IMMIGRANT "Philippines to USA"

"Immigrant"

 (My first year being here in America!)

by FilipinaAz

    I was born and raised in the Philippines where I spent all my early years living until my early twenties. Then through a dating service I met and married an American man, I arrived in America in June 1999. I had no intention of leaving my family behind but since I was about to marry an American man I had no other choice but to come live with him since he was not about to move to the Philippines. Leaving my homeland and my beloved family behind has been hard for me to bear, even though living here in America with my husband would eventually make my life a lot easier than ever.

    I remember my very first week here in America people would stare at me; they made me feel like I don't belong in their small community. At one point in time, I was walking around the strip shopping mall in a little town (somewhere back East) where my new home was. Although some people were very friendly, I felt some discrimination against those of darker-colored skin. I asked a good friend of mine why do I see some people looking at me, staring like I was not supposed to be in their own little world. She said, "They don't like to see local men  married to women of different colors." Now, my troubled mind was clear about why these people stared at me intensely. To them, I was a brown-skinned Asian, and that difference caused me to stick out.

    I often felt so lonely because I had no other family other than my husband. He was always away to work and left me alone at home. I had few new friends in the area from the Philippines that lived nearby but I didn't see them often because they were also working during days. Back in the Philippines, I was a breadwinner. In fact, I was always off to work seven days a week. In my new American life, it seems I never had to work. I was just left at home while my husband was gone. I was used to working and keeping busy but my ex-husband would not let me.

    Adjustment in America was very hard for me. In the Philippines, it's always sunny and of course, there are some storms season but back East part of the year was cold, wet and rainy. Also, I find it difficult to eat hamburgers and fries which is the norm food of Americans. I would probably eat it if I had no other choice. I grew up eating rice three times a day believe it or not as this is also the norm for people of the Philippines. Vegetable and seafood was a big thing to me. We have so many sources nearby but often times here in America it is difficult to find fresh seafood. Luckily, my then husband didn't seem to care. While I had to make a lot of new adjustments to life in America, speaking proper American accent was my biggest hurdle. My then husband did not try to help me much with speaking and just thought my accent was cute.

    My married life finally got to a breaking point, and I escaped with a divorce to find myself living in Arizona. Now, I am very content and was able to finally adapt and start a new career in America. I went to school for my nursing assistant Certificate and was on my way to getting my RN degree but that changed. I am not in the medical field any longer.

Also, I am happily married to a wonderful love of my life. Anyways, I have shown that I can make the adjustment living here in America of which at first I thought was difficult. Now, I am proud to be one American Citizen. 

Cheers!