My name is Hector Martinez. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s an accent on the ‘e’ or not, so maybe it’s Héctor Martinez. When I go home, I should check my birth certificate. That’s such a small thing, but it’s so important. I am Mexican. I am Latino. I am Hispanic. I live here near East Chain in the house of the company that I work for, Hugoson Pork. Three of us live in the house. The other two are my coworkers. I am from Monterrey, Mexico. I would say Mexico is my home. I am here for work. A friend in university came here and he told his other friends to try to get a visa. We went online and applied on the company’s website. For this work and most things, I just find things online. I have Facebook and Whatsapp. I interviewed over Skype on the computer. Then I started the process of coming here.
In my free time, I like to fish! I go fishing all the time. Lately, I have liked to go biking on the trails! The trail in Cedar Creek is so beautiful. You don’t see these kinds of trails in Mexico. It is so close to go fishing here. In Mexico, if I want to go fishing, it’s so far to go to a lake. This community is so cool. Yesterday, I went to the Mexican store to send money to my family. My coworker was talking to me in the street. He said, “Get up early and come here tomorrow”. When I went downtown in the morning, there were so many beautiful cars. I love antique cars! They are so cool.
I have lived in the United States for five and half years, arriving in January of 2017. When I got here, my wife arrived in July 2017 and stayed with me until 2020. Then, I needed to return to Mexico because I couldn’t keep working in Iowa. I have a visa TN which only allows me to work with Hugoson Pork in the United States for three years. But. I can only work for one company. If I want to work for another company, I need to go to Mexico and start the application for another company. I like my job now. I mean it would be better to work at another company with more experience because they pay more, but it is such a long process.
My childhood was good. I have one sister. Sometimes, my uncle and I would go fishing and to the ranch. I love to work with animals. I studied agricultural engineering at a university in Monterrey. In Mexico, the pay is so bad for my work. Here, the pay is better. I worked in Iowa for four years at another company. My experience there was very bad. In the sow farm where I worked, all the people are Hispanic/Latino.
It’s hard to explain this in English. Life here is calmer. In Mexico, the insecurity is very very strong, and there is a lot a violence. In November 2021, I needed to leave the company in Iowa. I went to Mexico for six months and applied again for another company. It is very safe here in comparison to Mexico. There are more work opportunities with my visa.
I don’t know anything that is similar to here. The weather is so different. The winter is so hard. It is so hard to work outside in the winter! Most of the time, I work inside the barns, but sometimes I need to go outside to repair something outside like the pipelines for the piglets’ food. The pipelines don’t work, and I need to go outside to remove the food that is clogged in the pipes. After like 5 or 10 minutes, my fingers are in a lot of pain. I am not accustomed to this cold.
Everything is so expensive here in the United States. I have insurance, but it is so expensive here! When I arrived here, I needed to go to the dentist. It costs $180.00 USD or 3060 pesos in Mexico with insurance (it would be $400.00 USD or 8000 pesos without insurance). Back in Mexico, I would only need to pay $30.00 USD or 600 pesos for the exact same thing! When I arrived here, it was so hard to buy a car. I only have a debit card because I don’t like credit cards.
I’m not with a lot of the people here. I don’t know. When I come to the town, I only go to Walmart to buy food for the week. I like to cook. I don’t have friends here. I only have friends at work or at my Adult EL class. Sometimes, we go play Frisbee or volleyball. It’s good to do some exercise and practice English. The teacher wants us to practice English, but when we start playing the games…it’s only Spanish jaja. The pronunciation is so difficult, but I try. I try to speak. I need to learn more words.
A challenge in my life is trying to speak English. I am trying, but it is so difficult to understand when people talk to me. When I worked in Iowa, everyone was Hispanic in the sow farm. I didn’t even need to speak English. Here in Martin County, everyone speaks English like my manager. When I arrived in Martin County in May 2022, everyone spoke to me in English. Today, I understand more, but I can’t understand everything!
I am not a religious person. My parents only got married in court, not in a church. When I was a kid, my paternal grandparents liked to go to church. My dad didn’t really go, so I didn’t go. I don’t really have faith.
