Mrs. Anthony Safien-B transcription

In: safien-B - Final.pdf

Abstract

Part two of an interview with Mrs. Anthony Safien of Westminster, Massachusetts. Topics include: How she became a U.S. citizen. What it was like for her children to visit their grandparents in Canada. How she has enjoyed her life in the U.S. and how it might have compared to a life in Canada. ; 1 SPEAKER 1: Did you ever become a citizen or…? SAFIEN: Yes, I became a citizen about, uh, three years after we got married. Usually they told me it's five years, but seeing that I married a veteran from the Second World War, they gave me two years. So after the third year, I went and I learned all the questions and everything. SPEAKER 1: Did your husband help with that? SAFIEN: Uh, well, not really because it's… well, he used to ask me the questions and I'd answer them. And I went through the whole book. And then finally I was called in to Fitchburg Court and I had myself fingerprinted. I had to go to the police station first time in my life. I had to be fingerprinted and then we went to court. No, first we went somewhere downstairs and the fellow – and I had to bring two witnesses, a man and a woman that would verify my character or something. And, uh, they asked me a lot of questions, why I was becoming a citizen and all that. And I gave them some foolish answers. I told them, "Well, I married an American fellow." And so they asked me, "Is that the only reason to come and become a citizen?" And after that, I think about a few weeks later, they called me. And I, we went… well, there were quite a few of us, other people becoming citizen, and we got sworn in and got a picture taken. Then now I got a paper to prove that I became a citizen of the United States. So, uh, it was kind of nice. It felt good. SPEAKER 1: Were you nervous a little bit too? SAFIEN: Oh, yes. I was really nervous because – I had to go home. You know, there was nobody… and even when they ask you those questions, even if my husband and my two witnesses were there, but they take you in a room and they asked you a certain question. It's almost something like a driver's license. SPEAKER 1: Yes. SAFIEN: You get seventy-five questions and they might ask you three questions but you still got to know… SPEAKER 1: Those three.2 SAFIEN: The whole book. SPEAKER 1: Yes. SAFIEN: You got to know the whole book because you don't know which questions they're going to ask you. And I came home, I remember, and my husband came home from work. I said, "I made it." So now I've been a citizen for 26 years. SPEAKER 1: How about politics? SAFIEN: Well, after my citizenship papers came through, we talked it over with my husband because I didn't know too much about it here. He was a Democrat, so he says, "Well, why don't you join his party?" SPEAKER 1: Yes. SAFIEN: So I became a Democrat. SPEAKER 1: And you still are? SAFIEN: Still are. SPEAKER 1: You're not really actively involved in the [unintelligible – 0:02:45]. SAFIEN: No. I vote for Democrats most of the time. SPEAKER 1: Yes, just an average. SAFIEN: That's right, because I don't understand that much about the politics and… so I just vote Democrats. SPEAKER 1: After you got here, you probably corresponded, like writing back home, right? SAFIEN: Yes, I used to write to my mother in Lithuanian. But then my mother had to have a friend read it to her. So finally she told me to write them in French. My sister-in-law, she used to read them and then translate them to her in English. Finally I wrote them in English. It was the same thing. My sister-in-law still had to translate them but she understood it better from English than from French into Lithuanian. SPEAKER 1: You had the advantage too. You probably called her on the telephone too, right, if you… SAFIEN: My mother never had a phone. SPEAKER 1: She never had a phone?3 SAFIEN: No. SPEAKER 1: No. SAFIEN: No. She never had a phone. But like I said, we used to go visit them every year for about a whole week, and letters mostly. She always wanted to get a letter every week no matter what I said as long as I said hello. If I didn't say hello one week, she'd worry. SPEAKER 1: Really? She's still worried about you? SAFIEN: Yes, well, for a few years. After that, I guess you get adjusted in life like anybody else so anything else. My kids used to enjoy going to see grandma and grandpa, especially the little grocery store, little candy store. They still have it even today. It's right next door to my mother's house. Give them a nickel and they'll come over with a bag of candy. SPEAKER 1: Not if you can do that now. SAFIEN: They still can do it there. SPEAKER 