Dee HawHaw Mukha Mo*
Sabi nga nila: “If you want to get to know a place, ask a local.”
That’s exactly what I got from talking to these two people. It’s the first time I’ve met Daniel and just the second with Gerry. Both grew up in the Bay Area. Both are of course, bloggers.
They’ve already discussed where we’ve been in their posts of our meetings in their respective sites. Union Square, Chinatown, SOMA, & Yerba Buena Gardens. But what was struck me more from meeting up with these two are the stories of Filipinos growing up in a different culture. I asked Daniel about raising kids in a different culture from what they grew up with. Gerry showed me a little section of the City where no travel packages I know ever mentions: city streets named after our National Heroes and a section of the city which served as an enclave by early Filipino immigrants.
A new place will be intimidating to a newcomer. Petite and I often discuss how do we raise children which will not be lost in terms of their identity as Filipinos in an adopted culture. Gerry and Daniel already lived it and they were generous in their stories about growing up Pinoy in the Bay Area. Being a regular reader of their blog, I know theire sentiments about such. Otherwise I wouldn’t have brought it up. And I think they also know where I’m coming from, figuratively and literally.
So yeah, thanks for the meet-up guys. Salamat sa kwento. Hanggang sa uulitin.
4 Comments, Comment or Ping
ibalik
swerte natin at walang nakabalandrang kotse sa harap ng masonic. usually, agawan ng parkingan dyan. haha. tama, sa susunod.
Jun 8th, 2006
deebeedee
oo nga no? baka may insider na ang pinoy masonics sa city hall. hehe.
salamat din. nasiyahan akong nagkita tayo.
Jun 13th, 2006
markmomukhamo
may lumpia at pancit kaya sa loob? hehe
sa susunod hanapin ko yung i-hotel
Jun 14th, 2006
row
“Petite and I often discuss how do we raise children which will not be lost in terms of their identity as Filipinos in an adopted culture. ” ….
I have some thoughts, as someone who spent most of my childhood in my parents’ “adopted countries” (they weren’t MY adopted countries because as far as I was concerned they were more “home” to me at the time than the Philippines was).
I think that once a parent decides to raise their child in a country different from their own upbringing, they have first to learn the difficult task of realizing that their children’s childhood and their childhood will be different. The parents may still think of the Philippines as their first home, but it is quite likely that the child will not. (It’s like the way Manilenyo Filipinos think of their grandparents’ home province.)
Secondly, I think they have to realize that their children will face a whole new set of “issues” about being 2nd-generation immigrants, issues that the parents probably will not fully understand: issues of integration, of feeling “different,” of feeling like a minority. I think parents can be supportive of their children while realizing that their children have to negotiate these issues themselves.
(That having been said, what my parents did was somewhat different: they moved back to the Philippines before I reached high school, so eventually the Philippines *did* become my home.)
Sep 1st, 2006
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