Emily Knaub: [00:00:00] It on, um, to put it on the website. Um, so I guess to start, could you tell me a little bit, um, about, well, I guess your name and then, um, where you’re from and kind of where you grew up. Okay,

Kathia Mock: so my name is Katia Alfaro Mock and I was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. And I pretty much grew up there up to when I was 21 years old. Although when I was in the fourth grade, my dad came to Denver, Colorado to get a master’s degree and he brought us when, uh, you know, he brought us as a family with him for one of those years and I was in the fourth grade and that’s when I first learned how to speak English, but it was only for one year. And then we went back to Honduras and, um, you know, and then I went [00:01:00] back and finished school there.  

Emily Knaub: Yeah, that’s cool. Um, did you, um, have a lot of family around you in Honduras?

Kathia Mock: I do. I still have my cousins and my aunts and uncles, you know, my, my grandparents were there since then, you know, now they’ve passed, but they all were there.

So pretty much all my family’s still there, except for my immediate family. Parents moved here about 28 years ago, and then my brothers and sisters as well moved here because they came to school here and ended up staying, but the rest of our family is still in Honduras. So when you immigrated, did you come alone?

I did. Mm hmm. So when I, when I first came back, uh, when I was 21 was because I had met my husband down [00:02:00] in Honduras and he is from the United States. And so we, you know, we met down in Honduras and I came because we got married and then I, I, I immigrated here.

Emily Knaub: Okay. Was that kind of like, I guess something we talk about in our class a lot is like push factors of migration and then pull factors.

So I guess from your perspective, what were some of the factors that like pushed you into the path of immigration? And then some of like the factors that made the U. S. the place you wanted to come? I know for that, for you may have been your husband, but. Mm

Kathia Mock: hmm. Uh, I think that. I have always, you know, maybe because I lived in the United States when I was little for that one year and I wanted to come back and I thought the opportunity to go to school, you know, I had started my college in Honduras.

But I was a [00:03:00] junior over there and I thought, Oh, you know, I could my sister was already going to college in the United States. And so I was wanting to go to college here and finish it. And so I thought, oh, that would be. You know, so nice if I could so it was always kind of like him in the back of my mind to come to the United States.

I don’t think I ever thought I would come and live here. But I thought just, you know, to come back and go to school. I think that was that was a factor and then of course, you know, then I met my husband, and, you know, we ended up getting married so of course. You know, then the rest is history.

Emily Knaub: Yeah, you said your sister had come before you. Was she just here for school or does she still live here?

Kathia Mock: She was just here for school, but she, uh, so what happens when you come here as a international student, you come with an international visa, [00:04:00] international student visa. And then they give you permission to work for one year. And so my sister worked here for one year when she graduated.

And it just so happens that she met her husband at work. And so she got married and then she stayed here. But, but when I got married, she was still finishing school. She was not married. So after that, you know, after I had married, then she finished school. And like I said, she was studying for one year and then she met her husband and that’s how she was here.

And then I have two brothers and then they came to the United States for, for college. And then, um, and then after that they ended up staying here, but just because there were better job opportunities and they [00:05:00] were, their work was able to get them work visas to stay, to stay here. And that’s how they ended up staying here.

Okay. That makes it, do they live around the area that you live? No, one lives in Florida and the other one lives in Dallas. Oh, so really all over. We’re all over, and my sister lives in Maryland.

Emily Knaub: Cool! I guess what then was the process of migration for you? Like, did you, um, fly over, I guess? And kind of how did that, the start of you coming here after school, go for you?

Kathia Mock: Yeah, so actually it’s a long process for and now it’s even harder to, you know, go through the whole immigration process. But, uh, so I came in, I came when I came here, of course I came as, as a, as a fiancé, you [00:06:00] know, and then my husband and I got married here. So, you know, obviously I flew here and, uh, I had a tourist visa.

And so, which nowadays is super hard to get, uh, especially from a country like Honduras. So, so I came in, like I said, is with that, and then we got married here, but because we got married here, they wouldn’t, they said that if I left the country, then I could not come back in the country until I had my green card.

