Interview with George Loayza
Introduction
I didn’t know what to expect when I enrolled in the Sociology of Immigration. I was excited to educate myself more on the themes and concepts of why people immigrate, why they decide to stay and many other factors. The immigrant stories projects pushed me to go out of my comfort zone to ask an individual tough questions. It opened my eyes to see that immigrants are all around us and showed how our class concepts apply to someone’s personal life. I found out one of my friends’ fathers is an immigrant and saw it as a great opportunity to learn more about his experiences. My interview was with George Loayza. The interview took place face to face at George’s home in Chantilly, Virginia. I set the interview up into sections. We started with a short introduction, then moved into his immigration experience, then ended with talking about his family and overall thoughts about immigrating. Our interaction was very good. Before the interview we talked about what to expect and how our days were going. This created a comfortable environment for the interview to take place. I could tell George was slightly nervous and first and this may have shaped some of his response. I could tell there were questions that didn’t want to be expanded upon. This could have been since we were not very close prior to the interview and since his son was also in the room to hear his experiences.
Immigrating from Peru
George shared that he is now 59 years old and came from Lima, Peru. He expressed that there are traces of Italian and British in his family as well. George came to the United States when he was 11 years old in August of 1974. He immigrated here with his mom, dad, and two younger brothers. George’s dad was given a job for the Inter-American Development Bank. This is the reason why they moved from Peru to the United States. This is a great example of how many immigrants immigrate to other countries for work opportunities. The receiving societies are pulling individuals to come for their own benefit. This reminded me of all the documentaries we watched over the semester about the labor market. Immigrants would come to the US to work strenuous labor jobs. George’s dad originally came to the US a year prior than he and his family did. His father had a three month mission he was assigned to and then had the opportunity to come here full time. George’s dad brought his family to see if they enjoyed the US and wanted to know if they wanted to come or stay in Peru. Clearly, they all said yes to moving to the US. This shows how immigrants tend to follow one another.
Coming to a new country is very hard but having a family that us doing it with you must make it a little easier. George stated that he felt as if the experience immigrating was the same for him, his brothers, and his parents. He felt happy, afraid, and hesitant when he was coming to the US. This was partially since he did not know the language, it was just his family, and he was entering a new culture. I was informed by family members to not go into depth on his childhood and family life. We did not go into detail about those aspects from having poor family experiences. This was an aspect of the interview he did not want to go over. Not being close to George may have also factored into why he didn’t cover his childhood as much. When asked about special memories he told me he always enjoyed the food and the beach. He used to celebrate Christmas on the beach so it’s a large change. There isn’t a beach close to Chantilly but there sure is one in Lima.
Assimilation
The next section of the interview covered how it was adapting to moving to a new country. George and his family only spoke Spanish when they immigrated. In South America and other parts of the world children take English class as part of their curriculum but he was not fluent. He could understand some things but not too much. His dad knew English so he sat his family down and helped them learn to speak. George described it as an immersion. No one else in George’s school spoke Spanish so he had to learn the language fairly quickly. Language is one of the big concepts of immigrants “becoming American”. There are many individuals who immigrated when they were babies and don’t know much about their country and culture. It must be harder to move as you get older and make connections where you are. George shared that the age he came to the United States was good since he was too old. He had time to make new friends and assimilate to the culture easily. When immigrants move they tend to settle where they find welcoming communities. Most times this may be where there are others that share their culture.
Differences in Culture
People in South America and Europe tend to be more touchy feely compared to the people in the US. They hug more and kiss more. During this part of the interview I thought about how individuals from other countries kiss each other on both cheeks when they say hello or goodbye. You see this a lot in movies as well. This is a big cultural difference. If someone were to do that in the US they would be looked at as if they were insane. George shared there was none of that when he arrived, people shook hands and kept their distance. He did express that over time it has changed and you see a little more of it now. Maybe it’s because as more immigrants come they share their traditions with others here as well. George saw some differences with family as well. In Peru, families stay together much longer. Kids are expected to take care of the family and their parents as they get older. It’s interesting to hear that many parents in Peru live with their children as they age. I always knew this was a thing and saw it in movies but never heard stories about it. In the US people are so fast to put their elder parents into nursing homes and retirement communities. This would be unheard of in George’s culture. Hence, he said they value family more.
