Mattei

=Amadeliese Mattei=

Podcast
media type="custom" key="12081425"

BIOGRAPHICAL/GEOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Amadeliese came to the United States in 1998. She married her husband in 1997. She has lived in Texas, Virginia, Ohio, and Maryland. She goes by Deliese. Her husband is in the military, so she has been all over the world. She has also been to Germany, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Holland, Italy, Spain, and other places in Europe. She misses her family the most but she has some family in the United States. She also doesn’t understand the Christmas tradition of hanging the stockings in front of the fireplace. She now lives in Maryland. She has a son Danny(12) and a daughter DJ (13). In Puerto Rico she was a 2nd grade teacher. She plans to live in Maryland until her son graduates from high school.

Puerto Rico is in Central America near the Dominican Republic. It is also in the Caribbean Sea and near the Atlantic Ocean. The average temperature during the summer there is 110-120 Degrees Fahrenheit and during the winter it is an average of 88 Degrees Fahrenheit. There is a little known geographical fact that not many people go to the beaches during the winter because they think it is too cold to. The, as Deliese says, “There is a body in every corner”.

=Creative Writing=

Woosh! Woosh! The waves crash onto the Puerto Rican shore. The sea combing the shore looking for lost little buried treasures of crème colored shells, smooth pebbles, maybe a bottle cap or two. Family memories getting carried away by the minds ocean. The blue crisp salty water hugging my knees while the gritty, but soft sand leaves imprints of memories about to be made. My daughter DJ and my son Danny molding sand people and sand monsters into the sand.Sonrío y complementar la forma en que se ve hermosa, mientras que tratando de averiguar lo que las imágenes son. // I smile and compliment how it looks beautiful while trying to figure out what the images are. // My husband Daniel, the Army Major drawing algebra problems in the slimy muddy sand, then watching them get washed away and resolving them. I turn around, thinking back to all the memories I`ve had here with my friends and family. Now I worry about my family and whats best for my children.

It feels different now that I am visiting.

I was sad when I had to leave Puerto Rico, but I didn`t have much of a choice that my husband was in the military and it was starting to get dangerous. The sound of laughing children brings back a memory or two. A tear silently rolls down my cheek. I go back and remember when we lived in Yauco and I how I lived on the beach, and how there was a body in every corner. I could practically taste the delicious Puerto Rican food that was taunting me. My Grandfather and my aunt would go to the beach with me. The noise was like a record playing over and over again. Annoying after a while, sometimes gave me a headache, but sometimes when it gets too quiet I miss the loud music blasting and people talking. English was my second language, but I wasn`t always good at it. The summers there were really hot and about 110 degrees. The winters were about 85 degrees.

No one would go to the beach during the winter. They thought it was chilly weather. Now, my husband, my kids and I visit during the winter so that way we can go to the beach without it being crowded.

I remember the beach at night, laying down on the warm soft but a little gritty sand. Looking up as the stars began their dance in the silkly smooth looking black sky. I wish I could just pause that moment and just painted what the sky and the beautiful scenery looked like. It became stressing as I got into my teen years. Girls starting caring about what they looked like and tried to look as perfect as possible. The boys became immature as they got older, and started to work out more. My friends and I would sit on the beach looking at the hot guys and talking about the days of our lives and how we can`t wait to grow up. We were greatly mistaken thinking life got easier after school.

Now, I wish the waves would just carry my worries away as the tide goes back out. Swoosh, swoosh, the sound of the salt water deep blue waves bring me back to the time now, with my children.

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT
Neuman: Hi, this is Maggie, How are you?

Mattei: Good Good Good. So what’s going on?

Neuman: Not much. I’m just doing an interview for my school, we’re doing it about immigration and stuff.

Mattei: Okay, let me see what I can do for you.

Neuman: Okay. Thank you for letting me call you this late.

Mattei: No problem Maggie.

Neuman: I’m just going to ask you a few questions about Puerto Rico.

Mattei: Ok.

Neuman: What was Puerto Rico like?

Mattei: Okay. It was a beautiful and very tropical land. You can go to the beach anytime. You could spend time with your family. You had a body in every corner. Uh what else can I say? (Pause) Food. Body. Tropical. Yeah it was kind of cool, but then it was dangerous.

Neuman: What city did you live in?

Mattei: Repeat the question?

Neuman: What city did you live in?

Mattei: Oh. What city did I live in? I lived in Yauco

Neuman: What.

Mattei: Off of the Island

Neuman: Okay What made you decide to move.

Mattei: Okay first it was because of my husband he had the orders. Then it was for better land. My husband thought it was getting to bad in Puerto Rico.

Neuman: Did you have a job in Puerto Rico before you left?

Mattei: Yes i was a teacher.

Neuman: What grade?

Mattei: Yes i was a first grade teacher.

Neuman: What do you miss Most about Puerto Rico?

Mattei: im sorry what?

Neuman: What do you miss mort about Puerto Rico?

Mattei: The family. I had my Grandpa, my aunt, you know. But then again. You could do alot. But what i can say is when i came to Ohio i had people waiting for me. Or when i go to Florida, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Kentucky. You know i have people around the states.

Neuman: What do you miss least about Puerto Rico?

Mattei: What do i miss least ok. (pause). Well i miss my family, the food. Probably i`m used to the quiet so if I go to Puerto Rico its to loud. It was Kinda loud. It was very loud.

Neuman: How was it loud?

Mattei: Loud it was busy, music loud, loud cars you can here the neighbors, With the radio volume all the way up. People Screaming, to eachother, talking really loud stuff like that. Its kind ofloud over there. Like i said there is a body in every corner. Your know. Sometimes its good sometimes its bad.

Neuman: What Languages do you speak in Puerto Rico?

Mattei: They speak Spanish and English.

Neuman: Thats neat. What was the weather like?

Mattei: The weather? It is tropical, it is always warm. In the winter we can go probably where it is 85. That is in the winter, in the summer its probably about 110. It is warm. It is very warm. I take my children in the wintertime, Because the people who live in Yauco think it is too cold in the winter for the beach.

Neuman: Wow. Thank you for your time.

ANALYSIS
Immigration is not always hard to do, sometimes it opens opportunity to go see other places in the world, and to experience other countries` [KL1] customs. Some people in the videos we watched said it was harder to immigrate to the United States and to become U.S. citizens because of the country they came from. For my interviewee, it was easy and a smooth process. In her home country, they did a lot of American customs. For some immigrants, it was hard to adjust to the American ways. In the videos we studied, most immigrants didn`t have anywhere to go after they came to America or a job. For Amadeliese, her husband was in the military so she had a place to stay and a job to support them. This is how Amadeliese survived after immigrating over to America.