DEPARTED FROM
Cavite, Philippines
ARRIVED IN
Diamond Bar, California
YEAR
2010
AGE
13
NOW LIVES IN
Los Angeles, California
TRANSCRIPT
I remember seeing cars, a lot of people, cold air, which is like the most specific thing that I remember. Like I can still feel like the feeling of crisp, cold, fresh air for that matter. It was just cigarettes and cold air.
Specifically who picked us up when we got to the airport was my uncle, he picked us up in a large van and brought us to a welcoming party where we were basically welcomed into moving to the US.
We got to staying in Diamond Bar through my dad’s relatives who had stayed in Diamond Bar.
We basically stayed with them until we got our own place, so I had that support and I had that sort of introduction and welcoming going on.
Obviously a lot of culture shock, well not a lot, but enough so that like vernacular was obviously different, um, colloquial terms were different, a lot of um behavioral manners, a lot of the way that you would respond to your peers, especially respond to teachers or the way that you would study basically was different.
I felt overwhelmed and a little bit scared, but um moving to the US was definitely an obstacle for me because I’d already had a life set up for me there that I thought that I was gonna be pursuing and then here is a new and fresh slate of um opportunities that I get to pick and choose from.