Coming to the United States
When George first immigrated from Peru he came to Annandale, Virginia. He did a lot of moving before settling. He was in Virginia until 1977 then moved to Mexico. George’s dad got another job with the United Nations FAO. This is the Food and Agricultural Organization. The contract was for two years so they moved down there. He said it was not hard moving to Mexico because they spoke Spanish and so did he. There were some differences and it was a challenge because he did not want to go. He wanted to stay in Virginia because he was in high school. This is a hard time to move again. He had his group of friends and his girlfriend. After the move, George stayed about seven months then returned back to Virginia. He moved in with a family that he was friends with and finished his senior year of high school. Once he graduated he needed to get a job to be able to pay for things and soon after his family also moved back. Of course once he thought they would settle his father got another job offer in Italy. His father went for another two year contract but George only stayed in Italy for a period of time. The cost benefit of his father moving must have made sense for their situation. A challenge he faced immigrating was learning about the culture here, how the culture was different, what was expected of him, and the language of course. George made a great analogy about moving around so much. He said it’s like an adaptation to a military family. You aren’t sure where you belong because you are moving from one place to the next place. The relationships and friendships you develop have to be short term. So it’s hard to create long term friends when you don’t want that connection to be broken. This is a very sad and difficult challenge that people face when they are moving so much. It’s not an aspect that I had put a lot of thought into. Many don’t have that close group of friends to talk through problems with.
It was interesting hearing about how different traditions are in different cultures. George went caroling for the first time and he had no idea what was going on. He didn’t know any of the songs but would stand there and not sing just to go along with it. This was an aspect that really stood out to him. When asked how welcoming the US was he said it was welcoming and there were a lot of people that were willing to help him out. Others tried to teach him English along the way. This also ties into the concept of immigrants finding welcoming communities. I was curious about if others had any preconceptions about him from being an immigrant or if he was ever treated differently from it. He said that sometimes when he spoke over the phone and people heard his accent they would be slightly different. He shared a story of this. One time he was selling a car to a guy for his daughter. He was questioned about why he was selling the car and the buyer seemed cold and guarded. George was asked where he had been and where he was from. Once his wife Cindy came out and said they had to take their children to practice, the buyer’s demeanor changed. We can think of many times that this happens to individuals. People get stereotyped before knowing the slightest detail about their life. Related to this, a guy bumped into George at a bar and said “we don’t like people like you here”. This was without even knowing anything about George or his friends. Although he went through some tough situations George said he never thought he faced any real disadvantages from being an immigrant. He’s been able to use his bilingual proficiency to speak to others at his job. He’s a firefighter so it comes in handy when he comes to an accident and they speak Spanish. George said the opportunities are better here in the US and that’s why most people come. He is more self aware now than we were when we first arrived but other than that doesn’t feel any different. The US never felt alienated and he doesn’t want to go back to Peru.
Family and Citizenship
George said the only reason he would go back to Peru is to see some of his family members that are still there. The last time he was there was in 2010 when his mom passed. His dad had since passed as well. That is the last time he was with his family. He is now married and has two sons. He wasn’t focused on connecting his family to his Peruvian culture but he does regret not teaching his children Spanish. He sees being bilingual as an advantage since you can do more than others and be an asset to a company. George said since the Spanish population is growing he is starting to see more children speaking more than one language.
Coming to the US George’s dad had a working visa. After a period of time he asked to apply for a green card to be able to stay in the US for work. After applying for citizenship he had to take a test and get sworn in. The most interesting part was that he shared that once you become a citizen you relinquish any ties to the country you come from and only have allegiance to the United States. The US only sees him as an American so he does not have dual citizenship.
