States?

CSJ: I lived in Europe for a year and three months. Before when I was in high school I got a scholarship to study in France. So I lived in France for one school year and then I also lived in Switzerland for three months.

ME: So, tell us a little bit what Mexico and Mexico City was like: the customs, climate, food, any special memories, childhood… give us an idea of what Mexico is like.

CSJ: I spent most of my life in Mexico and I love my country so pretty much everything I am going to say is something positive about the country. I was born in one of the largest cities in the world, Mexico City… it’s a very very large city, a lot of people… the pace of living is really really fast. It’s also a little polluted… I can survive that, I survived it for twenty something years….

ME: What neighborhood?

CSJ: I live in the South… I grew up in the South of Mexico City. I was born there. I grew up there. My family’s still there … it takes about twenty five minutes to get to the downtown area by public transportation. Like being somewhere far in Brooklyn or Queens and coming to 42nd street Times Square.”

ME: Did you leave anyone or anything behind?

CSJ: Yes I left my entire family behind, my brothers, my sisters. And since I moved to the States I have now many nephews and nieces. Some of them don’t even remember me because I go there once a year so they forget me from year to year. But my entire family is in Mexico City. I’m the only person in my family… my entire family who is here in this country.”

ME: Is there anything special that reminds you of Mexico?

CSJ: Yeah… I’m still in love with New York and with the United States. But, you know, sometimes I get a little homesick. Pretty much anything reminds me of Mexico. For example we celebrated the independence from [Spain] last Sunday… so I was a little homesick so I called my family, they were all celebrating and I wasn’t doing anything special. When I go to a Mexican restaurant and I eat something, I remember the way we used to do it at home or the way my mother makes it…. But now it is so easy to keep in touch with not only my family but also with traditions and all that because of the Internet… I listen to the news from Mexico… it’s just so easy to call my mother. If I’m making something special for my friends at home, I just call her and she tells me everything over the phone.

ME: What was it like traveling? You flew I suppose…

CSJ: The first time I was out of Mexico City was…my sophomore year of high school…. I guess it was a little scary because I had to do all the traveling by myself… I was fluent in French at the time, but I had to go to Germany first and then to the South of France, so that was a little scary because….”

ME: And when you came here for the first time? You moved here? To explore?

CSJ: I was here before on a scholarship, and then, you know … it was really scary…now that I think about it I don’t know how I did it… I just left my country, my job, left my family…

ME: Did you have friends?

CSJ: I had one friend… who helped me a lot and still helps me. It was very very scary.

ME: You flew here with all your possessions?

CSJ: I flew here but only with a couple of things, I couldn’t bring everything. … At the beginning I didn’t have anything.

ME: You came with a couple of suitcases?

CSJ: I came with a credit card and with one suitcase.

ME: Where did you stay?

CSJ: I stayed with my friend. He lives in Long Island. So Long Island was my
home for a long time… The other day I was just looking at how much stuff I have in my house, and its like incredible, you know, I came here with a very small suitcase and a credit card and now I have like so many things….”

ME: …Was it very exciting? Anything about that when you first came? What did you do? Go out? Go to Times Square?

CSJ: …I remember the very first day I had to eat something. So I went to the supermarket, and I was going to buy some ham. But of course in Mexico we don’t use pounds, we use kilos, so I still think in kilos… So I went to the supermarket and I was going to buy some ham but I didn’t know exactly how much to ask [for]… I was not exactly sure how much a pound was so I decided to buy half a pound, and the guy gives me like, this much ham… I couldn’t say anything because I was the one who asked for it….

CSJ: When I came to New York… I was a little insecure about my English so one day I was going to this convenience store… I was practicing what I was going to say to the guy who was selling… I get to the store and I say what I was supposed to say and the guy looks at me at like what are you saying? Why are you talking to me in English? I speak Spanish…

ME: What did you think it would be like in New York, before you were ever in America? What were your ideas based on? Movies, television? Did you have some idea?

CSJ: I think before I came… everything I knew about the United States was through television, because a lot of the programs that you guys watch here… are also broadcast all over the world…. and that’s all I knew about the United States. I also heard that people were not very friendly, but when I came to Texas for the first time… people were so friendly….

ME: How about in New York?…

CSJ: I’ve been really lucky since I’m here, I’ve met a lot of nice people who have helped me a lot. Not everybody is friendly… I have had a very good experience.

ME: What are the big differences between Mexico and the United States? …

CSJ: That’s a very hard question. Mexico is so close to the United States that we are very similar…. Nowadays I think that the American culture is all over the place, so even if you go to a country that is really really far from here… you will find McDonald’s everywhere. The cultural background…. of Mexico is much older than the one in the United States.

ME: So, finally, are you still a Mexican citizen? Are you considering… dual [citizenship]? …

CSJ: … I’ve been here for almost 9 years and I’m still a foreigner. I’m not even a permanent resident…. I’m a Mexican…I have a work visa that allows me to work in the school that I have to keep on renewing every year. It’s definitely a lot of work, a lot of money also. It’s a big hassle.”

ME: Is it more difficult now because 9/11?

CSJ: I think it became much more difficult, but it was already difficult. Especially for someone in a situation like my situation – I am a foreigner who is working legally in the United States, so they only give me six years to work in the country, but I have already been here for nine years.… The first years that I had this work visa were kind of easy, but then after that it becomes more complicated. For example, I took a group of students from Dalton to Mexico… and I had to cancel the program for one year because I was not allowed to go out of the country. Of course I was allowed to go out, but I was not allowed to come back! … So before, like at the beginning of my nine years I was going back to Mexico [often], but now…I can’t go. I have to wait for summer, so that I can go renew my visa in Mexico and then come back, and the process takes… three weeks. … Definitely becoming a permanent resident, which is, I guess, the first step before I become a citizen, which I would love to be…. but it is very very hard.

Student: When you came here to move were you planning on staying here?

CSJ: I think in the back of my mind I wanted to stay but I didn’t know exactly what would happen. I came here, and I didn’t have a job, I only knew one person in the entire country, so I didn’t know. I wanted to, but I didn’t know if it would possible…. My intentions were always to stay in this country, but when I first came I didn’t know exactly what would happen, it was just uncertain.”

S: Now that you speak English do you ever have dreams in English?

CSJ: I also speak French and I speak Spanish, and I don’t think I remember what I dream in, but I think it’s most of the time in Spanish, I don’t think I’ve ever dreamt in English or in French.

S: When you’ve gone back to Mexico have you been happy to leave and come back to the States or would you have rather stayed?

CSJ: No! This is my home now! When I go back to Mexico… Mexico is also my home you know because I was born there and my family’s there… but you know, I miss New York. I was in Mexico for the entire summer, for two months, and I was definitely ready to come back to my home, and that’s the feeling, you know, I have when I [return] to the country…. Although I’m still not a permanent resident or a citizen, this is my home and this is where I would love to spend my life.”

S: …Why is it much harder now that you have been here longer than six years?

CSJ: Because, as a foreigner, the government allows you to work for six years in the country, and then after that you have to do something you have to either go back to your country, or become a permanent resident. But the process of becoming a permanent resident is very difficult…. I have to keep on applying for a visa and I’m never sure if I’m going to be denied the visa, or when I’m going to get the visa… it’s very uncertain….

Here is the podcast of my interview with Mr. San Juan: