Life in the US

[bluesalmon 1]

I've been here in Seattle for over a month. I miss Manila so much because I realized how lively the people are and I miss the restaurants. I miss friends and family too. It's hard when you got used to other people doing things for you. It's a big adjustment that you have to do every single thing like ironing clothes. I miss wearing tank tops, shorts and flip flops. I miss the sun too. I miss working too. I miss spending my own money. Right now it's just church wedding prep, reading, cooking or cleaning. I miss speaking Tagalog too although my hubby and I speak it at home but just getting to speak it around most people is something I miss

[jayzar 1]

I've been here in Long Beach, CA for like 3 weeks already.. I was okay for the first few weeks but this week, I got flu. huhuhu. Maybe because weather is way much colder than we have in Pinas. hehehe. But it is okay, il be adjusting naman eh. There's too many Pinoy here, and Filipino stores too.

I missing my family, I call them a lot. hehe

-jyz

[~krakatoa~ 27]

I actually went to see a doctor to address my "homesickness". And her being a Filipino who immigrated here since she was 12 told me to stop wishing this emotions would go away. She told me that I should start feeling at ease here after 2 years, tops.

It is difficult. The adjustments, all the changes are so overwhelming. I used to think that working will help me at least to forget home. It just added to the adjustments, everything. But I learned to cut myself some slack. I try not to absorb everything. It will happen in time, in the meantime, I learn to appreciate America. Driving is one, work is another, being paid well is three, and so the list goes on.

I am happy to know that I am not alone feeling this way. Sometimes what we experience needs to be validated by other people to feel "normal".

[Joe's Wife 4ever 0]

My life here in US is fun.. Although sometimes I will be sitting alone in our house with our dog and 2 cats..

I always talk to my family online and that helps me for being homesick..

And most of the time, I will go out with my mom in-law and have fun with her..

Me and hubby spend all our time together especially when its his off..

I am 3 months pregnant so we decided that I will just look for a job after I give birth and our baby is year older na..

There's a Filipino store near our house, 20 mins drive and FL's weather is same as Manila's but sometimes its colder..Hehehe..

[RyaNRiza 1]

I believe homesickness is inevitable. I've not started living there yet, but soon enough, with God's grace, I will. I already anticipated being homesick specially that I have a great circle of friends with me here in PH and is quite active with church/charismatic community activities. It would be totally different, but I trust that God will see me through with the changes and new journey with the love, care and support of my husband. I am quite excited of building a beautiful home with him. That should occupy my time, aside from work. I deeply pray that we will find a ministry in our local church where we can serve together as a couple.

Thinking of this, I already feel homesick Oh well, that should be normal being here in PH all my life. But definitely looking forward with my beautiful, fruitful future with Ryan.

-Riza

[Lil Miss Sunshine 14]

I actually went to see a doctor to address my "homesickness". And her being a Filipino who immigrated here since she was 12 told me to stop wishing this emotions would go away. She told me that I should start feeling at ease here after 2 years, tops.

It is difficult. The adjustments, all the changes are so overwhelming. I used to think that working will help me at least to forget home. It just added to the adjustments, everything. But I learned to cut myself some slack. I try not to absorb everything. It will happen in time, in the meantime, I learn to appreciate America. Driving is one, work is another, being paid well is three, and so the list goes on.

I am happy to know that I am not alone feeling this way. Sometimes what we experience needs to be validated by other people to feel "normal".

i agree with you on the difficult part. it's really overwhelming!

you're definitely not alone about the homesickness thing. at one point, i was almost on the verge of going to a dr myself.

[Key 0]

Hello everyone,

I am almost 5 months here in US also coz were batchmate of Riza for our interview in the Phil Embassy. I am in Rochester New York now and i saw filipinos in the church and my mother in law have a filipina friend and my sister in law have a filipino friend. I met both of them but the filipina who is close to my mother in law my husband and i don't like her and when i talked to the filiipino friend of my sister in law and i am looking to him a filipina if he knows a lot of filipinas here he said that i need to beware filipinas coz of tsismis daw only filipina who will put you down and backfight on you. I really don't understand i feel so bad when i heard it coz its bad that we are all filipinos but we are the one who make our kababayan down?! And he said to watch me...both of them told me about the store near to us owned by a filipina and they are filipina family there. I like the pregnant girl working there and she is a bisaya like me and my blood really likes her they started to ask questions to us while buying something and my husband don't like it coz they just see us daw and not so close and ask so many personal questions.

