We Are All Migrants - KaleidoScapes

Title
Ramón Is A Migrant

Andrea Barreiro · 26 enero 2019 20:36

Story
Ramón Castro Lestón is a migrant , he is my grandfather , was born in Galicia , Spain . He leaved Spain when he was about 39 years , and then he emigrated to Switzerland ,the migration was seasonal . Ramón was working in a merchantman , working as a cooker ,when he decided to look for a job with better working conditions . A few months later my grandfather found an agreement in an enterprise of construction called Jeam Fantolini á Bonvillar of the position of framer , the working conditions wasn´t the best but the salary was much better, Ramón had to maintain his wife and her 3 children , so he decided to call the employes of the enterprise to work at it . A few weeks later he was taked on .The 5 -12-1972 , he leave Spain , and about the 4-11-1992 he was at Switzerland .The company was very clever because he maked the contract for 6 months and when the 6 months had finished , the contract ends and my grandfather had to retun to Spain , and then when the summer ends , in december the company taked on again , to work at the same conditions ,and at the same position , the enterprise didn´t like to pay my grandfather holidays , he was in charged stop during the summer. About 10 years before my grandmother was sick of cancer of prancreas , my grandfather had 4 children to maintain so he decided to continue working for this company. 1 year before my grandmother was died , and the four children were about : 9,13,16,18 years old ,so they have to distribute money for all of the months,7 years before my aunt Loli got merried with her groom ,and then my other uncle got merried 3 years after . Ramón retunted to Spain 3-12-1993 , because he has 60 , and he was retired , he got a diploma of the enterprise Jean Fantollini á Bonvillar . He stayed 21 years working in Switzerland of framer .Then actually he has 84 years old he has 5 grandchildren , and he lives in Muros , Ramón is a very happy migrant.He Was very worried about his sons, but he learnt german fluently . When Ramón starts to Live in Switzerland, he thinks that this country Was very similar ro Spain, but Spain Was cheaper than Switzerland. He missed the sea and the gastronomy oficial Galicia. He learn German quickly, so ir Was not dificultades todo Ramón. Encofrador-persona que hace armazones.

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Title
Diego Villaverde Varela is a migrant

María Villaverde Temes · 16 enero 2018 17:52

Family picture

Story
Diego travelled a lot during his life, these are some of his memories:

When Diego arrived from A Baña to Ames he started to play the guitar because he didn't know anyone in the area and he had a lot of free time. In his last year at school Diego participated in a literary contest which he won with his own achievement. He was the only one who took part!

Before he moved to Madrid, Diego worked in Ames Radio. One day he had to interview some people for a special programme which was going to be emitted. One of them was an old lady who when she saw the microphone thinking that she was going to be recorded, said “Not me, I don't want to be on TV”.

When Diego was working at Onda Cero in Madrid after announcing some news in the studio, a woman who was listening asked him if he was from Toledo, as his accent was similar to her parents. During his time in Madrid, Diego met a lot of Galicians. One evening in a Galician bar, while he was watching a football match where Deportivo da Coruña were playing,he met the owner of the bar who was also Galician; and together they founded the first Deportivo club in Madrid.

When Diego went to Germany for the first time to visit his girlfriend, he found work without looking for it and he decided to stay there. One of his girlfriend's friend who was Italian told Diego that the company she worked for was looking for Spanish speakers, and because he also spoke Galician it was easier to communicate with Portuguese and Brazilian clients. The first year that Diego was in Germany he had to spend Christmas there because of work, but he still enjoyed it because he went to a Christmas market in Dresden which is one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany. He also ate a lot of “stollens”, a typical German dessert similar to the Italian “panettone”. To keep warm he also drank “glühwein” a typical hot wine which is drank during the Christmas season.

The advantages of living in the centre of Europe, was that he was able to travel to many destinations which included: Thailand, Turkey, Hungary, Poland, Cambodia, United Arab Emirates, Austria, Chech Republic, Holand, Slovenia, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria and The United Kingdom. From time to time Diego sent me postcards from the country which he was visiting which I keep with love in a box.

