a. Overview of interview process:

The interview process overall went really well. In preparation, I downloaded the Google Voice app on my phone which would allow me to record the phone call (unlike a regular iPhone call). I linked the app to my personal google account and watched a tutorial on how to set up the rest. Then, I asked my father for a new date and time when he would be available. We chose Friday, March 15, 2019 at 3:30 pm. I made sure that my roommate would be out of the room so that I would have no distractions or noise in my dorm. The interview ran smoothly for 25 minutes. If I had to claim an obstacle, it would be that I kept accidentally talking over my father and commenting randomly. This made the audio unclear at times and gave the translator difficulty picking up on the conversation. The translator was also super easy to use; all I had to do was link my google account to TRINT, a free translator website, and download my mp3 recording. After 5-10 minutes the recording was done translating. I went back in a corrected some sentences and rearranged some paragraphs so that they could align better with the recording.

b. Brief paragraph giving biography of interviewee:

The person I interviewed was Eduardo Sanabia, my father. Eduardo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1967 and is one of six children. He grew up comfortably in a middle class family that was able to afford sending him to Philadelphia to learn English. They were also able to afford sending him and the rest of his siblings to college. Eduardo received his bachelor’s from a private catholic university in Santo Domingo where he met his future wife (and my mother), Gina. With his grandmother’s and wife’s American citizenship, he was able to apply for a green card and eventually own American citizenship. In September of 1991, Eduardo and Gina came up from Dominican Republic into the states to work for a better life and later on receive their MBAs at Marymount University. They have been settled in Virginia ever since. He has been working at ThinkFoodGroup for 8+ years, first as Senior Director of Human Resources and now as Chief People Officer in Washington, D.C. My father was definitely a great person for this interview as he is very open and outgoing. He had no problem answering the questions fully and well detailed.

Please provide research that helps contextualize some aspect of your interview. It should be something that tells us in what ways your interviewee’s experience was typical and / or atypical for their time, gender, and geographic location.  You should be curious about how their experiences compare and contrast with that of their peers, colleagues, and family members.

Hipsman, Faye, and Doris Meissner. “Immigration in the United States: New Economic, Social, Political Landscapes with Legislative Reform on the Horizon.” Migrationpolicy.org , 16 Apr. 2013, www.migrationpolicy.org/article/immigration-united-states-new-economic-social-political-landscapes-leg islative-reform. 

I found this excellent resource, which appears to be a research paper, that discusses and provides data about legal immigration in the United States. I learned that there are four peak periods of immigration, but the most relevant one for this interview is the fourth peak that began in the 1970s and continues today. In a chart provided within the paper, the largest spike had over 1,800,000 immigrants and occurred from 1988 until 1996. The 1990s is seen as the longest period of sustained economy and job growth since at least World War II. I found this odd, because my father actually mentioned in the interview that he arrived to the states during a recession, and made finding a job that much more difficult. Moreover, the 1990s and 2000s have registered historic highs in overall immigration levels. This resource allowed me to gain insight of what the immigration levels looked like when my father (and mother) entered the US. 

“Immigration Act Of 1990 – Immigration | Laws.com.” Immigration , immigration.laws.com/immigration-act-of-1990. 

Because my father came to the United States in 1991, I wanted to see if any bills were passed involving immigration. The Immigration Act of 1990 was significant because it increased the number of legal immigrants into the US from 500,000 to 700,000 per year. Most importantly, it provided family based immigration visas, created five distinct employment based visas, and a diversity visa program that created a “lottery” system to admit immigrants. Based on what my father told me in the interview, he did not have any problem applying for the visa. This was due to holding his green card for over two years and having an American grandmother and wife. Perhaps this made his experience different than the typical immigrant waiting in the “lottery” system.

Leon, Ricardo Rojas. “Former Dominican President Arrested.” UPI, UPI, 30 Nov. 1988, www.upi.com/Archives/1988/11/30/Former-Dominican-president-arrested/4991596869200/ . 

I wanted to check the political climate of the Dominican Republic in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Perhaps any information I could find had something to do with my father wanting to leave the country. I found that former Dominican Republic President Jorge Blanco (1982-1986) was sentenced along with two other men to 20 years in prison and $16 million each in fines for misspending government funds meant for military purchasing. He was the first Dominican head of state convicted of corruption in the century! However, this does not mean there weren’t any more corrupt leaders that simply hadn’t been caught yet. My father has always told me that DR is best known for it’s awful corruption. 

c. Transcription (ideally) 15 to 20 minutes of recorded interview. If students want to edit the recording that is fine but it is not required.

