Date: September 21, 2003

A man leaves New York for New Experiences

What is your full name?

What is your nationality?

What is your date of birth?

Where were you born?

Why did you move to Philly?

Why did you leave your country/State/former place of residence?

I left New York because I wanted to make new goals and try to make a new life somewhere else.

What did you like/dislike about your home/country?

I love the baseball games and the Yankees, the Mets, the rush hour, the come and go, the parks, the school, mostly everything.

Why did you choose Philadelphia?

I chose Philly because my uncle told me that it would be a new place to learn new experiences and learn new things,

How did you travel here? /What type of transportation did you use/take to travel here? How would you change that?

My uncle told me if I wanted a new experience to come Philly and we came down here in a Uhaul and a car.

How did you find a place to live in Philly?

With whom did you travel? (Whom did you travel with?)

I traveled here with my mom, my brother, my sisters and my niece.

Give 1 thing you remember most about your hometown and why?

The thing I remember is the parks, the zoos, everything in general, the festivals, the night club. At that time everyone was into break dancing and, “Djing,” there was always a party - the main reason is the Yankees.

How did your life change when you moved and what were the differences between the two places?

New York is more lively, more opened; there's parties day and night. That's the “city that never sleeps,” like they say, City is so good “they named it twice,” also the changes from there to here is that over there things are more accessible; you could take the train, the bus everywhere, here you take the wrong train you'll end up in the wrong place, over there the right train will take you to the right place and there's more business and more places to go to and the stores are closer to walk.

What did you experience about the US/Philly?

I experience a new place, more brotherly love. people watching out for you and people caring for you.

What did you come here to accomplish and what else do you feel you still need to do?

I came here to accomplish an experience, a new life, a family and a good life.

What are the differences between when you came here and now?

When I came here things were more calm and more quiet - there were less drugs, less conflict and less people killed, now things are getting worse and worse.  Throughout the years I've seen kids with guns and names all over cars everywhere and some people are scared to leave their house or come outside

It was hard for me to get a job here, when my mom was in new York she took care of me and she had a job, here it was hard for her to a job so she had to get DPA and we suffered a bit through that and we had to learn how to manage money and we had learn how to do things with less and living in other people houses and other people rules.

How much money did you have and where did you get it when you came to Philly/US?

When I came to Philly with about $2,000.

How did you adapt to your new environment?

Why do you think it was worth all your changes?

When I was in New York a family but it was brother and sister, now I have my own family and my own experiences.

What education did you have before/after you arrived?

I am experienced in the martial arts and in auto mechanics I knew a little bit of everything.

Do you [ever] regret moving? Why or why not?

I don't regret moving even though I left a lot of things behind but here I started a new a life, new goals and new changes.

What reason would/could make you go back to where you came from?

If some one in my family is in badly need or they're sick and their kids are somewhere else where there can't be taken care of or if they don't have any family besides me.

What did you sacrifice/leave behind when you left?

I left friends, neighbors, school friends, teachers a girl friend and the whole experience, being able to be a teacher in the martial arts and here it took longer and the ability to learn quicker up over there.