For my second interview, I chose to stay in Los Cubanitos Market, but interview an employee of the store. At first I thought this would be difficult because the employees were busy, but I managed to speak with one individual, who had just finished his shift at the Market. This man, who was older, probably in his 50s, spoke broken english and was shy, but he was very friendly and easy to talk to. His name was Sebastian Martínez and was also Puerto Rican, similar to Gabriela. After a little small talk, we began the interview, which lasted a little under 10 minutes. Below is the dialogue of my interview with Sebastian:
(Jack) – “How have you liked your time working at Los Cubanitos Market?”
(Sebastian) – “The Market here is nice, I work here for 5 years now and am happy with this job. The owner here, yeah, he is so great and is so nice to each worker here. I like the people who work here, most workers like me and are Latino, you know, because Los Cubanitos is a lot of Latino people because the food attracts them. My english you see is not the best, here I speak Spanish everyday to friends and other workers. This is nice and I enjoy that, I try to make my English better, still practicing.”
(Jack) – “What brought you to Hartford, how long have you lived here?”
(Sebastian) – “I come to Hartford 6 years ago now. I come here to work, like most because the work home is no good you see. Work at home is hard and the pay is not much, so I want to come here. Beginning here was hard, you know work and living was difficult at first. Once I settle it becomes much easier for me. This job I have here has been so good, the owner was so nice to me and I have been able to save money here and there.”
(Jack) – “How would you describe the Latin culture in this area?”
(Sebastian) – “Ah yes, I like it very much the culture. Hartford has all types of people, a lot are Puerto Rican, like me, but people of all types come here. I know people from Mexico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Argentina, all types you see. Hartford is a place for people like me, you can find work easily and it is nice to see others like me here, Latin people you know? Many Latin families live here too, many young latino kids, I like to see this, it is a growing group, a big community here.”
(Jack) – “If there is one thing you could change about your experience as a Latino living in this community, what would it be?”
(Sebastian) – “My family, I want them here too, with me. This place is great for me, I want those from home here too, too enjoy with me. It is hard you know with so many there at home, to get all those here. My brother he came here too, he is the younger one, he came a year after me. This is nice, I see him every week which makes it feel like home to me. I want to travel yeah, I am saving money because I want to go other places too, not just here.”
(Jack) – “What do you enjoy the most about Park Street”
(Sebastian) – “I think the people is it. When I work I meet people everyday, new ones, you know. I get to speak with them in Spanish and hear about their stories. This is great for me, I like meeting others. I try to talk English too sometimes, but here in Los Cubanitos its mostly Spanish, yeah. I like the music too, I walk to the Market for work here, I hear Latin music when I do this. It feels like home for me when I see so many like me.”