I'm really adjusting every single aspect of my life now specially that i get pregnant so easily when i arrived here and deppression is there it is a very hard time for me coz i just arrived and i need to look or craving for food. I crave food and like to eat something but the problem is the food is not with me so i just ended up of eating tomatoes with vinegar, banana and pineapple just to put something in my tummy coz my taste bad also change.

I get bored of the weather here in my place in Rochester New York coz so cold and i thought spring season dont have any snow na and just a little cold but my husband laugh at me coz it will all end up on the last week of May.

I want to go to mall but i cannot go there always coz i dont know how to drive and always dependent to my hubby i need to walk that he is with me coz until now i easily get faint and tired of walking or standing.

I miss my sister so much coz this is the first time that we are so faraway with each other they are all worried to me but i tried to be strong even i am so weak. I am just glad that my husband is always there to support me and so patient and understanding even if i am so maldita.

In this site i am just happy in visajourney when my hubby find this website coz i know that filipinos is helping each other and sharing their thoughts and experiences but still their is filipinas here that so arte also i already encountered it here..

We'll hope for you u can find a good filipina one in your place and will make friend with them its nice if you start to know and make friend other nationalities other than pinay

Have a good day

[RonMay 1]

Hello everyone,

I am almost 5 months here in US also coz were batchmate of Riza for our interview in the Phil Embassy. I am in Rochester New York now and i saw filipinos in the church and my mother in law have a filipina friend and my sister in law have a filipino friend. I met both of them but the filipina who is close to my mother in law my husband and i don't like her and when i talked to the filiipino friend of my sister in law and i am looking to him a filipina if he knows a lot of filipinas here he said that i need to beware filipinas coz of tsismis daw only filipina who will put you down and backfight on you. I really don't understand i feel so bad when i heard it coz its bad that we are all filipinos but we are the one who make our kababayan down?! And he said to watch me...both of them told me about the store near to us owned by a filipina and they are filipina family there. I like the pregnant girl working there and she is a bisaya like me and my blood really likes her they started to ask questions to us while buying something and my husband don't like it coz they just see us daw and not so close and ask so many personal questions.

I'm really adjusting every single aspect of my life now specially that i get pregnant so easily when i arrived here and deppression is there it is a very hard time for me coz i just arrived and i need to look or craving for food. I crave food and like to eat something but the problem is the food is not with me so i just ended up of eating tomatoes with vinegar, banana and pineapple just to put something in my tummy coz my taste bad also change.

I get bored of the weather here in my place in Rochester New York coz so cold and i thought spring season dont have any snow na and just a little cold but my husband laugh at me coz it will all end up on the last week of May.

I want to go to mall but i cannot go there always coz i dont know how to drive and always dependent to my hubby i need to walk that he is with me coz until now i easily get faint and tired of walking or standing.

I miss my sister so much coz this is the first time that we are so faraway with each other they are all worried to me but i tried to be strong even i am so weak. I am just glad that my husband is always there to support me and so patient and understanding even if i am so maldita.

In this site i am just happy in visajourney when my hubby find this website coz i know that filipinos is helping each other and sharing their thoughts and experiences but still their is filipinas here that so arte also i already encountered it here..

We'll hope for you u can find a good filipina one in your place and will make friend with them its nice if you start to know and make friend other nationalities other than pinay

Have a good day

i can relate to what key's are saying... true there are some filipinos here in the US that once they get here they already change and forget where they came from. lol... my cousin who lives in boston for at least 6 yrs now, warned me about it too. she said some filipinos are so "tsimosa" (back biter) and even sell you to the immigration lol... i mean yea there are some, but its not only filipinos will do this of course, if im not being prejudice (just talking in particular). but what ive noticed also, are that they love to show off and compare what you have and what they have. and that really pisses me off. i hate those who are very pretentious knowing i personally know what type of people they come from and just because they have step and walk around the US, then suddenly just like the cellphone, "they cannot be reach" anymore... lol... i visited phil last nov and most people think (especially those who dont know me that well), that i would change drastically in terms of my language, the way i dress, make-up, jewelries etc lol... i told them why would i change? sure im blessed to have diff type of clothes than before (coz of the 4 season of course lol plus we have a store so we can save a lot if we just use the clothes that we sell knowing its %50 off and not because i shop a lot lol. i seldom seldom shop. probably 5 times last yr thats it) but why would i show it off in an unappropriate environment? why would i wear gown if im in the beach (if you know what i mean hehe)... then i realized probably because thats what most people in phil think about because of what they have experienced and saw every time some family/friends come from the states... nah not me. i just wear shorts and slippers and plain shirt (so happy to be out of the cold weather haha)... there's nothing to prove at least not for myself. i am what i am... and i really commend those filipinos that whose been here more than 20 yrs yet when i talk to them they will talk back in our language... my husband often tells me why would i speak to my language when he knows i can speak perfectly in english and so does my friend (i guess he just want to listen in our chika hehe) but i told him because my friend and i both know that we can speak bisaya perfectly and we know where we came from and learn how to adopt and change things if need be...