Conclusion
There is always something to miss about where you come from. For George it is his family, the food, and traveling through Peru. Food is a huge part of immigrant culture. He said that the American dream is achievable and it is a real thing. George doesn’t think he lost any of his culture when immigrating; he just doesn’t practice it. If he were able to know what his lived experiences were in the US ahead of time he still would have come here present day. He has no regret about coming and nor does his family members.
Interview with George Loayza
[00:00:00] Victoria: Okay. So to start, I’ll have you introduce yourself. So just tell me your name, your age, and where you’re from.
[00:00:08] George: My name is George Loayza my age is 59 and I came from Lima, Peru.
[00:00:14] Victoria: Okay, so are you a hundred percent Peruvian?
[00:00:19] George: Uh, yes and no.
[00:00:22] Victoria: Okay.
[00:00:22] George: There’s a lot of history on the family. There’s Italian and there’s some British as well too.
[00:00:28] Victoria: Okay, so you’re a mix.
[00:00:29] George: Yes.
[00:00:30] Victoria: And then how old were you when you came to the us?
[00:00:33] George: 11 years old.
[00:00:34] Victoria: So you were pretty young?
[00:00:35] George: Yes.
[00:00:37] Victoria: And then, do you remember what year that was?
[00:00:39] George: 1974.
[00:00:40] Victoria: 1974.
[00:00:41] George: August.
[00:00:42] Victoria: August. Who did you immigrate here with, or what did the process of coming here look like?
[00:00:48] George: We came here with my mom and my dad and my two younger brothers. My dad was given a job for the Inter-American Development [00:01:00] Bank.
[00:01:00] Victoria: And did he come here first or did you all come together?
[00:01:03] George: He originally came a year prior to, he had a three month mission that he was assigned. He brought us here and we stayed with him for about a month. He asked if we enjoyed it cuz they had given him an opportunity to come here full time and he wanted to know whether we wanted to come or not, meaning leave Peru and moved to the United States. So we said yes.
[00:01:30] Victoria: And do you think your experience was the same as your parents and your siblings or no, coming here.
[00:01:37] George: Personally, you mean?
[00:01:38] Victoria: Mm-hmm.
[00:01:38] George: Um, I think it was the same.
[00:01:40] Victoria: Yeah. Okay. I feel like that’s pretty self-explanatory. And do you have any special memories from Peru that you still think about?
[00:01:48] George: Um, the food. I always enjoy the food, the beach. Uh, Christmas is summertime down there, so we’d go to the beach and celebrate Christmas that way. And here Christmas is always [00:02:00] cold. So yeah, I always think of the opposite, being down in South America.
[00:02:04] Victoria: Yeah. That’s nice. It’s always snowing here.
[00:02:06] George: Yeah.
[00:02:07] Victoria: And when you were coming here, were you happy, afraid? Do you remember what you felt for the change?
[00:02:12] George: Happy and afraid. Probably hesitant, not knowing the language, a new culture, and it was just us.
[00:02:20] Victoria: So did you only speak Spanish when you came here?
[00:02:24] George: We did. Most countries in South America and other parts of the world, you, you take English class as part of your school. So middle school, elementary school, high school. There’s always something you gotta take mandatory.
[00:02:37] Victoria: Cool.
[00:02:37] George: But I was not fluent on it. There was some things that I could understand, but not too much. So my dad sat down with us becasue he spoke English and Spanish, so he would help us and it was just an immersion, so to speak.
[00:02:51] Victoria: Mm-hmm.
[00:02:51] George: Nobody else in my school spoke any Spanish, so I had to learn, we had to learn English fairly quickly.
[00:02:57] Victoria: Yeah. So it was really, once you came here, you really [00:03:00] knew how to speak it after that?
[00:03:01] George: Yes.
[00:03:02] Victoria: Cool. And do you think the age you came over here affected how you adapted to coming to a new country? Do you think if you were older it would’ve been different or young? It would’ve been different?