Google Voice App: This call is now being recorded. 

Valeria: Hello? 

Eduardo: Hello. 

Valeria: Can you hear me? 

Eduardo: I can hear you well. 

Valeria: Ok awesome. I just wanted to get your consent before we get started. If I can record the interview as well as post on the course website. 

Eduardo: Yes. That’s all OK with me. 

Valeria: OK. And my grade won’t be affected by what you say, so feel free to not want to answer if you question if you feel uncomfortable or you don’t know the answer to something just say you don’t. OK. 

Eduardo: OK. 

Valeria: So can you describe your early life in Dominican Republic such as where you grew up and like your schooling and your parents and siblings and other background information. 

Eduardo: Sure. Well I grew up in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and I come from a family of six siblings. I’m number five of six brothers and sisters. And I grew up in a neighborhood where there were a lot of other kids. At any given point… at any given point will be 25-30 kids on the street playing. [Valeria commenting] So back home everything was very predictable and standard. Everybody went to the same school. I started in kindergarten at my school and I graduated from high school at the same school. Then from there I went to college, which is a college where there’s only like three or four colleges in the city. So you continue to have the same… the same friends and the same environment. And so you know like my life was very friends and family oriented. My mom had a sister with six kids and a brother with four kids. So everytime we’d go to my grandma’s house it was like a party every time because there were so many cousins and aunts and siblings. There was a lot of fun. 

Valeria: So with that said it sounds like he had a great time. But for what reasons did you decide to move back to the states? So like what made it appealing or what scared you and all that. 

Eduardo: Well I guess that as much as a nice upbringing that I had, at the end when you become an adult is everything is pretty much the same. It’s a very close minded culture. Everybody does the same things, likes the same thing. And the country itself is governed by a government that is quite corrupt and with you know very influential families so people that are in those circles [of influential families] have a great opportunity. But people who are not, you know, it is very hard to make a living there. So I wanted to go out of Santo Domingo because I wanted to try the world and see other things and here in America obviously it was a place where you can, you know, have those dreams and work hard for them. 

Valeria: OK great answer. So I heard you that you mentioned those corrupt. So what conditions- like what conditions were Dominican Republic when you left and would you say they’ve worsened or gotten better now in 2019? 

Eduardo: Well I think that the culture itself is corrupt where whomever is running the government at the time- there’s a lot of, you know, robbery of government funds and, you know, the taxes that people pay are robbed by individuals in the government and the funds that are supposed to go to certain things such as infrastructure or schools or public services… they never get to those areas because people in the governments steal them. So I think that looking back I think it has worsened from when I was there. [Valeria: worsened?] Yeah it’s probably worse now because now- before I guess it was more subtle. And people I guess that all these things were done very in the… in the shadows. Now it’s like very… 

Valeria: Discretely? 

Eduardo: Yeah. Now it’s like everybody’s very corrupt and it’s out in the open and people don’t really care. So that’s why I think that it’s actually worse. 

Valeria: OK. OK. Alright. Now that we’re done with that background information, let’s get to that point. [laughs]. 

Eduardo: Yeah. 

Valeria: What methods did you use to enter in the United States. And can you like rate how difficult or how easy it was? And why you chose that answer? 

Eduardo: Sure. In my case it was not necessarily difficult because my grandmother from my father’s side was born in Puerto Rico. So she was an American citizen. And then when my dad and my mom decided to move to the United States to Miami, my father got ill. [Valeria interrupts briefly] So my father got ill and they wanted to come to the states so he can get treatment here. And so they apply for their green cards, and you know, obviously they ask the children that were under the age of 29, we’re able to also get some legal status here in the United States. However in my case, however, I got married to my wife, Gina. And Gina was born in Puerto Rico so she was an American citizen. So when we moved here to the states that’s how I got my green card and then my citizenship. 

Valeria: OK. So from your… from your green card you applied for citizenship and they accept it, right? OK. 

Eduardo: Yeah. That’s how it works. Yes. After you have your green card for between three or five years, I can’t remember now, then you can apply for citizenship. 

Valeria: Oh OK. OK. You just answered my next question. That’s awesome. OK. [both laugh] Can you describe your first month in the United States? You kind of already did but if you couldn’t keep touching base like when you moved with Gina. Just describe the type of adjustments you had to make in your lifestyle like was it very different or was it kind of similar to the life you lived in Santo Domingo? 