My son inspires me. I want my family to stay here– my son and my wife. My father always helped me with my studies, so I want to help my son finish university and have a good life. My son came here in June 2018. He finished high school here in Iowa. He is 21 years old. He studied mechanical engineering at the university in Monterrey, Mexico. He can work. With the career he studied, he might be able to get a visa to work in the United States.
The role of men and women has changed a lot. When my parents grew up, the husband would work and the woman would stay at home. Since my parents got married, the woman can now work and help the family.
I can speak Spanish …and I am trying to speak English! This year I can listen better. When I worked in Iowa, I needed to wash 36 cages in each farrowing room. The water went inside to my ear and it felt really inflamed – like 30 or 40% of the water went into my ear I think.
Sometimes people would call my name, I wouldn’t be able to hear them. You know the fireworks on the Fourth of July? That ‘eeeeeeee’ ringing noise afterwards in your ears. That’s what it was like in my ears. All the time. When I went to Mexico, the doctor specialist told me it’s irreversible. You won’t be able to hear as well. I always need to move closer to people. My coworkers on the farm would yell at me “HECTOR! HECTOR!”. I wouldn’t be able to hear them. Or when I’m on the phone and even close my other ear, I wouldn’t hear anything. It’s so hard to hear.
Some families that have spent many years here like 20 or 25 years, the little kids go study at school and forget Spanish. Some people say that their kids have forgotten Spanish. I’ll never forget it. I want my kids to learn English, but I don’t want them to forget how to speak Spanish.
Christmas in Mexico is an important holiday for making food, giving gifts for children, and to be with family. I don’t know what my favorite food here is...I like hamburgers. In Mexico, something that was really rich and good in Monterrey was cabrito (kinda like goat?). It was very expensive, but it was good!
For me, it has been pretty easy to navigate most things. Maybe I have experienced discrimination because I am Mexican or Latino. I’ve felt that. One time my wife and I were in the car in the morning. Sometimes we go to Casey’s gas station for a piece of pizza and some coffee before work. There was a man that stayed inside his car in the parking lot. He was like I don’t know, 55 years old? We went into the store to get pizza and coffee. We went into our car and started to leave the parking lot. The man’s car followed us while we left the parking lot. The man got out of his car and came up to my car. He was very very angry. He started banging on my window until I lowered it. He was yelling at me the whole time, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I thought to myself ¿Qué hice? ¿Qué hice? What did I do? What did I do? At this time in my life, I couldn’t understand any English. We were genuinely really scared because we didn’t know what was happening. He just kept yelling and yelling and yelling at me. I don’t know why this happened. Maybe it was because I am Mexican… I don’t know. I didn’t realize if it was racism or if it was just to make me feel bad. I don’t know. I don’t know…
All the time, I like to be in the field and the ranch. I don’t like the city. I want to live in the country. My biggest value is honesty - I got this from my father.
I am proud of my work. Sometimes people ask me how I traveled between Mexico and the United States in one week. Paying for the visa, studying, finding a job, learning to speak the language, traveling so far away in a week, etc. I feel like it’s an accomplishment to come here, work, study, and grow here in the United States.
To me, success would be gaining experience in my work. I always want to keep learning how to do things easier and faster. I do this job because I like it. There are a lot of things to maintain and to fix. I would like to learn more English, advance to higher positions, and earn more money for my family. My dream is to go back to Mexico and try to do something in Mexico. I don’t think I want to be a US citizen. I could, but I don’t really feel like it – maybe if I were younger.
I don’t know what my hopes for this community really are. I don’t know how to find help for the community. I wish the community would help. I don’t know how to ask for help here. English classes have helped me a lot and I’ve been more connected to the community because of them. I’m so happy with this company! I think that they are helping me. They really value the work that I do. I don’t think I would change much. I just think if I could learn to speak more English, I could advance up in positions. One of my coworkers, who is Mexican, speaks English really well. He has a better position. I want to be able to move up too.