Journey to America

I am full Filipino and I was born in Santa Barbara, Iloilo, which is located in one of the hundreds of islands in the Philippines. This is the story of me moving to America. I was twenty-eight years old when I decided to move from a small rural island in the Philippines called Iloilo to the big, fast pace, busy, crowded New York City. The reason behind my decision for moving was my best friend Nina had just moved there and she asked me to join her. We always talked about moving to the States and that was my dream ever since I was a little girl. Before I left the Philippines I was expecting America to be the easy life. On the 6^th of June I’m sitting in the car with my cousin and aunt driving to the airport nervous feelings filled my stomach. So many different emotions surrounded me. This was my first time traveling out of the country and I had to do it alone. 

I boarded China airlines and I made a stop over in Taipei.  The flight was long and smooth I fell asleep from the roaring sounds of the engines. When I woke up I was no longer in the Philippines. In my eyes it looked like a whole different world. There were so many cars on the main road it was very loud.  My sister, Marie and her family picked me up at the airport. From Los Angeles, we drove to San Diego where they lived. As we were driving to their home I stared out the window the whole time fascinated by how different this place was. I stayed with them for a few days and later on took a flight to New York to join my friend, Nina.

I arrived in New York a few days before the 4^th of July.  I was overwhelmed with how crowded the city was.  New York is so fast paced; people are always in a hurry.  Just like in Manila (one of the main islands in the Philippines), the buses are very crowded; the city streets are dirty and noisy.  I had to learn how to ride the subway since we lived in Queens. Queens is like a borough. I lived in a little place called Astoria, which is in Queens it’s like a town. My apartment was a tall, old building. The whole neighborhood was mostly Hispanic people. Our apartment is a ten-minute walk to the subway station and whenever I walked to and from the subway there are always these little grocery stores. In Manila, there are no subways. The only means of transportation to go to work and places was to take a bus, jeepney, or taxi. Most people don’t drive cars because very few can afford it.

There were so many restaurants in New York.  Every corner you see has a restaurant.  Manila is not as compact as New York.  The business districts of Manila were in some ways similar to New York.  It was easy to go shopping and find good restaurants at the same time. But one thing that struck me the most in New York was the diverse population.  One can see people of different nationalities on the street, on the buses, in the subway trains, or park.  This was one big difference between living in the Philippines and New York.  When I started working, I had to learn and adjust to other people and their culture.  It was hard to adjust and learn new ways of doing things. I and other people in the Philippines thought that once we arrive in America we have it made; that life will be easy.  It wasn’t so.  I was living with my friend’s family in a small cramped apartment. I had to do a lot of things on my own like cooking, going to the grocery, and going to the Laundromat to wash my clothes. 

When I look back, life in New York was exciting and fun but definitely harder than I anticipated.  Would I rather have stayed in the Philippines? Definitely not. I don’t regret coming to America.  Despite all the hardship and the challenges I faced, I still believe I made the right choice to immigrate to America. On the 4^th of July, my friend and her family took me to East River to watch the July 4^th fireworks.  It was truly spectacular! I have never seen such fireworks in Manila.  Even today, nothing tops what I have seen at the 4^th of July fireworks in New York.

Book Review: The Help

I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett. This novel is fiction and it has to do with one brave girl named Skeeter who dreams of being a big time journalist. She gathers up maids to reveal the truth about how it is to work for white families and she takes each of their stories and publishes it into a book. I read this book because my neighbor recommended it to me. My strength while reading this book were that it was pretty easy to read but my weakness was focusing and trying not to getting psyched out because the book was long. I would compare this book to The Last Waltz by G.G. Vandagriff because I was also recommended to read this book for a school assignment and write reviews each time I finished a chapter. My opinion about this book is that it was an inspiring story with wise people trying to make a difference. I would recommend this book to my friends because it's very readable.  

The End

I’m walking on the sidewalk with a big book in my hand. There is water running down the gutter everybody’s sprinklers are on. I arrive to the front door of my neighbor Sue’s house. She answers the door and I return the book. We sit down in her dining room. She shares her thoughts about the book with me. We both love Skeeter she was our favorite character. I liked Skeeter because she was brave enough to reveal the truth about the living conditions for the maids. Sue agreed with me and she made a personal connection with the story. When she was a child she used to have a maid that would live with her and her maid was like a second mother just like Skeeter and her maid Constantine. This book has taught Sue and  served as a reminder that we have to do what is right in our everyday life. My thoughts are that you need to have courage to stand up for what you believe in just like Skeeter, Minny, Aibileen and all the other maids. In the end all their hard work really paid off. 