[00:03:12] George: I can’t speak for that, that I know other people that have come here at a later age. You know, you grow up and you make a lot of friendships and you have a lot of relationships, you have a lot of family. So moving from one country to another where you don’t have anybody else probably affects you more as you get older, cuz you have more ties to the country that you left and the people that you know, and the families that you have. So from that aspect, for us it was good. I think we wanted to come here, so that was a positive and we just adapted to what we had. We adapted to the culture here.
[00:03:48] Victoria: Very nice. And were there any traditions that you followed there that carried over?
[00:03:55] George: No.
[00:03:56] Victoria: No. Okay. That’s an interesting [00:04:00] one. What experiences or customs do you think are different, improve than the US if any, that you can think of off the top of your head?
[00:04:08] George: Well, most people in South America, probably in Europe as well to, we are a little bit more touchy feely. So we hug more, we kiss more, so to speak. On the cheek when you say hello, goodbye. And you’ve probably seen that in movies a lot. When I first came here, there was none of that. It was always keep your distance, you shook hands. You, you didn’t get close to people in that fashion. That has changed over time. Now you see that more often, more people are more willing to do that as opposed to what they didn’t before. And there was more emphasis, I think, on family back in South America and families still, they sit together for quite a long time and, it’s much easier or you expect that the kids are gonna take care of the family as far as the parents, as they get older. And they usually stay with them in their homes [00:05:00] or the elderly parents come over and they stay with a younger one. So, you know, having your parents go into a nursing home or retirement home is pretty much unheard of.
[00:05:10] Victoria: So you think they value family just a little bit more?
[00:05:13] George: Very much so, yeah.
[00:05:14] Victoria: Is there anything else you think they value more? Or is that just like the big main one for you?
[00:05:20] George: No, I think that and religion, you know. Most of them are Catholic and they do believe in God and Jesus and they try to use and instill that teaching I guess to their kids as well too. So yes, I think probably religion plays a big role.
[00:05:38] Victoria: Okay. And were there any factors that were almost like push factors that were pushing you out of Peru? I know you said for work, that’s why you came here.
[00:05:47] George: Yeah.
[00:05:47] Victoria: But was there any push factors that made it more enticing to leave?
[00:05:52] George: No, just my dad had an opportunity to get a job over here and for us to start a new, a new life. So we, we chose to do that. [00:06:00]
[00:06:00] Victoria: And then where did you come originally? In the US.
[00:06:03] George: We moved to Annandale.
[00:06:04] Victoria: Okay.
[00:06:05] George: Annandale, Virginia
[00:06:06] Victoria: And then have you been in Virginia since then?
[00:06:08] George: So we were in Virginia probably until 1977. We 70, high school junior year. So it was 19 80, 79. We moved to Mexico and I didn’t want to go to Mexico. I wanted to stay here cause I was in high school. I had a lot of friends. I had my girlfriend. I didn’t wanna leave the area, but my dad got another job with what is called the United Nations, the fao, which is Food and Agriculture Organization. So when he got his shot with Mexico City, it was a contract for about two years. So he moved down there and he wanted us to move down there. And we did, we were down there. I was there probably for about eight months or six months, I can’t remember exactly. I did not like it and I wanted to come back. So I came back, finished my senior year. I moved into a family. [00:07:00] That, we were friends with and, went to the last six months of my high school. Second half, yeah, it was the second half of the high school. Graduated, had a part-time job so I could pay for stuff. And then after that my family moved back here to the States and my dad got another contract to go to Italy. So he was in Italy for two years, and we went there and stayed there for a little while with him. We never actually did not live there, but we did stay for a long period of time and then came back here.
[00:07:31] Victoria: So you’ve been all over. And then were there any challenges that you faced, even here, Mexico, Italy, all the places you’ve lived, what were a big challenge that, that you had to face when you were arriving?