1: Really? SAFIEN: Yes. I was there a few months ago now and they still got that little store next door. The kids, I guess, they still get them. SPEAKER 1: They still can get a lot from a nickel. SAFIEN: Yes, for a nickel. SPEAKER 1: When you wrote back and forth, or when you even talked to them, did you ever try to encourage them to come to America, your brothers? Probably your parents were pretty stationary. SAFIEN: No. We never discussed that subject because, I don't know, it never occurred to us. I figured I've made my life. My life happened this way that I had to… I mean I didn't have to marry but it just happened. Like I said, I married an American fellow, and my brother married a Canadian girl. They settled there, and I settled here. There was no question. SPEAKER 1: No trying to – SAFIEN: No. They got adjusted to their lives. I still like it here---peace and quiet.4 SPEAKER 1: I was just going to say, when you consider everything, would you ever consider going back there, or this is your home? SAFIEN: No, I wouldn't. I thought of it after my husband passed away. I don't know if I got a little depressed or something. I told my kids a few times if they didn't behave, I'm going to take them to Canada and live with grandma and grandpa. They didn't like the big city either, because there was no backyard to play. They had to play in the alleys. When they grew up a little older, still they went. They sat on the front porch and back porch. In here, at least we got a big yard. You're not scared to let the kids out on your road to bicycle or roller skating. Up there – oh, God Almighty! SPEAKER 1: The traffic and everything. SAFIEN: Oh, traffic! I think Boston probably is getting worse and worse every year. When we first moved up to that house---that's our second house that I'm talking about and my father bought it, it wasn't bad. We thought we were out [unintelligible – 0:07:01]. I was out of the main drag. But as time went by, every year we went by to visit them, it seems… SPEAKER 1: To get worse? SAFIEN: Oh, yes, red lights on every corner. When we first started going back to visit them, we used to stay there a week. On the third day, we were ready to come home. SPEAKER 1: Really? SAFIEN: Yes. Where we live right now, it's peaceful and quiet. Up there, in the middle of the night, you can hear brakes screeching, fire trucks, sirens and police cars zooming by. But we toughed it out because we went to visit grandma and grandpa. SPEAKER 1: It still is an experience. SAFIEN: It is because you see the place grow. I think if you lived there, you wouldn't pay so much attention to it. Now I remember when we first moved there, there was three lots empty next to our house. Next year we 5 go, there's one house. The following year, there's another house. It looks like we're back in the city all over again. SPEAKER 1: Do you think, in general, things have worked out better for you? Do you think you had a better opportunity in America or about the same? Do you think you had more opportunity? SAFIEN: Well, I never really had to work since I got married and raised three children. SPEAKER 1: Since your husband really worked here all along, then that was not really a change in opportunity. Do you think your life was better maybe? SAFIEN: I liked it. I don't know. There were no headaches. SPEAKER 1: Even when you were first married, you really probably didn't have to struggle that much, did you? SAFIEN: No, not really. I wouldn't say no. No, not really struggling. I mean, we made ends meet, bills were always paid and we had a few dollars. Of course, in those days were better times. Anyway, that was 25 years ago. I never had to work. He didn't want me to go to work. We had three children. We raised them. SPEAKER 1: They went to school. SAFIEN: That's right. They went to school. SPEAKER 1: Do you think your children had a better chance here? You think the schools maybe were better? Would they have gone to college if you had lived in Canada and brought your children up there maybe? SAFIEN: That's hard to say because they never really liked it out there, especially when they got older. It seems the older they got, the less they wanted to go. The only thing they went because they wanted to see grandma and grandpa. As far as even visiting out there, we used to have a problem that they won't let the kids in the movies, so they didn't have much of a place to go. My nephews, they went to the pool room. SPEAKER 1: Yes, instead they allowed them in the pool rooms. SAFIEN: My son went once and he didn't like it. I often used to ask them if they'd like to live in Montreal, and they said