On arrival to Braunschweig, he was surrounded by boxes. As they moved city they had to take all their belongings which included furniture. They had to mount the kitchen units and lighting as in Germany flats come unfurnished.

Finally, Diego told me the truth about German stereotypes:

1- Germans do not have a sense of humour:
Diego then told me that Germans do have a sense of humour and can be very ironic.

2- Germans are very organized and like to plan:
Diego told me that this is truth, in the month of January all workers have to plan their holidays for the year.

3- Germans enjoy their food:
Diego said that this is true because in the bakeries there are lots of cakes, pastries and various types of bread. They also take delight in drinking beer and eating sausages.

In the photo my uncle and I are showing objects that represent his emigration. The photo was taken at Christmas as my uncle always comes back to celebrate this time with his family.

The game "Party" symbolises Christmas for us because we always play it when we are all together. The suitcase portrays Diego's travels, including his emigration. The postcard is from one of his trips. We added some books because he takes advantage and buys them in Spanish when he comes over. Finally, the sausages represent the country that he emigrated to.

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Title
Emilio Quelle is a Migrant

Alejandro Rubial Quelle · 14 enero 2018 16:37

Family picture

Story
He was born on May 18, 1937, in the bosom of a large family.
Son of a farmer of Galician origin, Juan Quelle, and Sara Morales, housewife. He has four brothers and two sisters. His father and mother always worked the lands and remained in Spain.
He was baptized at the time of his birth in Vilar de Santos. Ourense. Spain.
He had a normal childhood where he helped his parents in the work of agriculture and went to school until the sixth grade.
He began working at age 16 in the province of Salamanca, Spain (Duero) there he spent four years, returning to Villar de Santos where he married with Mercedes Bahía Garcia, then decided to leave for Venezuela in search of a better quality of life. He has two children: Erika and Julio, there he worked in several companies as a carpenter. After some years he opened an ice cream shop with his wife. After some years he had to sell it due to health problems and returned to his native country with his wife, where he currently lives.

Family picture

Henok Martínez Rodríguez · 31 diciembre 2018 14:43

Story
Alejandro when he was a child studying English as a foreign language in England and in Ireland during the summers. He liked the experience and while he was studying at the university he did an Erasmus exchange at University College Cork in Ireland and afterwards a exchange at the University of Richmond in Virginia, USA.

When he was searching for his first job, Alejandro he had the chance to job in Portugal for an international consortium, working on a vocational studies proposition for the European Union. He lived in Espinho, a town south of Porto, for six months.

Afterwards he got a job as an intern in the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in Athens, Greece, through a scholarship of the Chamber of Commerce of Santiago de Compostela of one year. There he helped Spanish companies export their products to Greece and Cyprus. He really liked the job and when the position of acting market analyst became vacant, Alejandro took the chance and got the job. His responsibilities grew. During his years in Athens he helped to organize many trade delegations visits to the countries, including one with the participation of the then Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. He lived in Athens for two years.

Two years later the job of Market Analyst of the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of Spain in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He moved directly from Athens to Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, a large city in the middle of the desert in the Arabian Peninsula. He worked there for four years helping Spanish companies. There he managed too a small group of economist of the Institute of International Trade of Spain (ICEX).

After four years living in Riyadh, Alejandro decided that he needed some changes professional and personal. Alejandro quería estar más tiempo de sus amigos y familiares, para el era un poco duro vivir en un país como Arabia Saudita con una cultura y religión tan distinta a la suya. After thinking about it for some time, Alejandro decided to leave his job and return to Spain.

Alejandro decided to search for a job in Spain, preferably in Galicia. He also wanted to change the kind of job he was to do. It wasn't easy for Alejandro to find a new job. The economic crisis was very strong in Spain and there was a lot of unemployment when he returned. It took him two years to find an interesting job as a project manager at a research institute at the University of Santiago de Compostela. Today, Alejandro helps researchers find resources for their research.

Videos

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Manuel Lariño is a migrant

David Lariño Torea · 30 enero 2019 17:13

Family picture

Story
As soon as his company closed due to economic problems, he had to look for another job. I do not take long to find him. In Spain there was not much to do and for that reason he must leave home a long time to earn money. Now he is traveling to Greece.

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Geography and History of Ames

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