Eduardo: Well no. It was it was different. And I wasn’t I wasn’t necessarily too new to the system because I had traveled to the United States before. And when I was in college I did a year of English as a Second Language here in Philadelphia and I lived with an American family. So that kind of gave me perspective of what it was like to live in America. And that’s probably why I wanted to then come back, come here for good. But you know when I moved obviously you know the whole process of… you know getting situated, and you don’t have any credit, you need to rely on family and friends to help you with you know things like you know how to rent an apartment and kinda like getting a driver’s license. And of course although in the Dominican Republic, English is a second language and most kids they learn English from an early age and everything is very Americanized like you know people in the Dominican Republic have cable TV and American music and it’s not necessarily something that you don’t grow up with. But still you know you need to go to, say, an interview for a job and you know you’ve never interviewed in English and it’s something that you need to adapt. And after a couple of interviews you get a little bit like anxious because you don’t know if you’re going to get a job. And my wife and I moved here in 1991 which was during a recession. So it was very hard times. There was not a lot of jobs. But then you know we did find jobs like after a three months of being here. We were living with my sister at the time when we first moved. And then that’s how, you know, we started. 

Valeria: OK. And you only had two siblings there at the time? [Valeria reframes question] What part of the family was here in the States? 

Eduardo: Well around those days where my father moved to Miami with my mom, then we kinda split up because I had three, no, two brothers who moved to Miami with my mom and dad. And then I had a sister living in Washington D.C. and that’s where I came after I married. And then, one sister and one brother stayed in the Dominican Republic and they were married at the time with kids. 

Valeria: Oh OK. That’s kind of what I thought. Well you kind of already talked about some of them but I’m just going to ask again. What were the differences and similarities between Virginia and Santo Domingo. 

Eduardo: Oh yeah. 

Valeria: So exclude the obvious ones, like obviously language and you know… 

Eduardo: Well, what was very different was the fact that, you know, you don’t know anybody and you don’t have any friends and that especially it feels very different during special holidays where in the Dominican Republic you’re just surrounded by your family and friends every day even if there’s not a party. And then holidays become something even more special and more family oriented here in the States. And you’re totally isolated. You don’t have family or friends to celebrate those holidays and you don’t have, you know, that that that daily interaction that makes the Latin country so warm. And where do you know everybody and you talk to anybody on the streets and everywhere. Another thing in the Dominican Republic is that there is a lot of help in a way. Their people… It is in the culture that you have people that help you in the house, like maids, and they clean your house, they cook your meals, they wash your clothes. So that’s the reason why people have so much time to socialize because they don’t need to use their personal time to do those chores. Here, everything became about, you know, running the household chores which is something that we were not accustomed to. And then especially when you have now kids things become more complicated and you don’t have anybody at home to take care of your kids, like in Santo Domingo there will always be someone that could help. 

Valeria: I didn’t even think about that. 

Eduardo: Yeah. Here now is like “okay… you need to figure out the baby sitter arrangement. And when the kids are going to school, who’s going to pick them up from the bus stop?”. So it’s very challenging here for young couples that start having kids versus in Santo Domingo where you’re going to have tons of people that can help you with those things. 

Valeria: OK. You just mentioned about having services there like like a maid. [reframing question] Cost of living… would you say it’s more expensive in the United States or there? Obviously I’m talking back when you and Gina didn’t have like, you know, me. [both laugh] 

Eduardo: Well, the thing is that, back in the Dominican Republic, the help of having either a maid or a cook or someone to watch over your house… It is a lot cheaper than here. And it’s because the unemployment is so high and people don’t have jobs. So people will do those jobs because that’s the only thing that they can do. There’s so many people unemployed so that’s why it becomes so affordable to have someone in your house. And then the more affluent people are, the more maids they have in their house. And in many instances, they’d have maids that sleep at their house! They put like quarters in the house so people can actually sleep there. Maybe the younger generation now may have help that go or that come throughout the day and then go home to their families then come back and it’s very like if it was a normal job. But that’s something that here you cannot afford because it would be too expensive. Unless you have the capability of bringing somebody from a Latin country just to be a maid or au pair or something like that. 

Valeria: Okay. Yeah. That sounds a little ridiculous. [laughs] 

Eduardo: Mhm. Yeah. And that is something that I have- we have- evolved from our culture. At least my wife and I. That we don’t see ourselves having somebody else in our house. Even if it was to help us every day because then you get adjusted to a system where it’s more private and you will have that many people in your house like in my country. 

Valeria: Ok. Alright. Good answer. You also touched briefly on how you spoke English in Philadelphia or something like that right? So how would you describe your English level. Like was it alright? Or did you know like very basic like using the bathroom or asking for food? Or did you actually, could you formulate you know a good sentence and how to carry a conversation? 