So then I ended up staying, you know, I ended up staying here because the idea was that we would get married here just by justice of the peace. And then we’d go back to Honduras and have a church wedding, but we could not do that because it, it took nine months just for me to get a temporary green card.

Then I got [00:07:00] the temporary green card. And then after two years of being married, then you have to go through the process of you go back to the immigration office and in separate offices, they interviewed the, you know, they interviewed my husband and then interviewed me and they asked us questions to see if we were really married, you know, where I wasn’t just there getting a green card.

So then, uh, you know, then they asked us questions Then they asked us a question. My husband’s in the background. He said it was, it was faster for me. Cause I was married to a military. Yeah. My husband’s retired air force. And, uh, so, so the thing is that, um, you know, that he was, they asked us questions like, oh, you know, so what’s your, his favorite.

You know, whatever, you know, and then, and then, uh, like, where have you lived? And just questions like that, that could prove that we were actually married. We had to show pictures [00:08:00] of us together and things like that. And then after those two years, then they were, they gave me my permanent green card.

Emily Knaub: Okay.

Kathia Mock: Oh, yeah. So then after that, that green card is your, your, your, your permanent resident, they call it the green card, but it’s your, your permanent residency card. And then after, after you have been a permanent resident, then after five years of being a permanent resident, then you can apply to be a naturalized citizen.

So, so it was. It was hard for me. It was. almost sad going through the whole citizenship because you, I mean, during the ceremony, obviously, you know, you swear to the U. S. flag and to the constitution that you’re going, you know, that you are a U. S. citizen. And it’s almost like, Okay, so yes, you are a [00:09:00] Honduran, but you’re now have to respect, you know, not respect, you know, but you know what I’m saying that you and you are now a US citizen and renounce that, you know, the Honduran citizenship.

So that’s, um, that was, you know, kind of an emotional time, you know, because I felt that, you know, I’m always a Honduran at heart, you know, but, uh, but I am, I naturalized a US citizen.

Emily Knaub: Did you give up your Honduran citizenship in order to be a US citizen, or do you have dual citizenship?

Kathia Mock: No, I, I gave it up because Honduras I mean, I don’t know if it’s different now, you know, but at the time you had to do that with Honduras.

I know some countries, they allow you to have dual citizenship, but at that time I had to, you know, give up my hundred citizenship. And that’s what I was saying. It was, it was, emotional for me because I was, you know, giving up my Honduran [00:10:00] citizenship to become a U. S. citizen. So I, Honduras is not a country that, um, that gives you the dual citizenship.

Emily Knaub: Yeah. Yeah. Let me, what year was that? I guess when did you immigrate and then get your green card and then the citizenship?

Kathia Mock: So 1989 was when I, you know, when I Got my, my green card, you know, my, my, my permanent resident, my temporary, you know, uh, permanent residency card. And so it was, um, so it was, uh, let’s see, 90, uh, see, in nine, 91 and 293, 94.

I think it was in 94 or 95 that I got. And the thing is that, you know, what my husband was saying [00:11:00] was that in general it would take a little bit longer, but at the time we were supposed to move to Japan. And so I wanted to go as a U. S. citizen because it’s easier to travel with the U. S. passport than with my Honduran passport because You know, if I needed to renew my passport or my visa, I would have to find a Honduran consulate, you know, so it’s more complicated.

And so I was able to get my citizenship a little bit faster. And that’s, that was the reason why, because we were due to move to Japan. We didn’t end up moving, but, you know, but I did go, I think it was, 94 or 95. Must have been 94.

Emily Knaub: So you, being a military spouse, kind of alleviated some of the hurdles that you had to jump through or quicken the process for you a little bit?

Kathia Mock: It did quicken, but just that, you know, all the other [00:12:00] processes were the same, you know, I had to go through the only the, but the only thing was the citizenship. And that was only because, like I said, we were supposed to move from, we were living in Oklahoma at the time, and we were supposed to move to Japan.