no, probably because they 6 were born here. Maybe they'd go to Florida, but I don't think they'd go to Canada. As far as the weather, it's about the same as here. I used to write to my mother. I'd say, "Keep your cold air up in Canada." She'd write me back. She'd say, "Keep your cold air in the United States." I don't think there was much difference as far as the weather went. SPEAKER 1: Maybe some of the plans that you had when you came to this country, where there any that you might regret that you didn't achieve, anything that you specifically want to do that you never got to do? Maybe did you want to go to college or something like that? SAFIEN: No, I figured maybe when you're younger in those days. I just figured I got married, I had children. SPEAKER 1: That was what you wanted. SAFIEN: I figured out that was what life was and things went on pretty good, so I never thought about anything else. SPEAKER 1: You've been pretty satisfied with your life then. SAFIEN: Yes, until it lasted. SPEAKER 1: Yes. You got a happy life. SAFIEN: I can't say I was unhappy so far. I mean, I have my problems, like when my husband got sick and then passed away. After that, it was a little harder to live. After my husband passed away as a young man, I finally had to go out and work. I worked part-time first because the social security helped me until my kids became of age. The veterans helped me too so I could work part-time in those days. After the kids finished their education, then I had to go and find a full time job. SPEAKER 1: What was your part-time job, your first job? SAFIEN: I worked at the rest home, taking care of older people, citizens. It's just more like a home too, making beds and… SPEAKER 1: That was your full-time job? SAFIEN: After a while when my kids had their education, so they stopped all that help and I had to get the full-time job. They gave me the full-time job at the rest home. 7 SPEAKER 1: You don't really have that much trouble making ends meet. Do you get any compensation at all? SAFIEN: No, nothing from the government. SPEAKER 1: Not until you're on Social Security. SAFIEN: Until my own Social Security comes. After the kids reached their age and they finished their education, that's it, me and the children. SPEAKER 1: It's not that your life isn't that difficult to get along. You're not suffering. SAFIEN: No. SPEAKER 1: You've got a home. Is there any advantage you think that you have of being an American citizen? Do you think of an advantage you have over being, say, a Canadian citizen? Any privileges? Or was it not that different really? SAFIEN: I never had what I had here. Like I said, if I were to become a widow in Canada, I wouldn't know what they have. I know my father, when he reached 65, he got his Social Security and his pension from where he worked; same thing with my mother. But as far as young widows or widowers, I don't remember anybody talking about these things. I couldn't tell you whether they… SPEAKER 1: Do you think you had more freedom in the United States than you did in Canada? Not just political freedom. They all say it's the land of the free. Do you think of the freedom of speech or anything? SAFIEN: I think it's about the same. To me, it seems you just cross the street into Canada. SPEAKER 1: It's not all that different. SAFIEN: The only thing – the money maybe a penny more on a dollar or a dollar less. Some things are more expensive there. Electrical things are more expensive here in the United States, after you find out. No, it's pretty close to the same as here. SPEAKER 1: Lots of times you hear people say that they long for the good old days and many years ago. How do you feel about that statement? Do you 8 think the times were better in the good old days? Do you prefer life now? SAFIEN: Right now I prefer my life the way it is now. SPEAKER 1: Even though you really never had that difficult as a child, still you've got a lot more advantages. SAFIEN: No, because I'm more free now with my life as I am today, more or less. Well, I got a few dollars and I got a full-time job. I still got my health. I can do what I want to do. SPEAKER 1: The children are well. SAFIEN: The children are all married off – so far, so good. I think I got nothing really to… no, the only thing is I wouldn't have lost him. It would be a little better in one way. Your children get married. You still got your man. That's about the only thing. Otherwise, I don't know. SPEAKER 1: That's cool. I want to thank you for your time. I know I took a little bit of your time. Thank you for helping me. SAIFEN: Well, I hope it means something, like I said. /AT/jf/kb/ee