Interview Reflection

I'm proud of my intro because I think I did a good job with adding a lot of backround information for the readers. My classmates liked that I used the 'activate your verbs' rule in my introduction. If I could do this project again I would ask better questions to get my mom to have longer answers because it was fairly short. One idea for my family story is to make a story of how my mother's life in New York while also expressing more on the differences between the Philippines and New York.

Blog #7

It's been two months since that horrible double date. Skeeter's date, Staurt got drunk and acted like a total jerk. So two months later he shows up at her doorstep ready to apologize. Skeeter doesnt even want to look at him. But he just pours out his whole life story on her. She listens to him and she gives into his invite to go have supper downtown. They ate strawberry souffles and had one glass of Chablis apiece. At the end of the night they were talking until they got kicked out of the resturaunt. Skeeter wished she had washed her hair and brushed her teeth because right before the end of their night Staurt kissed her.

Just a small town girl

Leslie Torcella is going to experience the difference of two different places. 

Leslie Torcella is full Filipino. She has a daughter that is half American and half Filipino. She is my mom. This is the story of my mom moving to America. She was twenty-eight years old when she decided to move from a small rural island in the Philippines called Iloilo to the big, fast pace, busy, crowded New York City. The reason behind her decision for moving was her best friend Nina had just moved there and she asked my mom to join her. They always talked about moving to the States and that was my moms dream ever since she was small. As my mother is sitting in the car with her cousin and aunt driving to the airport nervous feelings fill her stomach. This was her first time traveling outside of the country and she had to do it alone. She boarded China Airlines and the next stop is New York City. This marked the beginning of her journey to America.

 Leslie has six sisters and one brother. Her parents passed away when she was in her early twenties. During the waiting time from getting on the plane to take off my mom’s mind was filled with sad thoughts of leaving family and friends behind. She was leaving her old life to start a new one.

 The Philippines is made up of hundreds of islands. The weather is hot during summer and during the rainy season there are lots of typhoons. Most of the towns are small and people know one another because the people don’t migrate and they tend to live there for generations.

 Rumors about America are spread throughout the hundreds of islands in the Philippines. Filipinos have visions of going to America in hope to make a good life and to earn good money with a good job. Most think that if you live in America you are automatically rich and everybody lives a good life with no problems. But my mom figures out it’s not as easy as everyone thinks.

           

So I hear that you moved from the Philippines to America…obviously.

Obviously. (laughing)

What city or town were you from?

I was born in Santa Barbara, Iloilo.

How did you come to make this decision to move?

A friend of mine who I used to work with at Bank of California, Nina went to New York and got a job at United Nations and so when she got to New York she wanted me to follow her. So I did.

Why did you decide to follow her?

We were close friends and it was always my dream to go to the states. We were co-workers at work for a long time

So you came with her?

Yes I stayed with her while I was in New York and I worked there for a while…

Did you get homesick?

No…(laughing)

(laughing) You didn’t?

No… a little bit.

Was it easy to find a job?

No. I actually had to look for one for quite a while. I know people back home said moving here would get you the easy life but…there is a lot of work required to achieve that.

What was your life like back in the Philippines?

Easy, relaxed, stress free and just fun.

What did you do?

I went to school and worked after I graduated. I always hung out with cousins and friends after work.

What kind… of shopping was there?

All kinds of shopping just like here.

Is it the same or different?

It’s just a little different. The malls here have more luxury stores.  We don’t have that in the Philippines.

Oh that’s cool…so when you came to America did you know what it was gonna be like?

Uh…yeah a little bit…

You already had an idea of what it was like?

Yeah…from movies I saw in the Philippines with my mom. She loved taking us out to watch them. Whatever movies are showing here also show in the Philippines but it just comes in much later but they show it.

Mhm … so what’s the difference between New York and your hometown?

Oh my hometown is really small…it’s not really rural but it’s just a town a small town…

Just a small town girl (singing)

(laughing ) Yeah we don’t have big tall buildings … even our city is not that ya know big compared to New York. They don’t have tall tall buildings so it’s like an old city they don’t have big malls.

What did you think when you were in New York?

It’s uh… packed with people it’s like…it’s like uhmm ants crawling out from the buildings at when ... when it’s 5 o’clock everybody’s in a hurry to go home yeah and then we didn’t have subways in the Philippines they had them in New York it’s always packed at rush hours like in the morning and then in the afternoon…

What were your first experiences with the subways like?

Crowded and dirty and hot.

Were you scared?

No…not really.

Did you travel alone along the streets and underground of New York?

I was with my friend so…

Oh so you were always with someone?

Uhm... I rode the train by myself cause ya know I live in Queens …so ya know…

If you could go back in time would you have stayed in the Philippines instead of moving here?

No not really…no.

You are happy with your choice?

Yeah because I was able to go see places I went to New York…I lived in New York. Then I lived up in Union Bay oh, not Union Bay … Union City across from San Francisco and then ya know I traveled quite a bit right…

You brought back lots of snow globes.

