Vale: What was your first impression of the United States?

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Clara: Well, when I first arrived my eyes felt huge for how much there was to see, the attention, the cleanness, the help that they gave me, and everything was, being in a country with freedom, to be able to breath with freedom, that’s the biggest thing a person can have, to feel free. So it was something so impressive that happens to all the immigrants who come from a country that doesn’t have freedom. I have become so grateful to be here, and I hope I can continue to live here.

 

Vale: Did the U.S. culture surprise you?

 

Clara: Yes, a lot of things surprised me, the respect people have for each other.

 

Vale: A good respect or bad respect?

 

Clara: No, a good respect for the people around them. A very good help for the people and the cleanliness, the way of living of the Americans has. People who live in their home, and if you're next to them and need their help, they’ll help you, and if not, that’s okay, they all have their own personal space, and I think that's pretty.

 

Vale: What were your biggest difficulties or adjustments in the United States?

 

Clara: Difficulties? Well, English *hahaahahaha*. 

 

Vale: And how’s that going for you? *hahahaha*

 

Clara: Bad *hahahaha*, very bad. I never picked it up. The pronunciation is very difficult, and reading is still hard for me.

 

Vale: How many years have you been here? *hahahaha*How many years?

 

Clara: *hahahahaha* well, *hahahaha* Why are you laughing? *hahahaha* Many, I’ve been here many years *hahahaha*, but with Spanish, I still have trouble speaking it.

 

Vale: To be fair, living in Miami, you don’t need to know English.

 

Clara: Yes, yes, but there are times when you need it, but I am a citizen. I’m an American citizen, I passed the exam, I don’t know how I passed it *hahahaha*, but I passed.

 

Vale: *hahahaha* Remember that question they asked you when you were taking your citizenship test and they asked “Do you want to live in the United States?” and you said “no” *hahaha*

 

Clara: No, no. They asked me if I wanted to spend the rest of my life here in the United States. And I confused “the rest” as if I was getting arrested, arrested by the police. That’s why I said “no”. And the man looked at me as if I wanted to leave. So, then the man that was interviewing me said to me in Spanish, “Would you like to live the rest of your life in the United States?” and I go, “Ah! Yes, yes” *hahahahaha*.

 

Vale: *hahahaha* And, did you face any discrimination when you arrived or at any moment while you were living here?

 

Clara: No, I haven’t, in reality,y I haven’t at all.

 

Vale: Wow, that’s really good.

 

Clara: No, I haven’t seen discrimination here. We have discrimination within ourselves, Latino to Latino, but no I haven’t faced discrimination, thank God. But the times have changed.

 

Vale: Yes, obviously.

 

Clara: Things change.

 

Vale: How has your view changed on the United States ever since you got here?

 

Clara: How did what change?

 

Vale: Your view, how has your view changed?

 

Clara: Nothing has changed because it’s a good system. I don’t know. I don’t see any difficulties. Things change with time.

 

Vale: Have you felt a sense of community in the United States?

 

Clara: Well, in the community we all help each other, all citizens, and ya.

 

Vale: What’s the most you love about your country, and what do you miss the most, and how does it compare to the United States?

 

Clara: Well, I have a weird feeling. The feelings I have are from the past. What’s going on in Cuba right now, I don’t feel like I’m from there, that world. I feel bad for what’s happening right now, but I don’t feel what I feel from what I think about from the past. It’s a different land, it’s my land, but the system is so different and has changed so much; the communism in Cuba has changed so much. I was in Cuba in 2000 for one week. I was angered and frightened, I was scared to walk out on the street, and I got sick in the stomach. I got on the plane and felt relieved. No one bothered me, absolutely nobody, nobody talked. Nobody talked about leaving Cuba, about their families, nothing. It was horrible. I have no intensions of going back until that is finished and a new chapter begins.