The trip to a better life

Interviewer: Jonathan Muñoz
Interviewee: Julia Andrea Chavez Rodriguez
Date: May 24, 2000
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What is your full name?

Julia Andrea Chavez Rodriguez

What is your nationality?

Costa Rican

What is your date of birth?

I was born on January 11, 1957.

Where were you born?

I was born in San Jose, Costa Rica.

When did you (move to the U.S./move from somewhere else in the U.S.) to Philadelphia?

I arrived in Philadelphia on November 26, 1976, at the age of 20.

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

I had to leave my country because my parents had already lived in Philadelphia for many years and they wanted the entire family to come live with them in Philadelphia. Therefore, I really did not have any choice but to come along with my family and move to Philadelphia by car since, the rest of the family was living in Costa Rica at the time.

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

I personally like my country a lot but, life in Philadelphia is different because living in Philadelphia is better.

Why did you choose Philadelphia/U.S?

The only reason I chose Philadelphia was because it was here where my parents had already lived.

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

I traveled here by car with my parents from Costa Rica, all the way to Philadelphia. I would have preferred to travel to Philadelphia by plane but, it was more convenient for my parents to travel by plane.

How did you find a place to live in Philly?

I was able to find a place to live where my parents had already lived. At the same time, my older brother was waiting for our arrival and we came to Philadelphia with the rest of the family. I had been traveling to Philadelphia with my parents, including my other four brothers.

With whom did you travel? [Who did you travel with?]

I traveled with my parents and my four brothers.

Give 1 thing you remember most about your home town and why?

The one thing I remember the most from my country are the typical foods. For example, in my I use to eat rice with chicken and rice pudding.

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

My life changed when I moved because when I arrived in Philadelphia I noticed that I would have to work more and spend more time in the house. It was different when I used to live in Costa Rica because I would go out to visit my friends and family. In Philadelphia, it was a new experience for me because I would have to adapt to the way people lived here and learn how to speak the English language.

What did you expect about the US/Philly?

What I expected coming to Philadelphia was being able to live a better life because living here is really different from the way I used to live. When I first came here, I saw things differently compared to the way things were at home.

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

I came here to work so that I could live a better a life with my parents and at the same time enjoy living my life with my parents.

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

The first difference I noticed was the food that people ate here and the climate because there are two types of climates here, rather than one. In Costa Rica, the climate is tropical and here you have to dress according to the weather being hot or cold.

What did you sacrifice/leave behind when you left?

I was twenty and this age I had a boyfriend, so I had to leave him because he could not come along. Leaving my boyfriend was very sad and hard for me to do, but I had no other choice.

What problems did you encounter coming to the US/Philly?

When I first came to Philadelphia, the first problem I encountered was that the house where the whole family lived was to small because we were such a big family. The house I had lived in was with my parents, my four brothers, and me, which I found to small for all of us.

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

I remember that my parents went to Costa Rica to bring us to Philadelphia by car and had brought a sufficient amount of money to go to Costa Rica and bring us back.

How did you adapt to your new environment?

At first it was very hard for me because I had to learn the English language and the only language I spoke was Spanish, but later I got to meet people and friends where life simply got easier for me.

Why do you think it was worth all your changes?

I think it was because in Philadelphia you can live a better life and in my country life was different and harder to live. In Philadelphia, my parents were able to give me a better life than I used to live in my country.

What education did you have before/after you arrived?

In my country I went to middle school and high school, but when I came here I went to work.

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

I do not regret moving because I got used to living here after having arrived with my family and would not want to ever go back again because in Costa Rica we no longer have anything. When my parents decided to leave they sold the house and everything they had, so that we would have to live a different and new life as a family.

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

The only reason that would make me go back would be to remember my friends that I used to have because when I left everything including the rest of my family.

Describe your first job here. If you didn't have one, who did you get money?

My first job here was making shoes in a shoe factory and making shoes was not really difficult for me because my father is a shoe maker and I used to watch making shoes. Watching him make shoes was where I learned how to put soles an high heel shoes for women which in that time was very good and expensive here.

Is there anything you would like to add?

Well, I would like to say that the life here in Philadelphia is very different from the lifestyle that is lived in my country because there is more liberty here than there is in my country. When I came here at the age of 20, I saw that other girls went out with more liberty in the streets compared to my life in my country. This was the only other difference that I noticed ever since I was brought here by parents compared to the lifestyle of my country because I had never had any liberty and this made it more difficult for me to come face to face with this youth.