Listening Post 1

I met Hazel Rodriguez whom spoke to me about her job. She works as a nail lady in one of the salons at the Flea Market USA. She is from Nicaragua and came to the U.S. when she was 8 years old. She is currently living in Miami, but she has lived in New York and Orlando.
Hazel says that New York is very expensive. When she lived in New York, her children would get sick because of the cold weather. She has two children, a girl and a boy of the ages five and six. Her grandmother, some aunts and cousins live in New York. She says her grandmother helps her over there, and she also has her aunts and cousins that she spends time with.
Besides all the places that Hazel has lived at, she likes living at Orlando. She says that Orlando is a cheap and nice place to live at. She lived in Kissimmee. She got her manicurist license at Orlando. She hopes to move back one day and live near her mother whom lives in Orlando.
Miami is also expensive place to live at, according to Hazel. Her father lives in Miami, but she doesn’t see him that often because he drinks too much. Hazel is Christian and so is her boyfriend. She says she doesn’t like to go party because of her religion. She is involved with church groups. She is currently living with her boyfriend whom is Dominican. Her boyfriend doesn’t have a job because he doesn’t speak English.
Flea Market USA is a place where Hazel feels comfortable because of the ambiance, the people that work and shop there have an influence on her belief. Most of the customers that shop at the flea market are of black and Hispanic races. She likes working at the flea market because she learns a lot from her customers, she explains that it seems that her customers don’t have anyone to talk to at home, and they speak to her about their personal issues. She also enjoys shopping at the flea market on her own time.
Being a student at Beauty Schools of America, allows Hazel to incorporate time into what she likes to do. She wants to get her hairdresser/cosmetology license because she wants to know how to style hair. She loves doing nails and hair.

In addition to my conversation with Hazel Rodriguez, I also met Louie Olmeda whom moved from Puerto Rico to the U.S. He was married in Puerto Rico and got divorced. He is now married here in the U.S. and he has children.
Olmeda works at the barbershop. He seemed very outgoing and told me that he wanted to own his own barbershop one day. He says he would be better off with his own business, and when I asked about where he would like to own a barbershop, he says that not in the area.
In his current job, Olmeda has to pay $150 to rent a chair for a week, and he explains that he earns around $250 a week. He asked why I was doing research at the flea market. He told me it wasn’t a good place and he explains that there is a fight there almost every week.

Overall, so far I was skeptical about going to the flea market because I really didn’t remember what it was like. The last time I can recall going to a flea market was when I was young. I learned how to relate to Rodriguez and Olmeda. So far, by what they aspire as individuals, it seems that they are working for a living and to better themselves. Rodriguez mentioned that she wanted to style hair, and Olmeda spoke about opening his own barbershop one day. They both come from different countries and are aspiring for more in life here in the U.S. They both have children, and they are both in a current relationship. I felt I had a genuine conversation with them. They seemed a little hesitant on providing me with their full name because they did not want to be involved in something that could possibly be published that would bring them issues. Revelation of their identity is the fear that these interviewees had, but they were able to trust me and open to a conversation where divorce, religion, alcohol and hopes was involved.