Anya Wooden - Interview transcription

Date Recorded: February 2015

Place: Lake Macquarie

Interviewer: This is Ann Crump interviewing Anya Wooden for Harmony Day Project for Lake Macquarie City Library. Anya thank you for participating in this project. Could you please give me your name and where you were born?

Anya: Um, my name is Anya [Wariska?] that is my surname, and I was born in Riga, Latvia. Actually when I was born there it was part of USSR. And ah for those who don't know it is in Eastern Europe, in the Baltics.

Interviewer: What stand-out memories do you have of your childhood? What was your childhood like?

Anya: I think it was a happy childhood. I remember my family; siblings spend most of time outdoors, playing with neighbouring kids. Spend our summers in summer house, so I can basically spend all time outside.

Interviewer: Was it common having a summer house in Latvia?

Anya: Yes, yes. Everyone had, they own piece of land. And that is what happened when they divided the piece of land, so you are six hundred square metres, I think. And it was very important because everyone lived in block of flats and apartments there. So I guess, in summer or on weekends it is quite a usual thing to go, to go outside, out of town and spend, just have some fresh air

Interviewer: Was apartment living crowded? Was there more than one family?

Anya: I think you would say it was crowded. In our apartment we have two rooms, smaller one and bigger one. In the smaller room, lived my grandparents; in the bigger room lived my parents, me, my sister and brother. That's to start with. And as years went by, grandparents moved out, and, we had a bit more space

Interviewer: Prior to emigrating did you study or work in Latvia?

Anya: Ah, yeah I study Scotland? in university, and I had some jobs, part time jobs, so was part time sales assistant and I also worked as a clown in entertainment, organised birthdays, things like that

Interviewer: When, you mentioned earlier that you moved to Scotland initially …

Anya: yes

Interviewer: the training you received at university, have you worked in that field since university?

Anya: No, not really, at Uni I studied economics and business administration and the while I was studying I was, went for the summer jobs, just for the summer to start with. And, all I could get was, kitchen I was doing dishes, just for one summer and the next summer I was promoted, I was a waitress, and er, another and when I came back I was receptionist. It was all hospitality jobs. Nothing to do with what I study. My English wasn't good enough.

Interviewer: It's very good now

Anya: Well ..

Interviewer: When did you initially leave Latvia and how old where you at that time?

Anya: It was, I was nineteen and I only left, I think I went for half a year and then I came back, I think when I finally left for good I was about twenty one.

Interviewer: So what, what was it that, prompted you to leave?

Anya: Well I think, um, for quite a while, I knew I wanted to live elsewhere. I think there were several reasons. I felt like it was too small for me, I wanted to travel and see the world, experience different cultures; I really enjoyed the learning languages. I wanted to speak the different people in their own language and, that was one reason. Then I also after living in Scotland I realised that quality in life in Europe and in Scotland was much better than in Latvia, so you just, you could offer more things, you didn't have to save for months and months to buy yourself a pair of winter shoes, things like that, just bit easier. And also when I went to Scotland for the first time, I met my future husband. I think that influenced things a little bit. So I kept coming back.

Interviewer: And what prompted you then to move to Australia?

Anya: My husband, he is Australian. So he lived in Scotland for nine years and it was coming home for him. He was quite open minded, he could have stayed there or live elsewhere, but , I think for me family was quite an important thing. And because we couldn't, we knew we couldn't live in Latvia, he didn't know the language and just wouldn't be the same. So I wanted to be at least close to one of our families.

Interviewer: So do you still have ties to your former country?

Anya: Oh yes, definitely. My mum, my grandmother and my brother are there, other relatives, still have friends there. So Skype quite often, several times a week and, I do try to go over probably every two years now. When I was living in Scotland, it was much more often, and I do miss that.

Interviewer: I was just wondering why Lake Macquarie, what is the connection to Lake Macquarie? What is it that prompted you to move to Lake Macquarie in particular?

Anya: Well, first reason is that Andrew, that is my husband, he was born here in Cooranbong and his family are still there and when we were moving, I was a bit nervous because it was all so different from Scotland. I like the climate, but things like; I thought it's just too yellow. The grass is not green enough, houses are not old enough, there are no castles, so I really wanted to find place that I would love that I would think it is so beautiful. And I have been in the Australia a couple of times before and this area always struck me as such a beautiful place, this lake. When we were moving, I thought, hmm there is no way we will ever be able to afford to live that close to the lake, but turned out, we could and I really, really enjoy living here.

Interviewer: Do you connect up with people from Latvia in this region; are there any community groups that you connect with?

Anya: Not, not people from Latvia, I don't really know anybody from Latvia but because I'm, my nationality is Russian so I speak Russian, I do connect with Russian speaking group. I go to the playgroup every week so they have kids there. And it's very important because I want my kids to grow up speaking the language and knowing the culture and where they came from and not, not be ashamed of it or not think it's something unimportant.

Interviewer: When you came to, when you made the decision to move to Australia, what were your expectations, what were your hopes about the move to Australia? Did you have a set idea of what outcomes, what would develop; did you have a preconceived idea?

Anya: The main idea or the main or hope I had was just to settle down. Before then, up till then it was always temporary. I was, we were married for three years then but still everything was temporary. We knew we will stay here for a bit but eventually we will move. We will rent this place for a bit but eventually we will go elsewhere. So I wanted to settle down to know this is our house, this is where we will be staying this is the community we will be in. That was I guess, the main thing. There were lots of changes, when I moved here I was about six and a half months pregnant so I didn't know what to expect. But umm yeah just I wanted to settle and start a new life here.

Interviewer: When you've been back to Latvia, Eastern Europe, which has undergone some radical changes, what were the main, the main changes that you noticed in Latvia, what is it that you miss most about Latvia?

Anya: Well I miss everything I guess. I miss my family, friends, town I grew up in, streets, school I went to, shops just everything just everything is when I go there everything is so familiar. And then, every time it is so hard to leave. Every time I think, “is it really worth it being that far away from my family”? But, I have family here now so, this is my home. It did change, Latvia did change I suppose over the years and I think it was quite positive. Quality of life improved a bit, I think. But I think every time I go back there I don't pay so much attention the changes, the differences, changes as to what stayed the same this is what this is what, I go for.

Interviewer: That's so true. So overall, would you say immigrating has been a positive life experience?

Anya: Yes! Yeah I think it has been, immigrating, going to Scotland or to Australia, it has been positive for me. I think now I couldn't imagine myself living back in Latvia and I do enjoy living in Australia, I feel it's my home now. I just like, I like the climate, like the sunshine, people are quite friendly.

Interviewer: Can I just ask, and you can put it into a bit of a sentence, like the food I miss most, what are the foods that you miss most that you can get back home that you can't?

Anya: Hmm, I really miss food that my mum makes, and you know probably I could find it also but it will never be the same, so borscht, that's a beetroot based soup, potatoes, chicken. There are some traditional Latvian and Russian food that I miss as well, things that I can you can only buy in shops there or get it from the restaurants but not as much as what I were eating at home.

Interviewer: Because that Eastern European food is fabulous! I love it!

Anya: (laughs) It is!

Interviewer: It really is

This work by Lake Macquarie City Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License