[00:07:43] George: Um, well first here was language and learning about the culture and how different it was, what was expected of us. Going to Mexico wasn’t a hard thing, I mean, it’s all Spanish anyways. But there were some changes and there’s some differences [00:08:00] in there, but I did not want to be there. So that was a challenge. I said I wanted to stay here. I wanted to be here with, you know, the guys that I went to high school with and I didn’t not want to leave. It was, because of my dad’s job. Italy. Italy was nice. It was an opportunity to be there and see something new , but I knew it was not gonna be a long term thing. So I knew that I was coming back here. Ultimately we came back and you know, it’s an adaptation to like a military family. You’re, you’re not really sure where you belong because you’re moving from one place to the next place and you develop relationships and friendships, but sometimes you gotta be short term. So kind of hard to develop a long term relationship, especially when you don’t want to have that thing broken and then, you know. You get sad, so to speak.
[00:08:44] Victoria: Yeah, that’s hard. And then besides language, do you think there was any other big culture shocks in the US for you moving?
[00:08:54] George: No, I don’t think so.
[00:08:57] Victoria: And then would you say it was easy trying to [00:09:00] adjust to the culture?
[00:09:01] George: There was a hard learning curve.
[00:09:03] Victoria: Yeah.
[00:09:03] George: It was very steep. It was steep. What was, you know, the traditions. Christmas traditions. So caroling for example, first time they took me out, we were supposed to go out and sing in somebody’s house. I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea what they were doing and what is, you know, the songs or anything like that. So I went along with them. I just stood there and I didn’t sing cause I didn’t know the songs then that was one little silly thing that I can remember that really stood out with me.
[00:09:30] Victoria: That’s funny. And would you say it was welcoming or exclusive or alienated at all. Or do you feel like it has changed over time?
[00:09:40] George: I think it was welcoming. Yeah. I think there was a lot of people that wanted to help me out. Um, you know, they tried to, to teach me, the language and, and, and help me along the way to learn on it. And obviously I had to put my part into it too, so I wasn’t expecting them to speak Spanish. I was here and I came here, so I need to learn [00:10:00] English. And I think most people, for the most part had always been, you know, helpful and welcoming.
[00:10:06] Victoria: And then this kind of ties along with that one. I think I know how it’s gonna go, but have you ever experienced any sort of prejudice through your life of where you came from, even if it was in a job or just on your day to day?
[00:10:19] George: Mm. I think sometimes when you speak and the accent comes out specifically over the phone when they don’t see you. I think there’s one time that I can remember specifically that that occured. I was selling my car here. It was a Honda Civic and talking to the guy who was a dad who was buying it for his daughter. And we were going through the questioning of why you selling it with this, that, or the other. And it was a little bit, you know, um, um, I don’t know, cold, so to speak. And then I met him, he came to the house, met him outside, and he was very guarded [00:11:00] and I was like, you know, it’s okay. Take it easy. You know, we’re here just to go along and see what’s gonna happen as far as your daughter liking the car, not liking the car and everything. So he asked me, you know, where have you been? Where are you from? Stuff like that. I was kind of like the questioning part on it. So we went through that and then came home and then Cindy had gotten just like five minutes before here and she came out and. We gotta take the kids to practice stuff like that. And all of a sudden his whole demeanor changed. You know, he was, oh, I’m, I’m really sorry. You know, God take, you know, whatever you need to do, go along. I’ll get back to you on the phone. And at that point in time, he was very pleasant. But before that, he wasn’t, you know, he was very guarded. He was, I don’t know what he was thinking that I was gonna do, but that was probably one, the only one time that I could feel it. I had something like that. So here, now let’s go back to that one question. I was in a bar down in DC. We were down there with some friends high school and some guy came and he bumped into me and I said, [00:12:00] Hey man, what’s your problem? And he goes, what’s your problem? He goes, we don’t like people like you here. And that’s how it started. And then my other buddies came over and kind of took care of the situation. But yeah, so he said that to me.
[00:12:15] Victoria: That’s crazy.
[00:12:15] George: Mm-hmm. .
[00:12:17] Victoria: And this one also in a way is similar, but do you think you’ve ever experienced any disadvantages from it or do you think it’s given you a leg up at any time?