Eduardo: Yes. I think, like I said, back home you know English is very very important and people learn English. But I think for my family, in particular, it was even more evident because my dad was very focused on that. He was very- he thought that English, learning English, was almost like having a career. [laughs] That’s what he’d say. Because he felt that that was very important and that you will become more marketable you know in the workplace, if you were bilingual. Even if you were in the Dominican Republic. So, that’s why he would send us to the United States. Like my my older sisters they also came to Boston to learn English and then I came to Philadelphia and I think that I knew all the grammar and because I loved to read English books or books in English. And I love the English music, but it’s not the same as having a social conversation with somebody. So yes, [unclear audio] obviously you come here and you start working and then you start having colleagues and friends at work and they make jokes and they use slang and things that not necessarily you learn from a classroom. [laughs] So, so then that’s when you start kind of like… “Oh my goodness, I thought that I knew it- a little bit of English- but now I don’t know anything!” [laughs] But, you know, then your ears start getting adjusted and then, you know, that’s how you learn. 

Valeria: Yeah. OK. OK. So now, fast forward like ten years right. It’s like a decade now. And I wanted to know what inspired you to receive your master’s degree and what was that like with, you know, three children and I’m assuming a full time job and, you know, duties and chores and all these things that you have to worry about. How did you make that happen? 

Eduardo: Yeah, that’s a very good question. [unclear audio] Well I think that I was working with Marriott International for many years, probably would have been 12 years now, and I was very interested in getting my higher education because with a higher education you become more marketable for promotions and to continue to grow with a company or outside the company. So I wanted to get all my learning in Organizational Development and Human Resources and that’s what I applied for. And it was funny because my wife Gina, she came with me to apply for it, and the lady said “but aren’t you going to apply, too?” and she was like “oh I’m just here to [laughs] hear while you’re talking.” and she said “I mean you should do it. You should do it as well.” And then that’s how Gina got interested too to go for it. And then yeah we decided to go and do our master’s at the same time and we have three kids and we have full time jobs. And it was extremely extremely hard because it was crazy. It was crazy; you will kind of like- you run from work to go to school. And we did it at Marymount University in Arlington. And at the time I was I was working in Chantilly. So that was a long ride. Yes. And then you go for three or four hours class and then you have to do your homework and your papers or whatever it was, so yeah, you didn’t sleep alot. But then we had, we were very lucky because we had Gina’s mom, Mami Edith, who helped us through this, you know, through this difficult challenge that we had. Also, Tio Luische, which is Gina’s brother, he had recently moved to the United States as well and he stayed with us for a while until he found a job and a place to live. He would also help with the kids and that’s how we made it through. And then halfway through the Master’s we really got very inclined to change our major to do an MBA instead. [Valeria cuts Eduardo off] Like yeah like we actually ended up doing four years of Masters [laughs] Yes. Yes. Three years depending on depending on how many credits you take in one semester. Right? Like if you’re a full time student you may do a master’s in a couple of years. But for us we were doing only with a certain amount of credits. Otherwise we couldn’t make it. S o, but then after the two years then we got our certificate in organizational development and then we kind of spinned off to taking more business classes so we can then complete our MBA. 

Valeria: Alright. So that’s how that all went. 

Eduardo: That’s how it all went. And you know that’s probably one of the most challenging things I’ve done and I’m very proud of it. 

Valeria: Good job. [laughs] Alright, well that concludes our interview because those are all the questions I have for you. 

Eduardo: Okay, well, thank you very much for having me and I hope that this helps you with you know whatever project that you’re doing or whatever assignment. 

Valeria: It did, thank you. [laughs] 

Eduardo: If you have any other questions or clarifications, you can call me back. 

Valeria: Alright. I probably will. [laughs] And last thing, I just wanted to ask for your permission to post the picture you sent me on the website as well. 

Eduardo: Oh sure absolutely. Yeah. 

Valeria: OK. Thank you so much for your time and your answers. 

Eduardo: Alright. 

Valeria: Alright bye Eduardo. 

Eduardo: Thank you, bye. 

d. Conclude with a couple of sentences about how the interview went.

In conclusion, the interview process went very well. As I mentioned before, something I wish I could fix was my interrupting and commenting. It made the transcription (converter) have difficulty picking up the audio, as it was unclear with two voices speaking over each other. After the interview, I called my father back so he could clarify some parts of the interview. I feel like my questions flowed nicely together and went in a “fashionable” order. Sometimes my father would answer the question I had in mind before I even asked, so I had to make some other questions up on the spot. The last question probably has least to do with my immigration topic, but I still thought it was a nice touch to add for the project and for my own curiosity. Overall, I thought I did a decent job!