Conversation with Maria

Finesse (00:00:00): Thank you so much for joining us and for participating in AnthroHarvest's interview. So we're going to ask you 12 questions, but if anything makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to not answer that question and we'll just skip to the next. 

Maria (00:00:15): Okay. 

Finesse (00:00:16): Okay. So we're going to start off with what is your country of origin? 

Maria (00:00:21): Mexico. 

Finesse (00:00:22): Perfect. And what brought you to Ottawa? 

Maria (00:00:25): I came here to study university to do my undergraduate degree. 

Finesse (00:00:29): And what do you study? 

Maria (00:00:30): I'm doing political, joint honors, political science and history. 

Finesse (00:00:35): Can you tell us a bit more about why you chose to study in Canada? 

Maria (00:00:38): 
So I won't say that I chose to be here in Canada by myself. It was like a decision that was heavily influenced by my parents, especially my dad. So my dad wanted me to go to study abroad. He wanted me to experience a different culture, learn a different mindset, have a more diverse experience in my life and give me opportunities he didn't never had. However, he didn't want me to go all the way to Europe or Asia because that's way too far, far away from home. It will require definitely more than two or three airplanes. It's like flights are over 10 hours. So he wanted me to have the possibility to visit home frequently or if whatever, because if there was like homesickness or actual sickness or whatever, just to be able to get back to Mexico fast. So he decided that something will be, that the best pick will be something here in America. So the other option was Canada in the US. Neither me nor my dad are thrilled about the US culture, then like instability. There's also like insecurity, the prices. So we chose Canada. Plus Canada has always been marketized in Mexico, like the great utopia, you know, where like there's free healthcare, there's security, people are happy, people are nice, people are friendly, people are not rude. So yeah, I ended up here coming to Canada. I was first at a boarding school in Victoria in BC, and then I moved here to Ontario to do my university at Ottawa. 

Finesse (00:02:18): Do you have family here and do you see them frequently if you do? 

Maria (00:02:22): I, currently, I don't. When I came here, like a year after, one of my brothers moved here, too, to study. He was an Algonquin, but he didn't like living in Canada, so he went back to Mexico. So currently, not otherwise, it's just me. 

Finesse (00:02:37): Okay. Do you think you would eventually go back to Mexico and live there permanently? 

Maria (00:02:45): 
Honestly, again, I don't know. That's, I'm a decision that is not 100% for me to take. My dads, my parents have influenced a lot of my decisions. I would love to maybe eventually go back to Mexico. However, the political situation, the social situation, there's a lot of crime, there's a lot of insecurity. So I don't know if it will be in my best interest or my best fit to me to go back home. I'd like to visit often. I'd like to stay long times, be like there a couple months. However, for settling, I think. I will try either to move somewhere else I I've been in Canada a couple years now so I definitely don't see myself sticking here for too long but I will I would like to go maybe to Europe maybe go to France try to learn French or Italy something new something different and maybe once I'm done traveling done experimenting and living life I would like to go on back home and settle. 

Finesse (00:03:45): And do you live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish and celebrate various occasions? 

Maria (00:03:53): No, not really. I don't think I've found that here in Ottawa. I know there's like Latin communities in Vancouver and Toronto, like really Latin neighborhoods. I haven't found that here in Ottawa. 

Finesse (00:04:06): I know you mentioned that you don't live in a Latin community or neighborhood where people speak Spanish. But do you know if there is a neighborhood in Ottawa that exists where you can do so? 

Maria (00:04:17): 
As a matter of fact, I know it doesn't exist. I know there's like places in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, where they're like literally just like you go to the Chinese neighborhood, like there's like Latin neighborhoods, you know, like there's a lot of Mexican businesses or like Latin, whatever, like mixed with Colombian and Swell and whatever. And there's like a lot of apartments and rent to people that have migrated from Latin communities.I know we don't have that here in Ottawa. The closest thing I've found so far is like Facebook groups, like Latin Facebook groups, where people will like spend their business, will like just share and like, oh, their businesses, their ideas, they will like look for advice, like, hey, I'm looking to rent an apartment or hey, I'm looking for a job, like, what can you, how can you help me? And that's like the closest thing I've found, to have a community or neighborhood of people that speak Spanish in Ottawa. I think it would be great if there eventually becomes one, maybe as more people come here to Ottawa, as more people settle they will eventually be one be created. I know one of the big issues right now is that we're all like scattered throughout the city. A lot of like live all live like in Gatino, others like live in Nepean, others like live like an hour away from downtown. And the reason is like, I know they're looking for like places that are not that high on rent. So that is definitely a challenge. 