(laughing)

For your awesome daughter.

Yup.

What’s her name?

Cassie

(laughing)

Tell me about your family back home.

I come from a big family and we have lots of extended ya know family members cousins, aunts, and uncles and almost all of them lived in the Philippines.

So it wasn’t hard for you to leave all that?

Yeah it was hard but we also have lots of family here…. Right?  …Like relatives in L.A and San Francisco and Florida

Were you the first one to move here out of your family?

No…my younger sister Marie.

The wild child (laughing) 

Did you have to do chores back in the Philippines?

Yeah we do have chores but not as much as the chores here…cause we always have helpers.

You have maids?

Yeah.

Did you treat your maids like friends?

Yeah they were like family members. They lived with us for years. I still remember my maid her name was Robing. I saw her when I came back home for a visit.

If you had a maid here now you wouldn’t treat them like family would you?

Well yeah they don’t… the maids here don’t live with you they just come in and clean your house and then they leave.

Oh when you came back did you realize how much you missed your home?

Yeah… yeah but I'm glad I made the choice to move here.

Has anyone else decided to come to America?

My youngest sister is coming…your auntie Christine. She’s my youngest sister…she’s married has three children, two boys and a girl. She’s gonna come with Ella and Paolo. Paolo is sixteen and Ella is nine… I think.

Did you convince her to come try it out over here?

She’s not 100% crazy to come her. She’s a little scared because now she has to change her life and ya know she has to leave a lot of people behind

Kinda like you did?

Yeah.

But do you think it’s different for her now or harder?

It’s gonna be harder because her oldest son is gonna stay behind and finish med school, Sean.

What about you?

What did you think when you went to the Philippines?

I thought it was dirty. (laughing) But that was only in Manila because that’s like a big city with lots of things going on so there’s a lot of smoke there.

Yeah smog.

But then when I went to Iloilo…Boracay it was nicer but then in Iloilo it was gross because there were lizards everywhere on the ceilings…

Yeah.

How was it without lizards in your home when you came here?

It’s just part of the whole thing…the lizards. It’s just a part of the Philippines. Yeah there all over except in the big cities

Did you ever play with the lizards?

No...thats yuck (laughing)

Are there any amusement parks in the Philippines?

We had an aquarium in Manila

No mom like roller coasters? 

Just like the ones at the fair grounds.

What did you do as a child?

Go to the farm during summertime and we play and we go to the… we would explore… go on the rice paddies…go walk to another place ...another little town and help my grandma she …she’ll have coco tree yah and you make it into chocolate and she’ll harvest is and she’ll make it into coco powder and we help her do that in summer

That’s so cool. Well thank you for your time.

Oh you are welcome.

Okay bye.

Bye.

Miss Skeeter & Ailbileen

Miss Skeeter drives down to the other side of town where all the blacks live so she can interview Aibileen. When Skeeter gets there it's scary, dark, and she doesn't know who could be watching her. She gets to the front door of Aibileen's as fast as she can with her heels clacking on the pavement. Aibileen opens the door right away and invites Skeeter inside. Everything's dark colored in her home. The blinds are closed off and Skeeter was wondering if they were like that just because she was coming. During the interview they didn't get very far. Aibileen had to excuse herself to vomit she still wasn't feeling very well. So Skeeter left and they had to reschedule once again. My prediction is that Skeeter won't ever get her story from Aibileen because I can sense that she feels uncomfortable talking with her about her life as  a slave.

Interviews

This example above is useful to me. The next time I do an interview I might ask a question like this. This gives the person you are interviewing a lot to think about and they could give you some really good answers from this.

Haha I think it's a cool idea to ask the person you are interviewing their not so good times. You get to see them in a different mood. 

In my interview I'll make sure to include the persons opinions because those are really important. It explains a lot and adds more personal things to your story.

Skeeter is shopping to keep herself distracted from thinking about Ailbileen and Missus Stein. She meets up with Hilly and the only thing Hilly is talking about are her new "boyfriends" who work at this huge oil company. In the last chapter she talked Skeeter into going on a double date so she agrees to go just to get Hilly to shutup. While Skeeter was shopping she bought clothes that she knew her mother would not approve of so she would change at Hillys house before they go out. But Skeeter had a little bit of trouble getting out the house because her brother was in town with his "shiny new girlfriend" and her mother wouldnt allow her to take the car. Skeeter ignored her mother and took her dads truck instead that had a trailer attached with a huge tractor sitting on top it. When Skeeter arrives at the house the first thing she notices about her date is that he is really tall and about four inches above herself. The date went horribly, both of their dates got so drunk that they needed a ride home.Skeeter went home to her mother feeling awful about how she only comes to her when something bad/depressing happens in her life.