I am going to conduct an interview with a former immigrant of the United States. He is from the Dominican Republic. This person, whose name is Balbuena, came to the U.S. looking for a better life. I am now going to ask him about his experiences in looking for a better life in the U.S.
Questioner: What is your name?
Balbuena: My name is Balbuena.
Q: Where are you from?
B: I from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.
Q: Why did you come to New York?
B: I was stuck when I was in the Dominican Republic. My friend, Felito said that money grew on trees in the United States. He said that I can get rich if I went to the United States. He also said that he can legally get me a green card.
Q: How did you feel when you first got to New York?
B: I was so happy because I felt my life was about to change.
Q: How did you feel your life was going to change?
B:I felt that I was going to get a job right away and I would then get rich.
Q: Who did you stay with until you got enough money to get your own place to stay?
B: I stood with my cousin and his family until I was able to afford my own place.
Q: How did you feel about New York while you were searching for a job?
B: I was lost in this huge city. No one wanted to hire me because I didn't have enough skills for their jobs.
Q: Didn't Felito say that money grew on trees?
B: Yeah, but I don't think I could really trust him. I found out that the papers that he got me were fake. So now I know that I'm in the United States illegally.
Q: How could a friend do something like that to you?
B: I don't know, but I'm not ever gonna be so naive again.
Q: How did you feel when you finally got a job?
B: I was so happy because I was able to make money and start taking care of myself.
Q: I understand that you had some problems while living with your cousin. What were they?
B: I had some problems with my cousin's kids. I thought that hated me because they were always mad when I was around. They blamed me for everything. I even felt like leaving because of them.
Q: How did your cousin feel about this?
B: He didn't want me to leave, but he felt that me leaving would benefit the family. But I finally decided to leave when my cousin suffered a "shock" by getting mad at his kids. Thankfully, he recovered quickly.
Q: How did things change after your cousin had a heart attack?
B: Well, eventually the children apologized for treating me badly and begged to stay at the house. Although everything got better at my cousin's house, I decided to move into an apartment. The apartment had a bad reputation but it was a cozy little apartment.
Q: Why did you lend some money to your employer?
B: I gave him some money because he needed to give some money that he owed to the person who gave him the money to start his restaurant. Since I gave him the money he offered me a partnership on the restaurant.
Q: How did you feel when he offered the partnership?
B: I was so happy because I knew I would get a lot of money when the restaurant was sold. I would be able to go back to the Dominican Republic and marry my girlfriend Nancy, who I met in New York.
Q: How did you meet Nancy?
B: I might sound strange, but she actually hit me with her car. She visited me in the hospital and gave me her number. I called her shortly after I got out of the hospital and went out with her until she went to the Dominican Republic.
Q: How did you feel when Nancy went back to the Dominican Republic?
B: I felt sad because I knew I was going to miss her. But I knew that she wasn't happy in New York. I knew because one day I was playing with snow with some kids and she didn't feel like doing anything. She looked very unhappy. But when Nancy left I promised that as soon as I got enough money, I would go back to the Dominican Republic and marry her.
Q: When you finally sold the restaurant did you want to go back to the Dominican Republic?
B: Yes, in fact I got tickets to go back to the Dominican Republic right away. I'm now leaving in two days.
Q: I understand that you got robbed two nights before you were about to go back to the Dominican Republic. How did you feel when you found out that Felito was a part of the robbery?
B: I was shocked, I couldn't believe that Felito would do such a thing to me. I felt sympathy for Felito and his accomplice even though they deserved to die. They were shot and killed by the land lord of my apartment. Unfortunately, the landlord and I were also shot. Because of this incident, I'm happy to leave the United States and go back to the Dominican Republic.
Q: How do you feel about New York now that you have lived there before?
B: I think New York is a nice place to visit, but the land of opportunity isn't what I expected. I found it harder to live in New York than it was to live in the Dominican Republic.
Q: How is life in the Dominican Republic now that you found Nancy?
B: Life is a lot better now that I'm with both of my loves. I'm now married to Nancy and I am living a very good life with her. I'm also with my dead ex-wife. She drowned in the river and is buried in a cemetery in the Dominican Republic. Now I can visit her every now and then and let her know how I'm doing. I have never been as happy as I am right now. Nancy is the best thing that has happened to me for years.
From this interview I can conclude that Balbuena is a good person. He has a very strong will. Balbuena has lived a hard life, but all his struggles were worth it. Hopefully, he is going to live a very good life from now on.