Finesse (00:05:46): And what celebrations are most important to you? 

Maria (00:05:50): As like holidays I'll say that in Mexico the most popular ones are there's actually one that's coming like this next week which is like in English I think it's called no it's like a Catholic event um in Spanish is Semana Santa I remember the name in English like two weeks of like the Holy Week like one from like when like Christa and like the whole thing that was really common um Christmas. And I'll say after that, we have Day of the Dead. Personally, myself don't really care about it. I have family members that do. 

Finesse (00:06:24): Do you have strong contact with your community and family back home while you are living in Ottawa? And if so, does that help you stay connected? 

Maria (00:06:34): 
I'll say that it's a 50-50. I do try to stay connected. I think the most common thing that I use is that I text them a lot. I text a lot of my family, I text a lot of my friends. I try to do FaceTime with like as many with them as they can. I would send them like you change stuff through social media. It does become a bit hard because, well, sometimes life gets busy. You know, you have school, you have work, you have your personal issues. So it's not like you can be in the phone 24/7. But I do try to have them involved in my life, let them like give them updates like, hey, have you been? I've been doing this, what you're up to? I also try to visit as much as possible. Sometimes that's an issue because well, plane tickets are pricey and well, I have school and stuff like that. I have like my own personal commitments. But I do try to keep a strong contact with my community and my family, my friends. I think if I don't keep in contact with them, if I like stop reaching out to them, I start to feel like lonely and isolated. So I like for them, I have like group chats with my friends and family and we keep each other updated like, hey, I'm doing this. Like we're all living our different plots. We're all trying to keep each other like updated and involved just so we don't feel like we're not part of each other's life anymore. 

Finesse (00:08:02):Okay. Um, and can you describe a typical day in your community? 

Maria (00:08:07): Like living here, living back home.

Finesse (00:08:10): Maybe both? 

Maria (00:08:11): 
So I think it changes a lot. Living here, my typical day will be waking up, doing like my self-care routine. Taking care of my pets, going either to work or going to school, going back home, feeding myself. That's pretty much, I'm pretty by myself. I'll say that back home is more different. People tend to mingle more. I think here if you want to meet with your friends, you need to schedule it way in advance. In Mexico, the culture is really common like, Hey, what are you doing right now? Let's meet up right now to go have breakfast. So it will be something like that, I will wake up, have breakfast by myself, with my siblings, or with a friend go do either whatever errands I have to do for the day, whatever work, and I'll always meet up with someone. Like it's a more social life. 

Sola (00:08:57): Would you want to be part of one of these communities? 

Maria (00:09:02):
I think I will love it. It's nice to have... to socialize with other people that have experienced the same things that you have, that get the same feelings of being away from home and missing it and sometimes wanting to go back but also wanting to push forward with the decisions because at the end of the day you move away from home because you're looking for better opportunities, for better stability, for better life conditions. So it will be nice to be part of a big group that gets that feeling. And not only that, but also help newcomers here to Canada to go to navigate like the whole migration thing and the adoption. 

Sola (00:09:42): How do you celebrate your heritage, whether in Canada or back home? 

Maria (00:09:49): 
I don't think I really do nothing here in Canada, like to celebrate, oh, I'm Mexican. Yeah, I've never done anything. Sometimes with my friends, we will cook for ourselves just to not lose my culture. I will cook my own food at home. I don't really go to the Mexican restaurants here because I don't find them good. They're not bad, but if you have had the real deal that I need. As a back home, we do have a lot of the days, like Independence Day, the Revolution Day. It says that in Mexico we tend to celebrate them. We tend to have the day off from school or the day off from work. We tend to go out to eat. Even if we don't really care about the whole celebration, it's a time where you do socialize and spend time with friends and family. 

Sola (00:10:33): Okay, that makes sense. What are some values that you hold most dear as a member of the Latin community? 

Maria (00:10:41): I'll say it would be the connection to family. I think Latin families we do care a lot about. No matter what your family is, it's like blood is blood. You need to hold each other and be together. I think that's something I try to keep, especially right now that I'm by myself. I try to have connection and keep connection with my brothers that are somewhere else, with my family, not get too distant. 

Sola (00:11:03): Can you tell us more about the family values from your community and how that compares to what values you see in Canada? 