[00:12:27] George: No disadvantages, no leg up. I think what I’ve been able to do is use the ability to have the bilingual proficiency to speak to people sometimes that particularly in my job when we go to, cuz I’m a fire department. There’s a lot of times when the laborers get in accidents, either they’re driving or they’re at work, whatever, and things happen and as soon as anything goes where they know that the people speak Spanish immediately deter to me. They ask them. So it’s been helpful from that aspect. I don’t think it’s [00:13:00] been negative, but things, it’s always been positive.
[00:13:04] Victoria: And then this one also kind of ties to something that we talked before, but did you feel like the opportunities were better? For example jobs, like your dad coming over.
[00:13:13] George: Oh yeah. Opportunities here in the, that’s why most people come here to the United states.
[00:13:18] Victoria: Yeah. And I’m sure many people, once they see the opportunity, they wanna stay and then a lot more people come and follow them after that.
[00:13:24] George: Right. So, you know, if you’re willing to work hard, you can do a lot of things. You have more opportunities, more freedoms to do things. You don’t have a, an oppressive government that tells you what you can and cannot do. And that’s usually what you find outside of the United States.
[00:13:41] Victoria: And how would you say you felt when you first arrived to the US compared to how you feel now? It could be, you could put any spin on it you want.
[00:13:52] George: I don’t think any, any different really. No. Obviously I’m more self-aware of what I can do now. And [00:14:00] comfortable, but it never felt like an alien place to be in. You know, we wanted to be here, so it was always welcoming so to speak and we’re happy. Yeah. I never had any, I don’t, I don’t wanna go back to Peru. That was that. I mean, I’ll go back to visit family but I don’t think that I would change what I have here, what I, what I’ve been able to do and grow up in this place.
[00:14:22] Victoria: Mm-hmm. So more towards your kids now. Did you want your kids to have a strong connection with your culture, like your Peruvian culture.
[00:14:35] George: It really wasn’t a thought in my mind. I think my only regret has been, and they’ve told me this before, is for me not to speak or teach ’em how to speak Spanish, you know, so they could be bilingual. And the reason for that, primarily the way I see it now is it’s always an advantage. You have more things than other people do. If you can speak one or two or three languages, you’re that much more ahead of what [00:15:00] other people may be able to do. Right. This is wise or just to go travel anywhere in more languages? You can speak. You have a higher degree, you’re an asset to a company or somebody who needs you. Because you have something special that everybody can do the same thing.
[00:15:15] Victoria: Yeah. And how often do you see your family in Peru?
[00:15:19] George: I don’t, my mom and dad are both passed away. My family that I went down to see last was in the year 2010. And that’s when my mom had passed away and we went down to Peru to put her ashes out there. My dad was there with us, my two younger brothers, and that’s probably the last time that I got a chance to see the family that I have in Peru. Yeah, I haven’t been, I haven’t been there since.
[00:15:42] Victoria: Do you wanna go back though anytime soon?
[00:15:44] George: I do. I think I want to, I want to go back and see some of them. Um, not all of them, but I do wanna see some, the ones that I can remember when I was growing up. I’m not sure if that opportunity’s gonna come, but yeah, that would be something that I would like to do.
[00:15:56] Victoria: Mm-hmm. And do you notice more kids being [00:16:00] bilingual now or no?
[00:16:03] George: Um, I guess because the Spanish population in this area has grown more, that you have a lot more of the English and Spanish language being spoken.
[00:16:16] Victoria: And then when you came here, how did you become a citizen? .
[00:16:21] George: When you come to the United States, normally you come with a visa. It’s a working visa, which is what they gave my dad. Over a period of time, you can ask to have a green card, and a green card allows you to be able to stay in the United States and work in the United States. So the process is you get the visa and then you apply for a green card. The green card, you had to have it, I believe it used to be for seven years prior to you being able to ask for citizen. Then when you apply for a citizenship, you gotta go and take a test and you gotta go and you get sworn in. Then you become a citizen. And when you become a citizen, you relinquish any ties to whatever country you came from and you only have allegiance to the United [00:17:00] States. That’s a process for the most part. Some people get it because they’re born here, but when you immigrate here, that’s usually how it works out.
