ON BEING FILIPINO ABROAD

When we decided to take our graduate degrees in the mid-90s, we chose to go New York because we wanted to learn more about the fields that we were interested in its foremost location. Titchie was interested in media for children while Tricia was interested in publishing and printing. “It will be the most incredible experience of our lives,” we thought when we were anticipating the move. We thought it would be a great opportunity to live in such an exciting city where people of different race, culture, and beliefs come together.

In many ways, our lives in New York and in the other US cities where we lived in have met our expectations. Titchie was able to work in Nickelodeon and Scholastic while Tricia worked at World Color Press and at one time rubbed elbows with Janet Robinson, CEO of the NYTimes Company in an industry luncheon. In other ways, our expectations were even exceeded. Titchie was able to work in a documentary with distinguished TV host and author, Bill Moyers, while Tricia received an award at the Plaza Hotel in New York for being the top student of her department. But what we were pleasantly surprised with was how much more we learned about ourselves, our values, and our heritage at such a short span of time. In a very ironic way, by living abroad we appreciated our being Filipino.

In the US we found ourselves looking out for all things Filipino. For several years now, Tricia cuts a $50 check to be a member of the Asian American Writers Workshop where many Filipino writers, poets, and filmmakers hold discussions and launch their work. Titchie is the first in the Arlington Public Library when she hears that a book on the Philippines or by a Filipino author has just been acquired. (In 2000, she moved to Virginia.) We cook Filipino food, hang out with Filipino friends, watch Filipino films, Philippine theater, attend the Philippine Independence Day parade, and at Christmas time, Filipino masses. We even hang parols! We long for mangoes, taba ng talangka, our crazy friends and relatives, and the Filipino sense of humor. And like many other balikbayans, when the plane lifts off the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to take us back to our adoptive cities, we strap on our seatbelts and hold on ever so tightly to the arms of our seats to prevent the insides of our flesh from jumping out of the plane and staying home.

Kuwento: In Florence, in Piazza de Sta. Croche, there is a group of Filipinos
who live nearby and look for Filipinos and offer to cook Filipino food for them.
When I go to Florence, I specifically go there to look for them because they
have the best longganisa and have great sinigang. -Jay Poblador, Culinary
Institute of America, New York

Kuwento: Local:Where are you from?
Chips: The Philippines.
Local: Are you Chinese?
Chips: No. I'm Filipino.
Local: Do you speak Chinese?
Chips: No, I speak Filipino."
Local: Do you have Chinese blood?
Chips: Maybe, I probably have a great, great, great, great grandmother that had some Chinese blood.
Local: Oh, I thought you were Chinese.

OR

Local: Where are you from?
Chips: The Philippines
Local: Ah, the Philippines…Marcos, Corazon Aquino, Imelda Marcos…the
3,000 shoes!"
-Chips Guevara, Manchester Business School, Manchester

In our homes away from home, we have also found ourselves holding an additional occupation. Our title: Philippine Ambassador to All the People We Meet. We are asked to look out for friends of friends back home who are moving to the US. We've also mastered a few classic recipes (like lumpia and adobo) to wow locals when they come over for a visit. In preparation for more serious encounters, we keep a copy of a Philippine history text book to make sure we know the details when asked about our history. Over the years, we have formulated answers to the standard questions of people who are meeting a Filipino for the first time: Where is the Philippines? Is it north of south of the equator? Is it in Asia? Why can you speak in English so well? Why do you have Spanish surnames? Can you speak Spanish? What's your national language? Whatever happened to Imelda Marcos and Corazon Aquino?


No, we are not griping about the additional role. We just want to tell you what we've experienced. We know where we are in privileged positions. We have the opportunity to see, experience, and compare the culture we grew up with to the cultures of the country we are staying in and the cultures of other people that we meet. In our years in the US, we have learned not to take things for granted, to be more open-minded, more conscious about other people’s beliefs and reserve judgment. Imagine Titchie’s embarrassment when she greeted a professor “Merry Christmas” during the holidays only to be corrected that she was not Christian. Or, put yourself in Tricia’s shoes when she realized that the ancestors of her new best friend are the ones who she was taught to believe killed Jesus Christ!

Kuwento: After befriending my classmates, a few of them from Asia admitted to having Filipino maids, and to this you must have a ready answer! I would say “You know, most of them are professionals back home, but due to the lack of opportunities and our economic situation, they are forced to be domestic helpers abroad. They are in demand because aside from being diligent, hardworking, and
caring, they speak English very well! This is also why there are lots of Filipino nurses all over the world.” So in a situation like this, I just try to highlight the positive and emphasize that Filipinos are not just domestic helpers but they’re in other professions as well. Besides, as long as they’re honest and they’re doing their job, so what if they’re domestic helpers? Somehow, this made me try harder to excel in the course, as my own way of breaking the stereotype. - Tammy Mananzan Dy-Liaco, University of Durham, Durham


Kuwento: I experienced discrimination quite a number of times. A few of tem are intentional and explicit, although most of them are implicit in their attitude towards non-Anglo nationals. Strictly a personal view, I think that a thick attitude of condescension still exists among many locals. Especially among the youth and the dispossessed, there appears to be a growing sentiment against international students occupying university slots and foreign talent cornering employment opportunities. Then again, such untoward experiences and local grievances exist in almost every society –Natson Go, University of Warwick, Coventry


Kuwento: Early in my studies, I've always felt self-conscious about my accent, demeanor and opinions. I used to lament my status as an "outsider." Over time however, I've come to embrace this difference as a privilege. My learning style became just as much a learning process for my professors and classmates; and my students regard my insights with respect, recognizing the fact that most often, I speak from a worldview foreign to their own. -Michael Campos, Harvard Divinity School, Massachusettes

We embrace our ambassadorial assignments and we take it seriously, thus our reading up on Philippine history and periodic check-ups of what's going on at home. We also try to keep abreast of what going on in the rest of the world because of the inter-connectedness of our societies. What we want to warn you about, however, is that it's not that easy. To the less friendly, we are not ambassadors but outsiders who rob locals of employment opportunities. When we travel we are almost always one of the nationalities that have to secure a visa before we enter our destinations. And after September 11, 2001, many of us live with an underlying fear that we will get arrested for breaking a law we don't know about and will be jailed or deported without due process. (In the US, foreign students who are caught with marijuana can be legally put in a detention center and then deported.)

In five paragraphs, that is the sweet and sour of our days abroad and in spite of that we have no regrets about our having studied overseas.

In the next few entries are some interesting facts and links that we thought might help you as a Filipino student abroad.