Luiza is 52, a student at Baker College to become a registered nurse, and she says with 99.9% she will be a U.S. citizen next year. She came to the USA over a decade ago to get a taste of freedom after the revolution in East Europe opened the borders for Romanians. Luiza Grigorescu* convinced her husband to join his mother and brother who lived in West Virginia, the first step of a new life. Next spring she will be eligible for U.S. citizenship.
This is part one of an ongoing series on the life of Detroit resident Luiza Grigorescu and other legal aliens in the USA.
“Speak English, we are in the United States,” Luiza tells her friend on the phone, a Romanian co-worker.
The only pictures from home: Luiza and her husband Alexandro. They married in 1994, two years before emigrating to the United States where Alexandro's mother and brother live. The left picture shows them at the beach of the Black Sea, in the city of Mamaia, Romania. The right photo shows the couple during a visit to Romania in 1998. Alexandro passed away in 2006. Luiza says: "We were a good team: He could understand English better, I could talk better."
Luiza is currently working as a living assistant in Detroit but also studies at Baker College to become a registered nurse. Just recently she had finals. "If nurse doesn't work out, I become a truck driver," she jokes.
When she returned from a visit in Romania to the USA in 2001, Luiza thought, it will be forever. She got her U.S. driver’s license. A first in her life.
Luiza’s car is her pride: She covered every seat and the room for feet with blankets and fabrics to make sure no dirt or dust will spoil her Toyota Corolla. It is her first self-owned car.
She got her cell phone in 2004 after receiving her U.S. green card and returning to the USA for good. What for Luiza is a daily necessity since, is entirely new for her mom back in Romania. “She said, all the women at the well where she pumps her water are talking on a cell phone. Now she wants one, too. She said she feels behind.” Last year the wish of the 76 year old Roman came true.
“Plants are beings”, says Luiza, who enjoys to see the fresh pale green buds on a this plant in her sponsor's house in Bloomfield Hills outside of Detroit where she frequently visits although it means a forty minute ride each way.
On Saturday, May 18, 2008, Luiza got the first credit card in her life. “Bank business is tricky,” Luiza says. For an overdraft of $40 on her account she had to pay $64 in fees, she explains, something she hopes to prevent with her new card.
Lucky charms all over: The chimney sweep is a symbol for luck in Romania she explains, the green clover is a spring charm, and the religious picture hints at Luiza's orthodox creed. After living in the USA for twelve years, Luiza hopes that with "99,9 percent" she will become a U.S. citizen next year.
How did you come to the USA? With which red tape did you have to deal as a legal alien? Are you on the path to U.S. citizenship? Please share your stories, questions, and comments!
Watch an edited version of Luiza's interview on this blog soon.
* Luiza asked me not to use her true name as she does not want to be identified by her environment.
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2 comments:
Hi Stine,
Luiza sounds like an interesting person — I really like how you showed the lucky charms and explained them. My friend's aunt gave me a pig the first time I visited her in Germany and I was confused — I didn't know they were considered lucky there — it's neat to see the cultural differences. I also like that you put Luiza's comment to her friend about speaking English because that's probably something that a lot of aliens have to deal with. My friend's mom will speak English to her family unless something really excites or angers her and then she goes on a German spree. Does Luiza ever see her husband, and why is she living in a different place in the U.S. than him — are they part of different programs or something? Also, are you planning on talking about your own experiences at all? Your blog is really interesting – it's neat seeing the cultural differences about things that we take advantage of usually, like the old cell phone and the way she keeps her car.
Angie
Luiza's husband passed away in 2006. It is in the caption underneath the picture of Luiza and him. But I can see how this one sentence can be easily overlooked, maybe I have to mention such an important fact in the beginning.
I will probably not talk about my experience since I have another blog just dedicated to the German-U.S. experience. I will link to my other blog -- probably in my profile -- but haven't gotten around to that yet. (www.iamericansequel.blogspot.com)
The pig is definitely a symbol of luck in Germany. I hope it worked for you. :) As well as the green clover that Luiza has. She also confirmed that when she is angered she slips back into Romanian. And I do the same in German. This makes it sometimes hard to discuss with a native U.S. speaker as they have an advantage in situations where you have to rapidly and promptly form thoughts into language.
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