My Mom's Story by: Isabel

In the Philippines Spanish colonization, governed by Spain and Mexico, lasted for over three centuries. Therefore, there is a significant amount of Spanish culture in Filipino culture (Wikipedia). My Mom has some Spanish culture because she is from the Philippines. The Philippine constitution guarantees freedom of worship, but about 95 percent of Filipinos is Christian. That is more than any other Asian country. My Mom is Christian also. That comes from Spanish colonization (World book 2007). There are also many Filipino holidays that have to do with the Spanish. For example, Bonaficio Day, the birthday of Andres Bonaficio, the leader of 1896 revolt against the Spanish (shagtown.com).

Filipinos only farm on about 35 percent of the nations land, but produce most of their food. Since it is very warm in the Philippines, Filipinos plant things like bananas and coconuts. Anchovies, mackerel, scads, tuna, sardines and other fish are caught in waters surrounding the Philippines (World book 2007).



The Philippine flag features blue for noble ideals, red for courage and white for peace. The sun represents independence and the three stars stand for the three main groups of islands. The flag was adopted at the beginning of the Spanish-American War (1898) , which was fought over the liberation of Spain from Cuba(world book and enotes.com). In 1901, the US set up a colonial government in the Philippines. During American rule, English spread rapidly around the islands and mixed up with the language Tagalog, and made the language Filipino. A tribe of black people called the Aeta, were probably the first people in the Philippines. Then more people came from Malaysia and the Malays of Indonesia. Most Filipinos descend from these groups. Other Filipinos descend from different parts of Asia, like my mom (world book 2007).
In 1988, my mom arrived in the US not knowing that she was going to stay. Life in the Philippines was good, but the US had a better economy and her dad wanted her to have a good life. Her dad sent her here to see if she could get a job here because she had just finished college in the Philippines. She was very excited when she arrived, but she also felt homesick and missed her family.

Bernadette did not decide to go, her dad wanted her to look for a job in the US. The US turned out to be nice, with less pollution and traffic than there was in the Philippines. This gave her reasons to stay, so she did. She could stay at a relatives house while looking for apartments and she found a job that she liked.
When Bernadette left, she felt homesick. The only person who came with her to the US was her mom.

She packed clothes and one toy. She missed her dogs also. They stayed back with her family in the Philippines.

When she first arrived, she was very excited. She visited fun places like Disney land and Hollywood. Bernadette came to DC and applied for many jobs. Then she got interviewed for 5 jobs and got one. She liked her job because she had gone to school for it in the Philippines. Bernadette had to stay in DC for five years to get her green card. During that time, she was very homesick because she couldn't leave.
Because Bernadette had a job, she stayed in DC. Also, while looking for an apartment to live in, she could stay at a relatives' house. Bernadette stayed here for a long time so that she could get a green card and become a citizen, and it was worth waiting for.