Joanmarie Lucia Cruz
S#23 Eng. 3
Nueba Yol Interview

These questions that follow are based on a movie I watched in English class called Nueba Yol. It is about a man named Balbuena who came to American with a friend. He was in the Dominican Republic and came with a friend who promised him much happiness in America. What awaited Balbuena was not all happiness, but there was some good and he did learn a lot from being in America. During the interview you will notice that his English is not very good.

Questioner: How do you feel about coming to America?

Balbuena: I feel nice and excited because my amigo told me it is very nice there and things are good. It sounds like it’s going to be paradise... and I can’t wait!

Questioner: How are you getting there?

Balbuena: I’m am going by plane and my friend Fellito is helping me with legal papers so that I can enter the country with no problem.

Questioner: How was your trip and your arrival there?

Balbuena: On the plane it was fun and different but I was a little nervous and confused but I made it here okay. When I got here it was a different story though because when I wait for my cousin I stepped into the street and I got hit by a car. My leg was broke and I went to the hospital.

Questioner: Did you do okay with your broken leg?

Balbuena: Yeah I managed okay and I had help from a girl named Nancy. Once I got lost and she helped me. I took me awhile to find my way around the city and to get use to things.

Questioner: Did you leave a lot behind to come here?

Balbuena: I left my home and my family and friends. The most important thing to me that I left was my wife. She is dead but I went to visit he frequently and I remember her always. I miss her very much...

Questioner: Did you have a lot of problems in New York?

Balbuena: Well, once my leg got better I lived at my primos house and I tried to find a job. It was difficult but I did find one good one out of many different jobs. I had trouble at first finding my way around that big city but I do okay with the help of Nancy because she always help me when I need her. Living at my primos house things were a little hard but I made it okay and after a while the kids got use to me.

Questioner: You talk a lot about this girl Nancy who was she?

Balbuena: Nancy was the girl who hit me with her car and she had give me her number and once I got lost and I call her and she came and helped me. We became very good friends and later she became my girl-mi novia!

Questioner: So you found a good job right?

Balbuena: It took me a while because I went to any place and they no pay good dinero and I needed the dinero so I kept on looking and I found a nice place. It was a restaurant. After I be working there for a while there were some problems with and the owner wanted to sell the place.

Questioner: How did you feel when the owner of the restaurant felt he had to sell?

Balbuena: I feel bad because in that place I started everything it made me somebody en America and I thought I should help him.

Questioner: Is that why you offered to help him pay for the loan?

Balbuena: Yeah, he helped me and I helped him. It was all I could do-he is a good man and I know he would not let me down and in the end it worked out okay... I think.

Questioner: You sound like there was something wrong towards the end... what is it?

Balbuena: Well the new owner was a man that I had met once- a friend of Fellito-El Flaco. He no nice... something about him made me feel funny.

Questioner: Speaking of Fellito did you keep in contact with him after the first few days of your arrival?

Balbuena: I saw him before I sell the restaurant and he was doing bad... I try to help him and send him to a place for rehabilitation but he no stay there long and I wish que he would have stayed.

Questioner: So did he get better?

Balbuena: No I made a mistake of telling El Flaco y he look for him and took him out. You see Fellito was in a big trouble with El Flaco because of a bad job Fellito had- -it was illegal.

Questioner: What was he doing?

Balbuena: He was working with El Flaco selling drugs. Things got really bad when he took some money from El Flaco and he left so that nothing would happen but because of my boca the Flaco found out and looked for where he was.

Questioner: During all this time you still kept in contact with Nancy and remained with your ideas of going back?

Balbuena: Always at this time Nancy y mi tierra were my two greatest loves and soon I wish to be with them forever--there is no place like the loan that saw me grow.

Questioner: So after your business deal you were ready to go to your “tierra querida”?

Balbuena: I stayed a couple of more days but like I said I couldn’t wait to be reunited.

Questioner: You always stayed at your cousin’s house. Correct?

Balbuena: No, At first things were rough with the kids. They didn’t like the idea of a stranger living in their home... even though I was family I was still a stranger. My plans were to soon leave once I got things together. The things did improve but I still felt that I needed to leave and vivir on my own. I still loved and gave thank yous to my cousin and his ninos for all that they did for me.

Questioner: How were your last nights in New York?

Balbuena: They were rough... I remember Fellito’s words... “cash on the floor, much happiness....” Everything I dreamed of and much more. My last days there I found out what exactly Nueba Yol was like....

Questioner: What according to your experience is New York like?

Balbuena: It is nice to those that have always been there but for me it was hard. I have to say that some good things did come out of this... like Nancy and a job and I learned many things... things I didn’t know before. Like in order to be helped you need to help in return. I also realized that even when you trust people with your most precious things they can betray you in the back to get what they want... but I know that not everyone is like that. I really don’t regret coming here to Nueba Yol... but to me my paradise is my land.


Listening to Balbuena I realize that he has been through a lot and that he learned a lot with his stay in New York. Balbuena is a strong man and he proved by finding a job and doing the best he could. He learned the language and became someone even though he wasn’t known by all he became respected by those who knew. He went back in the end to his land and I know that there is where he is most happy with his new wife ready to start a new life far from Nueba Yol.