[00:17:09] Victoria: So you were saying you basically vanished where you came. So are you not a dual citizen now?
[00:17:16] George: Peru recognizes you as an American Peruvian, but the United States only recognizes you as being an American.
[00:17:23] Victoria: Oh, I didn’t know that.
[00:17:24] George: Mm-hmm. Yep.
[00:17:26] Victoria: Interesting. So even if, would they be able to get citizenship in Peru if they wanted to?
[00:17:33] George: Now that I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t know.
[00:17:36] Victoria: Interesting.
[00:17:36] George: If your kids can do that. I think you had to been born there in order to be able to do that.
[00:17:41] Victoria: Yeah. Cause I know in some countries you can, but it, you have to go through a long process. Correct. To get dual citizenships.
[00:17:46] George: Yeah.
[00:17:46] Victoria: And that’s interesting. What’s something that you miss about Peru?
[00:17:53] George: I think the family, you know, we have nobody here. It’s just pretty much us. I have some cousins out in [00:18:00] Florida, but I don’t see them. I think Facebook is primarily how we keep in touch. You know, we go back and forth with that, aunts, cousins, and other families from either side of the family, my dad or my mom, you know, I haven’t seen them in well 12 years plus now. So it’s, um, that’s probably the thing that I miss most. I do also miss, like I said, the food, cause it’s got good food and there’s certain things that I’m used to that I was on there and I enjoyed going to the beach. I enjoyed some of the things that we used to do going up in the mountains, you know, traveling through, Peru, Peru’s a very, it’s a pretty country. You got the jungle, you got the Andes, you got the coast. So there’s a lot of things that you can do and a lot of places you can go in a fairly short period of time.
[00:18:47] Victoria: And what do you think, what is something you think native born citizens in the US should know about immigrants?
[00:18:57] George: Native, born here. Know about [00:19:00] immigrants. I don’t know.
[00:19:07] Victoria: Okay.
[00:19:07] George: That’s a good question.
[00:19:09] Victoria: We’ll give you time to ponder on that one. If you wanna circle back to it. And these ones are a little more, you can put your own twist again. What would you say, do you think the American dream is achievable? Do you think it’s a real thing? When people say the American dream.
[00:19:26] George: Yes.
[00:19:29] Victoria: Okay. And do you feel like you’ve lost a part of your culture coming here or that you lost a part of your culture trying to assimilate to the United States? Or did you have people around you that also shared that?
[00:19:45] George: I don’t think I lost culture. I think the is within you. I just don’t practice it. It’s like some people say they’re Catholic, but they don’t go to church. Right. So there’s a lot of things that sometimes again, it [00:20:00] depends how long you’ve been, where did you grow up and what age you came over, or you left the country and you went somewhere else. And there’s gonna be some things that are gonna be, hard to shake off that you’re always gonna have with you and your beliefs. How you deal with people, how you handle people, how you see other people, and also what you think is right and what is wrong. I think for the most part, the culture stays with you. And I can see it when I see other people that are also from Peru. If I see somebody in a crowd and I understand that they’re from there, usually I will go and approach ’em and talk to ’em and you know, go back about where have you been, where did you grow up? And I look forward to it. I think that’s always important cuz it kind of makes me back, takes me back to my childhood and good memories.
[00:20:48] Victoria: And if you were able to know what your lived experiences were in the US ahead of time, would you have still came here present day?
[00:20:56] George: Yes.
[00:20:58] Victoria: And do you or anyone [00:21:00] else in your family have regrets? Any regrets about coming?
[00:21:04] George: No.
[00:21:05] Victoria: Okay. So then you would come time and time again?
[00:21:08] George: Yes.
[00:21:08] Victoria: Perfect. Well, thank you very much.
[00:21:11] George: That’s it?
[00:21:11] Victoria: That’s it.
[00:21:12] George: All right.
[00:21:13] Victoria: Told you it was simple.
[00:21:14] George: Yeah, that was good. So lemme talk to you about my kids. No, you better shut that down. Oh.
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