And so I thought, well, you know, I think I’d rather go with, uh, because we go, we go with a different passport, you know, going as military, it would have been easier to go with the U. S. passport. So then I applied and they allowed me to do that, but it still had been five years, you know, it’s just a little bit earlier than, than normal.

Emily Knaub: Yeah! I know you talked about kind of being sad to, to revoke the citizenship from Honduras. What were some of the things that you like really enjoyed about living there? I’m sure family kind of played a big part of that, but

Kathia Mock: I think, I think that [00:13:00] is the biggest thing is having, uh, you know, as having family there, plus, I mean, it’s almost like, I mean, um, like you feel you’re, you’re part of that country, you know?

And, and yes, I love being a, you know, a U S citizen. And of course, you know, I live here and I don’t think I’ll ever move to Honduras to live permanently. But it was sad because like I said, I felt like I was. You know, betraying my country, you know, by I’m becoming a US citizen, you know, and, and, you know, you almost feel like, okay, so I’m not going to be considered 100 anymore, you know, and, and, uh, I think that was the hard part that That’s the reason why I felt emotional and all that when, when that happened.

Emily Knaub: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Um, and then kind of talking about more of your integration into living [00:14:00] and being a US citizen, how, um, was the experience for you of like getting a job and kind of learning about, um, United States, um, work norms and how that may have differed, um, from your life in Honduras?

Kathia Mock: Oh, yeah, it was. It was very different when, when I, when I first actually, when I first started working here, I wanted to see what it was like working here. I mean, I was, I was young, you know, so I had only had, you know, Part time jobs, you know, so I, I, uh, joined this temporary, they call it, you know, the temporary work, um, offices, uh, offices.

And so they just send you do team doing temp jobs. And I thought, I’m going to go see what it’s like, you know, because I’m only going to be there a couple of days here in this office or that office or in a bank [00:15:00] or in, you know, whatever. And so I wanted to see what it was like. working in an environment here.

And the thing is that even though, so like I said, I had learned English when I was in fourth grade and I went back to Honduras and I, I attended an American school there for all the way up to my high school. And then when my. Last two years of high school, I graduated from a Honduran high school and um, you know, then I went to college over there to the Honduran College.

And even though I was going to this American high school, you know, we have. English in American teachers and textbooks, but you don’t really learn, you know, slang or things like that. So it was a little difficult. Sometimes I was like, what does that [00:16:00] word mean, you know, or I would always ask my husband, you know, what does that mean, or, or I would pronounce And things, you know, really funny.

As a matter of fact, it’s still a joke in the family, you know, and Terry would probably tell you that I used to call Chick fil a, you know, Chick fil a because I thought it was Chick fil a, you know, so it’s a family joke that, hey, let’s go to Chick fil a, you know, because, you know, it was, uh, just things like that, that you’re not used to, even though you might have learned the textbook.

English, you know you it’s it’s a culture shock, you know, coming to another country. It’s a, of course, the way that even the way that people eat, you know, like, I, I didn’t grow up eating sandwiches, you know, I grew up. Sitting down for a lunch, you know, and, and sitting down for dinner, you know, a smaller meal or bigger, bigger meals are at lunchtime.

So, [00:17:00] you know, we would always have our, our, um, lunches, you know, we’re the big meal of the day. So even those things were just getting used to. All that, you know, that those were just culture shock, just different things that, Oh, okay. You know, that is different or having all this drive through, you know, and all this stuff that we didn’t have nowadays, you know, they have more of that, but when I moved in 88, you know, and 89, that was a lot different than how it is now.

So that was a lot of. Getting used to that, you know, and of course, in the work environment, you know, of course, it was, it was different as well. And like I said, in my English, even though, you know, I spoke English, but it was a lot of Or like the technical terms and things like that, that I had to learn. So, so that was an [00:18:00] adjustment.

Emily Knaub: Yeah. Did you have a favorite food? Um, that was like from your, your culture country that you either still like, or like, what’s your favorite at the time?

