Guadalupe is her name but she prefers Lupe. She is 26 years old and lives in Koreatown and is a very independent person.
She believes that having a sibling around her childhood was a very important and significant part of her childhood.
She realized at a point when she was having a difficult time that being an adult came with its challenges. But she overcame that and realized how much she had like she was a young woman that lived in Koreatown. And can pay her bills. And be able to do stuff like go to her jobs and have fun. She realized how far she has come so far because she knew that three years ago she wasn’t able to do much.
Transcript:
Karen Flores: Would you like to introduce yourself?
Guadalupe Ayala: Yes, I would like to my name Guadalupe but you can call me Lupe. I’m 26 years old.
KF: Okay I would like to ask you some questions alright?
LA: Okay.
KF: Okay one of the questions I have for you is was there something significant in your childhood?
LA: The thing most significant for me is having siblings.
KF: Could you say why?
LA: Explain.
KF: Ya.
LA: [inaudible] Ya, the reason why it was important to me was because my mom was never there and well my dad wasn’t there. They were always too busy working so having a sibling helped me distract myself from boredom.
KF: Was there any specific moment where having a sibling distracted you from boredom?
LA: I remember this moment ,when me and my brother were playing uh we were play fighting. So we decided to take out the mattress in the front yard . And when my mother came she got so upset so me and my brother both ran to the room and locked ourselves up. And my mom couldn’t open the door until my dad came and open the door because he was the only one who had the keys. But she was so upset she took the tv from us we were still able to distract ourselves tho because I had someone there next to me.
KF: So having a sibling was [inaudible] very good for you.
LA: Yes.
KF: Were you mad when our mom took the TV from you?
LA: I didn’t even notice to be honest because me and my brother would always be playing together.
KF: Were you guys into play fighting a lot?
LA: Yes.
KF: Do you remember any shows or anything that –
LA: Oh when we would play fight, I was like Ray Mysterio and he was the Undertaker. Those were our favorite characters from the wrestling show we would watch.
KF: Do you remember what wrestling show it was?
LA: I don’t remember if it was WWE or Smackdown it was one of those two.
KF: Were you guys really into that back then?
LA: My brother was totally into it. He even had the belt that like had the revolving “W” on it.
KF: Oh so you only played with him because he liked it.
LA: No, I played with him because like it was fun to play with him. You know like it’s nice to have someone there if the parents weren’t there and having a sibling was the most important.
KA: Mhm okay. I have another question, it would be what was something you hated when you were younger?
LA: Something I hated when I was younger, mhm oh I hated when my mom put me in the summer programs ugh I really dislike that.
KF: Wait, why did you dislike going to the summer programs?
LA: Because I didn’t need them, I had good grades but my mom would insist literally insist to put me in the summer programs. Because she didn’t want me to be home all day. I don’t know what she thought I was going to do, get myself in trouble or something.but I wasn’t able to practice in my drawing skills, because of that I remember one time in high school my mom insisted that I would go to the summer program. But since there was budget cuts the teachers said no no so my mom ended up talking to principal and then the principal finally said yes. So she still got her way.
KA: Do you remember what you would do there?
LA: I would just do regular math and English. And just like summer school whatever program was available.
KA: Did that help when you like got back to school or was it –
LA: It did help because it kinda like gave me a concept to do work in a sense, it helped me become like team leader for all the projects I had in high school for sure, ya.
KA: Were you like a team leader a lot?
LA: Most of the time, yes. Most of the time people wanted to be in my team but if I knew that they wouldn’t do there work or if I knew I would kinda notice people strength and weaknesses and if it was something I could use then I would say yes to them .But if they were just slacking, then I would just fire myself from the group and do the project myself.
KA: So you liked to stood your ground a lot?
LA: I do like to study a lot and do a lot of research.
KA: No, I said stood your ground.
LA: Oh stood your ground .oh I for sure stood my ground.
KA: Okay. Another quotation I have was what was the most happiest memory you have?
LA: The most happiest memory would be when you died my hair.
KA: Could you tell me more about that?
LA: Okay so me and my mom never had a good connection. I don’t know why we just never clicked. So for me that woman bond or girl to girl bond I never had. Until you were born when I heard you were going to be born I was so excited I was stocked. Anyways, so when I let you dye my hair it meant a lot to me, because I was basically giving you my life, since I am very delicate with my hair and you actually ended up doing such a great job I feel like that’s when our bond got stronger.
KA: I think ya, I think it was like red and black or no it was pink and black I don’t really remember but I think it was those colors right?
LA: Ya, and it’s super difficult to get it right because the black kinda stains the pink if it’s not done right.
KA: So I did a good job?
LA: Ya you did a great job.
KA: When I painted your hair were those colors your favorite colors or was that in style back then.
LA: To be honest it wasn’t a trend. I was just trying new things. That’s the way I would distress.
KA: By dying your hair?
LA: Ya.
KA: Did you dye your hair a lot?
LA: Every month, I would change my color.
KA: Oh wow! That’s a lot.
LA: Ya. But you took care of my hair though [inaudible].
KA: Alright. Another question I would like to ask was are you happy with your life of how it is now?
LA: To be honest, I am happy with my life the way it is right now. Because I have grown a lot since I was small and I have done things I didn’t think I was capable of doing .And I am still moving forward, and hoping to challenge myself more so I love that.
KA: Another question I have is did you expect your life to be different?
LA: I actually did expect my life to be different.But like I said, since I have grown up I have learned that life doesn’t go the way as expected but that’s the beauty of life you know it’s unexpected.
KA: Do you remember how you expected your life to be?
LA: I expected to have gone to the state of Arizona and finish my career there to get my PhD in psychology.
KF: Ya.
LA: Yup.
KF: Are you okay of how life is treating you now?
LA: Well I mean there’s always a should-of, could-of, would-of, but didn’t. So I try not to think of that. I am happy with my life. And if I don’t like it tomorrow’s another day to change it, you know.
KF: Ya, I also believe that okay Another question I would like to ask is was there something very hard that you had to do and that your accomplished.
LA: Yes, becoming an adult that was something super hard I was very discourage and didn’t think I was able to do it but at the end of last year I was able to do it and now well, I live in Koreatown. I live by myself in Koreatown I am able to pay for my bills I am able to go to my jobs I am able to have fun and like do all the thing I wouldn’t be able to do I could say three years ago.
KF: Okay. Oh I have another question.
LA: Okay what’s the question?
KF: When growing up, who was your role model?
LA: That’s a good question ,growing up I didn’t really have a role model to this day I still don’t think I have a role model. I think I just kinda go with the flow. I kinda just see the good and the bad of life. I kinda just wanna be the better version I can be of myself but I guess if I were to say I have a role model it has to be my dad.
KF: Why is he –
LA: Because, huh –
KF: Why is he your role model?
LA: Because he was able to go from not having a house to having a house and having 5 kids and being able to support everyone and being undocumented and you know working everyday consistently like at the same kinda job and being very what’s it called very responsible.
KF: [inaudible].
LA: Not hard work hard work doesn’t cut-
KF: Not hard work, I said hardworking.
LA: He is hardworking. But I like the fact that he would be able to understand that he needs to be financially stable in order for him to survive. I guess like all of this. He has a house now you know he doesn’t pay that much he’s chilling at his house that’s kinda something I want to be to do and something I want myself –
KF: Your dad was a very figure.
LA: Very leadership figure.
KF: Well that’s all I had to ask. But thank you for your time.
LA: Thank you for having me.