Maria (00:11:10):
You really care. And it's expected for you to be to those that are like your family, your blood related and everything, and your close friends, no matter what. You always try your best, like it's really normal to do a favor and do it and not without expecting anything in return. Also expected for your parents and to be for your family, no matter what. And I think the biggest example for that can be how here in Canada, once you turn 18, 19, it's expected for a lot of the kids to move out of the parents' house. That's not the norm. Unless you're going away to another city, like going abroad to another country to study, you're not, your parents are expected to stay at your house with them. And even if you leave, let's say, I want to go study to another state, but inside Mexico, or I want to study in another country, your parents are still socially expected to help you as much as they can, obviously taking into account their possibilities. But yeah, it's like what's socially expected is what's socially from like fomented. And yeah, I'd say like that's it. I think that I've seen that in Mexico. People will always try to have your back, no matter what, and he and I think people are more, it's not selfish, the world say they're more individualistic, like... Okay, this is my issue. My things are my things. And if I can, or maybe you care about the person, then you will try to reach out or help other ones. If not, it's like whatever, you know, like not my issue, not my problem. 

Sola (00:12:49): And you talked about food. What foods do you make that remind you of home and where do you purchase your groceries to prepare your traditional meals? 

Maria (00:12:57):
So the groceries, I tend to buy most of the stuff at like places like Blah Blahs or Food Basics. I do bring a lot of stuff from home. Like if I wanna make los chilaquiles, which is like a dish with tortillas and like a chili sauce, that's like tomato chili sauce. Sometimes there's like little Mexican stores, like Latin markets that do sell them here. I don't try to buy them here as often because they tend to be way overpriced. So when I go back home, I bring the stuff that I know like I can bring. And I'll cook it here. And I found to buy like certain replacements. Like I know here in Canada, it's not really common to eat like soft cheese on pasta or cheese. So I found like something, I found like a Greek cheese that is like pretty similar in flavor and texture that I can find like at Costco. So I've done like a lot of substitutions. I've done like a lot of like Mexican soups, like tortilla soup, which is called tortilla. uh uh lalpeno soup which is like similar to like a chicken soup but with like a spicy chili twist um chilaquiles and chiladas which a lot of things involve tortilla and tomato and chili just in different presentation and cheese. 

Sola (00:14:08): Okay that sounds really yum. What would you like to share about yourself or your community that you think is important for people to know? 

Maria (00:14:15): I don't know I think I think a lot of people have the misconception that All Mexicans have to be short, brown, and fat. We're not like that. We were a colonized country. There's a lot of people that are mixed, a lot. It's pretty normal to see white Mexicans, really tall Mexicans, or like ginger Mexicans, even black Mexicans. So I think it's important to people to not try to pinpoint us just to like a basic physical stereotype. And what was the second part of the question, sorry. 

Sola (00:14:48): What do you think is important for people to know, whether about yourself or your community? 

Maria (00:14:52): Well, I would say that's mostly it also. Yeah, I would say that mostly that plus Mexican cultures tend to vibrate a lot from like, just like how Canada is really diverse between the its own like provinces, just like that is in Mexico too. The culture from the north is really different from the people in the south. You're not going to have the same experience and. I don't know, I think that we must lead. 

Sola (00:15:14): Do you think people in Canada stereotype a lot? 

Maria (00:15:17): Yes, I have a lot of people ask me, and I swear to God, if you're Mexican, why are you what? And I'm like, okay. I'm like, I'm a mixed, like it's a mixed country, we were colonized. 

Sola (00:15:30): Right, okay. This question is related more about our project that we're doing. What would be like the probability for you to use the website and to look into, you know, different stories or different cultures that people have. 

Maria (00:15:47): I think it depends on what I'm looking for. I don't know if the website will have stuff like Latin events coming up that people can look into it. I will maybe look into like the website if there's like a way to join or like link up with other Latin, other Mexicans. I will also give it like a try to like check the website out. Or maybe if I need it for a project, I'll also need to check it out. Besides, I don't really see myself trying to Google it. 

Sola (00:16:11): Yeah, that's fair. Do you have any other comments or questions for us? 

Maria (00:16:15): No, I think that's mostly it. I don't know if that's enough. 

Sola (00:16:19): Yeah, no, it was great. It was great to hear your insights and what you think about your community and hear it from you. So thanks so much for joining and for letting us have the space to ask you questions. So thank you. 

Maria (00:16:35): No problem. Okay.