Kathia Mock: Yeah, I, I still miss the food from there. So I do have a, one of my favorite foods over there. It’s a very typical dish from Honduras and it’s a soup and they sell it at the, in the north coast and um, it’s made with coconut milk and it is, It’s called Sopa de Caracol and Caracol is, uh, you know, a conch, like a conch shell, the snail, you know, so it’s a seafood soup, but it’s made with coconut milk and has the yuca root and plantains and it’s, uh, It is so good.

And that is one of my favorite foods that from over there. And there’s also a ceviche. ceviche, uh, with the conch. Oh, [00:19:00] it’s so good. So, so, so good. And, and food to me just, Even the taste of the food was different to me when I moved here. I was like, Oh, I find the meat here tastes different, you know, and all this, just because everything over there, you go to the market, you know, even you go to the book, the butcher has the whole cow hanging, you know, from there, just cut.

Can I have some of that piece? You know, they cut a piece of meat. So everything is super fresh. You know, you go to the market and they have all these vegetables and fruits, everything, you know, the farmers come down with fresh, Veggies. So very different to coming here and going to a supermarket, you know, frozen food.

Yes. So, so definitely. Oh yeah, definitely. I, you know, the food is one of the big things.

Emily Knaub: Yeah. And you talked about, um, That was definitely a shock, like, the culture and even, like, with the work and talking with English and things. Did [00:20:00] you, uh, how was your experience with kind of the relations with others when you came in?

And, like, did you, um, feel welcomed or did you feel like it was sometimes, like, a rough environment with the people around you? Kind of how was, like, the relationship aspect?

Kathia Mock: I think for the most part people were welcoming, but I did encounter people who were actually, um, would, I felt that would treat me different just because I, you know, I was not from the United States and even sometimes to the point where some people were a little bit mean, you know, like they would sometimes, like I said, I pronounce a word different, you know, and they would laugh, you know, and.

And even though you might think, okay, you know, you’re laughing, but that’s, you know, that’s not cool, you know, that, that you’re laughing at the way that I speak, you know, or, or, well, you know, you [00:21:00] don’t do things like this here. So I did, you know, encounter some people that were. A little prejudice, if you, if you will, you know, against that, that, that I was a foreigner.

So, so I always try to, you know, practice the way that I pronounce words, you know, or things like that, or of course things were done, like I said, different, a lot of things were, you know, I felt were done different than the way that I was used to. So, but I did encounter some of that.

Emily Knaub: Yeah. Um, I can imagine that was probably hard, especially when you were, you’re pretty young.

Yes,

Kathia Mock: it was hard, you know, that because, I mean, you can imagine, I was 21 years old, you know, a 22 year old just leaving her country, you know, there was back then, there was no internet, you know, no, it was send a letter, put it in the mailbox, you know, and wait, I don’t know, a month, you know, for it to get [00:22:00] to, you know, Oh, you know, to Honduras and then back and forth with my parents and phone calls were super expensive, you know, international phone calls were no computers, you know, no personal computer.

So it was just, like I said, the, you know, write a letter and wait till you get a response. So it was, it was hard. It was, it was a little bit, you know, lonely at times, but. You know, but it was it was different.

Emily Knaub: So do you have a lot more contact with back home now? And have you been back more now that you have the ability to with your green card and full citizenship now?

Kathia Mock: Yeah, actually, when When we first got married, my, my parents lived there. And, uh, so we would go every other year, we would go visit Honduras, but ever since, Oh goodness. So last year [00:23:00] it had been 28 years since I had not been back to Honduras. And that was because. We, my parents since then had moved to the United States because all of us ended up, all of us kids ended up coming here.

So they want to be closer to us and it was easier to travel within the United States, you know, to visit us. And so they. live in the United States. So we lived overseas then, uh, with my husband being in the military, then when we would go visit family would come here, you know, so it was not, we didn’t go, um, to Honduras.

But I keep in touch all the time with my family over there, you know, we have family, you know, this side of the family cousins and that side of the family cousins, you know, and we chat and we keep in touch, you know, send photos. It’s, it’s, uh, you know, it’s super easy nowadays, and I went back last year [00:24:00] for, you know, I had planned to go in 2020 and obviously, you know, we couldn’t go in 2020 anywhere.

