Why I Like Foreign Men: From a Filipina Woman’s Perspective

Image courtesy of [africa] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net



                             

I don’t know? Perhaps it’s only me. But when I first laid eyes on my older sister’s pen pal, I was forever intrigued by foreign men.  He called himself Leigh. He had deep round blue eyes, cute dimples, and salt and pepper hair color. I believe he was in his early 40s. I was only seven at that time but what does a child know about grown men. He was the most handsome person I have ever seen. Even at that young age, I was fascinated by his English writings. However, Leigh was not the only one who would write to my sister. Each night I would sneak a peek at the various letters she would receive from different men. Returning them carefully without notice the next morning.   

My liking to foreigners grew, even more, when our ex-pat (Balikbayan) neighbors came home from the United Kingdom. Her son came home speaking only English that he learned in England. As I recall, I would slip out from our house just to go and see this new kid in town. He had an exotic look and a seductive voice. It didn't take long for him to become popular with the local Filipino girls. 

By the time I was in high school, my passion for foreigners grew even stronger. I started browsing magazines and newspapers looking for pen pals of my own. I was so eager to find one, but unfortunately, I was only sixteen. I was too young to publish myself for a magazine pen-pal profile. I got a few Filipino boys to like me, but when I tried to go out with them we just didn't click. The chemistry wasn't there.

After I graduated from high school, I moved to Singapore for two years. During this time, I was corresponding with a Hungarian named Attila from Florida. I found his profile from Cherry Blossoms Magazine. Take note, Internet dating back then was just starting out. Therefore, our resources of getting to know each other were extremely slow via snail mail.

While at this early stage, I had also met a few local Singaporean men. They were mostly of Malaysian and Eurasian descent. A few of these men were very nice, fun to be with, and very honest. But one thing I quickly discovered about many of the Malaysian’s is that they were Muslim. This means they can have multiple wives and since I was raised as a Catholic, I thought a man who had more than one wife was unacceptable. Therefore, this was a big turn-off for me.  In addition, there was no spark with any of these men anyway.

I finally realized that it was American men that I had the greatest obsession for. Therefore, I continue my search, never giving up on finding one of my own.
Eventually, a dating service brought me an American man of whom I ended up marrying with.  This first marriage ended up in divorce because of his abusive behavior(see my story here). While many may have given up, I held strong and continued my search, which ended in finding my one true love. After eight years, we have never missed a day seeing each other and still feel the same as the day we met.