ps.

i know im just ranting hehehe... got bored in my day off lol

edit spelling: plane=plain lol

Edited March 11, 2008 by ronmay

[ED*Riza 0]

I agree with you Ronmay.. Same thing here I have a sister in Maine and told me to be careful with filipina as well.. Anyway just met one and they tried to ask me and my husband to have night life with them as well. We are old people as of this time we are enjoying each other's company . Being with my husband is enough for me I am always happier with him around to be silly with. And talking to my sister as well during day time while waiting for him. I lie going out in the deck during afternoon when it is 68 + lol.

I miss my family but I love to be my hubby.. :dance:

[Key 0]

Yeah, it is true Ronmay i always see it even when i was in the Phil. how filipina dress up with their foreign hubby It's because of our culture also that is very conservative and i think filipinas that change a lot when they comeback is they are the one who is so arrogant.

Glad for you both and Riza coz your family here you have contact, for me i have 2 aunts here in US they are both sister of my father and have 1st cousins here but i prefer not to contact with them and let them know that i am here coz were not in good terms.

But just glad at least they are filipinas still that is true and and proud to be a filipina!!!!! I just want to tell other filipinas here who married foreigner that we are the model of our country so we will show to our husband and family and other people and nationalities here in US how good filipino is.. coz i am very sad to hear people and other nationalities talking bad to us as a filipina but i know we cannot blame them coz of other filipinas doings also here in US. Sad to think lang that if something bad happens to other good filipinas some of us also we cannot believe so fast and have a second thoughts to help and wonder if its true what shes talking about but i just hope that if something happens to our fellow kababayan we as a good filipina we are their to help them

[David-and-Mae 15]

I can relate to that wrong judgment on Pinays... When my husband (then fiance) announced to his friends and family that he is engaged to a Filipina, they already jumped into conclusions and speculated that I am probably a "pokpok" (sorry for the choice of word). His buddies warned him about Filipinas and even suggested that he should make me sign on a pre-nuptial agreement to make sure that he won't be on the losing end if I will mess up. His brothers didn't like the idea that he is marrying a young Pinay but they said because they love him, they'll accept me as part of the family. His kids didn't say anything against me nor accepted the fact that he is engaged to me. They're happy for their dad but they were also concerned. His Filipino couple (friends from church) warned him too about Pinays and told him that some Filipinas are gold-diggers and that they should know better since they are Filipinos too. When I finally came here and met me in person, everyone changed their impressions on me. They realized that they were wrong about me and that David found a good woman. They're all proud of me and never that I heard negative comments about me, nor given that kind of look like they're trying to study you from head to toe and vice versa. My husband has a very good reputation since he's a retired State Trooper and Army. He's a devout Catholic (sometimes a lector and eucharistic minister in church) and a benefactor of few charities here in Springfield. Everybody thinks highly of him and as his wife, I had to change some of the things that I was used to do in the Philippines. Filipinas are known for wearing too sexy clothing and showing a lot of skin because of our tropical weather. I am one of them. But when I came here, I had changed of wardrobe and honestly, I was uncomfortable at first and felt like I was turning into a "manang". But believe me, it turned me into a more sophisticated woman. I gained more respects and people see me as "classy" and not just some kind of thrash from the Philippines (like what other Pinays would say so). Pinays here in our area are over-achiever. Most of them are into medical field. Even though I am just a plain housewife, my husband is proud of me because of the respects that I get from everybody.

I am happily married to a wonderful person... I am so loved by his kids and relatives... I am so loved by his friends... and most of all, Pinays here don't backstab me for they know that I had a good job when I was still in PI and although I came from a poor family, they could see how humble I remained in spite of getting the easy life here in US.

I hope you won't think that I'm bragging here... I just want you all to know that Filipinas have not-so-good reputation here but it's all up to you to prove them if they're right or wrong about that.

Have a good day!

--Mae