So, so then I pushed, you know, was pushed back because Honduras was one of those countries as well that they didn’t get the vaccine until much later. So there were a lot more restrictions. So it wasn’t until last year when, when I went and it was, it was amazing. First of all, I didn’t recognize anything, you know, in the place that changed so much where I grew up.

And then, but it was like, You know, like time had not passed, you know, seeing my cousins and in my aunts and, you know, sadly. You know, some of my older family members had passed, you know, my, um, grandparents and some aunts and uncles, but it was so good. And of course eating my, my favorite soup, you know, when I was over there.

So, so that was very cool.

Emily Knaub: That’s cool. I’ve actually been to Honduras once. I went, um, we went to Roatan. [00:25:00] I was kind of like, I’m assuming maybe a touristy area because we were like on a cruise, but we went snorkeling at like a reef and. So Roatan

Kathia Mock: is probably where you would find that soup, sopa de caracol.

Really? Yes,

Emily Knaub: yes. I remember my brother eating ceviche there.

Kathia Mock: Oh yeah, oh my gosh, the ceviche is amazing. So the ceviche, you know, they’re really more from the North coast, of course, closer to the, you know, to the ocean. But believe it or not, I, I have never been to Roatan, uh, because, you know, it’s, it’s, uh, the islands above, of course, I’m from the capital of the.

country, Tegucigalpa, and so, um, you know, so we would go visit. My grandmother used to live in San Pedro Sula, which is the north coast. And that’s where, you know, we have a lot of influence from the Caribbean. Of course, there with the Garifuna, so that’s where that tradition of using [00:26:00] coconut milk and of course there’s coconut trees over there, you know, so they use the coconut milk to cook, and they use it in seafood, of course, because it’s available there in the coast.

It’s so good. Oh, so good.

Emily Knaub: Yeah, no, that’s a really cool connection. Um, And I know since you, um, have naturalized, I know you said you were feeling kind of sad at the time, um, but now, I guess, do you feel more American in a sense, or do you still feel like more foreign, or does it feel like really a mix to you, or kind of, where do you?

about that?

Kathia Mock: I think I feel like a mix, you know, because I feel I, you know, I’m always gonna have my Honduran, um, background, you know, that is something that, uh, you know, I think it’s an, it’s in my culture to me, like, um, the traditions, you know, the way I grew up, that’s my kids, [00:27:00] you know, will tell you, that’s how I, you know, I, I raised them a lot.

Like I was raised a little bit different, of course, you know, because we’re in a different country, different era, but, but a lot of the traditions I keep holidays and things like that. I mainly, you know, Hispanic food. So. Those traditions, I feel like I will always have them and, but of course, you know, I live in the United States and, you know, some of my family, no, you’re a gringa now, you know, you’re on like, no, you know, I’m still Honduran, you know, I do live in the United States.

I’ve lived here longer than what I live in Honduras now, you know, but, but I think that will always, that will always be there, always be a mix. Yeah.

Emily Knaub: Mm-hmm . Yeah. That’s special. Mm-hmm . And I know, I believe you said you work in schools. Now, does that you, are you a Spanish teacher, is that right?

Kathia Mock: I’m a Spanish [00:28:00] Teacher.

Emily Knaub: Mm-hmm . So has that kind of been a way that you’ve kind of incorporated like your childhood and upbringing into like what you still do here?

Kathia Mock: Yes, yes, I love sharing, you know, I tell my students that is the my favorite part of teaching Spanish is that I get to share with them the culture, you know, I get to share with them.

Um, you know, dances and foods and traditions and, and I feel that that also, like you said, keep it. Um, alive in me, you know, because I get to share with my students. So, you know, and I’m You know, that’s the way I grew up. So I love sharing that and I tell them in all my classes, you will, you know, you will have culture integrated in there because that that’s part of why I love teaching the language.

Emily Knaub: Yeah, that’s really cool! I think that’s all the questions I [00:29:00] have for you. So thank you for answering them and letting me know a little bit about your life! I’ll end the recording now.