After he finished a BA in Romania, he tried his luck in the US, with money he borrowed from his mother. After one year he stayed in the US for another year, illegally, until he managed to save enough money to pay back his mother and come to London. He paid hundreds of euro to an agency in Romania which promised to find him a job in the UK and arrange language classes. The language school closed down without giving him a refund, and he lost most of his earnings. When he completely ran out of money, he found this job on the internet. He works here almost every night, five or six nights a week. He talks about his plans, which include a ‘normal holiday’. When I ask him what he means by that he explains that it means travelling to a place to relax, not to work. He wants to have a normal future. That’s why he just enrolled himself for a daytime business degree. He still does not know how he is going to cope, but he will….
Ⓒ Cezar MacQuarie. Location & date; Bethnal Green, East London, Thursday 26 January 2012 (just before midnight). Image: Ger Duijzings through DreamStudio.
