Family Ties, from Cadiz to Chicago

For immigrant Miguel Fernandez, going to the Spanish restaurant Café Iberico is like taking a short-distance journey back to his home country of Spain. The Chicago café serves all his favorites – from paella to sangria, tortillas, omelets and ham chorizo – and patrons can watch Spanish television and listen to Spanish music while eating authentic cuisine.

Though the restaurant is usually packed and has a 45-minute wait for a table, for Fernandez it is wholly worthwhile.

“You feel the flavor like you were in Spain,” Fernandez, 32, says.

Fernandez has been away from his home country for the past nine years, which makes his attachment to Café Iberico quite understandable. In 2000, Fernandez moved from Spain to the U.S. after being recruited to be a Spanish language teacher in a place one may not consider an immigration hub: Atlanta, Georgia. According to Fernandez, the public school system in Atlanta asks for only one or two years of teaching experience, opposed to much stricter requirements in other states. Thus, moving to Atlanta seemed the smartest way to jump-start a teaching career in the States.

“I didn’t know anything about the United States,” Fernandez recalled of his transcontinental shift.

Fernandez spent two years as a Spanish teacher in Atlanta, and then moved to the windy city. In Chicago he is currently a 6th grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School, working with a green card he won through the lottery.

Teaching in Cicero is a far cry from Fernandez’ life before immigrating. Fernandez is from a town at the Southern tip of Spain. He describes Cadiz, at a population of 5,000, as little and beautiful. It is a place he makes sure to visit every year – in fact, he is jetting off for his annual summer-long visit in two weeks.

Family Ties

Having no wife and children of his own makes Fernandez’ immigrant experience quite different from the typical narrative. There’s no confusion amongst second-generation children, no struggle to pay tuition, no stretching of finances within an ever-growing family unit.

“I’m fine financially,” Fernandez said. “Since I don’t have a family, I don’t have a house and don’t have to pay a mortgage. I’m renting my apartment. All the money [I get] is just for me.”

Fernandez stays in close contact with his family in Spain. His mother calls him everyday at three o’clock sharp for a short check-up – the call lasts anything from two to ten minutes.

“It’s nice to know there’s somebody there,” Fernandez said of their frequent communication.

Fernandez’s mother finds it hard to have her son overseas, although she’s now come to understand he is gaining valuable teaching experience.

“Lately she’s not pushing me as much,” he said. “[But] every time I go, she’s always like, ‘When are you coming back?'’’

Entering the English-Speaking World

Fernandez has had a vested interest in the English language ever since he learned the language in high school. At university, he majored in English Language & Literature and afterward became an English teacher.

At a certain point, however, Fernandez realized he needed to apply his rapidly improving knowledge in a new setting.

“If I wanted to start my career as an educator teaching English, I needed to have experience going abroad in an English speaking country,” he said.

While here, Fernandez is making sure he collects all the experience he can. He recently completed his Doctorate in Education, and is now working part-time as an Adjunct Professor at National Louis University, teaching Assessment of Language Minority Students.

A Cultural Gap

After being in the States for nine years, Fernandez has come notice stark differences in lifestyle between the U.S. and Spain.

Americans are overly work-oriented, he said.

"In Spain, we work but we enjoy life in a different way," he said. "We spend more time with friends and family. We have time to go out."

In Spain, Fernandez’s days are full of unrushed conversation with family and friends. Whether at a coffee shop, cafeteria or bar, Fernandez sits “for hours just chatting,” he said.

In the U.S., there’s much less slow-motion conversation over beer and tapas.

“I think it’s a cultural thing,” he says. “Over there, we’re very tight with the family. I go there in summer and I stay with my family. Over here, I wouldn’t imagine a 30-something person just going to spend two months with their parents at home.”

Looking Forward

But the thought of his family abroad is still pulling Fernandez home. He would ideally like to work as a professor at a university close to his family, but Spain asks for more experience than he currently has. Fernandez intends to move back to Spain in “one, two, three, maybe ten years,” he said.

But his future is, for the most part, uncertain.

“All my family is there,” he said. “I always think, ‘Okay it’s time to come back. I’m going to spend one more year.’ But its been nine years and I’m still here.’