migration

[stinkaboy]

mas masarap pa rin dito sa pinas...

i dont have plans working or migrating abroad, since for me ok naman ako dito with my family.

i lived 9mos in HK, and those 9mos were hell, ibang iba ang kultura, dami rin pinoy dun pero kayod kabayo din sila.

[mazdamazda]

migrate? nope...

even though we don't have the more "comfortable" lifestyle of 1st world countries - the Philippines is still so much blessed as compared to other 3rd world countries.

[Karding]

Migrate? Yes. hehehe

Finally, after 10 long years, bumaba na ang immigrant visa ng mga utol ko. Kayod kabayo ka nga sa ibang bansa, at least mamatay kang pikit ang mata. Sa pinas, mamatay kang dilat ang mata. (according to my utol who have been waiting to migrate) At kahit magkayod kabayo ka sa Pinas, mas lamang pa din ang kayod kabayo sa ibang bansa.

[cyberdoc95]

My transplant to another country of totally different culture was never easy. I was pulled out suddenly of the country (where I grew up for almost 25 years) then placed on the most miserable place in the world...he he he...Yeah, that's how I felt during my first year dito sa States. I really was miserable kasi you have to start all over again. Work, friends, your own place, as in starting right from the scratch.

It only took one advise from another elder Filipino who told me that if I could stay 5 straight years sa States, then I will be good. Kung hindi ko pa rin kaya after that, then I shouldn't be living here. He said that if I could focus on my work, I will forget all these misery that I was feeling during these early years. Well, good enough, after two years of living in the States, I was on track and glad I've made that decision. Things were never the same. Miss ko lang sa Pilipinas talaga, ay yung may nagse-serve sa yo ALL THE TIME. Every morning is breakfast in bed, pati merienda, hinahatid pa sa kwarto.... After living in the States for so long, I sometimes forget na ginagawa pala ito back home(I still call Philippines "home" even though I am already an American Citizen). Nakakatuwa lang isipin talaga kasi dito halos wala ka nang time for everything. Dadaan na lang sa Dunkin Donuts for bagel and coffee for breakfast, ok na yun...Oo nga pala, sa Pilipinas may nagmamaneho pa anywhere I go...sarap ng buhay sa Pilipinas...

All I can say is, it won't be easy to put yourself in this direction and adapting to a totally new culture but it isn't impossible either. I took it as a challenge kung kaya ko ba talaga. I'm so glad for me to be resilient na natutunan ko while I was living in the Philippines. Madali kasi makikitungo ang mga Pilipino and that made things easier for me.

Discrimination was also mentioned sa thread. During my early years, there were some instances that I felt discriminated. But after reading a book about discrimination(I forgot the Title), it was something along the line of: discrimination is created on the mind of the one being offended esp. when coming from another culture. You see, there are things that are offensive sa atin na clearly is just plain work kung nandito na sa America. Ang sinabi sa book is that discrimination is not just an assumption that some act is discriminatory only to you but should also be offensive when done to another person. Ang nangyayari kasi sometimes, esp. sa workplace, is that workers(especially non-caucasian) feel offended by some orders given by the boss who happens to be white and they will take it as discrimination. To make it short, is an act really a discriminatory act or it is just a cultural difference?...Kung dito lang sa States, don't be afraid to report if you feel discriminated. Its a big crime punishable by law when one discriminates and most americans, although meron pa ring bad seeds, have zero-tolerance for discrimination.

Good luck for those Filipinos moving out of the country. Sana you'll make us all proud!!


***note ko lang na the discrimination I was talking about is cross-cultural differences and not between black/white discrimination.

[jolog1]

Like I said so far, the people who say they rather be in pinas than live in the US are the ones with money already. The ones with rich parents, OFWs na may ipon na at magre-retire, or you already have an established business. Pero if you're making P40k a month lang and you're saying mas masarap ang buhay dito, you're nuts. You better start thinking big.

Dito kasi sa pinas, if you're poor, you stay poor. If you're you're middle class, you're only threading water until you finally get tired and sink. The rich stays richer. Only a tiny of fraction of pinoys have moved up the income ladder. Hindi na to 1970s habang yung economy ng pinas is #1 sa asia. When a lot of poor pinoys can strike it big through hard work and numerous opportunities.

[voltes_V]

Living abroad is something different...Its an adventure for some of us. And its also a good experience for the kids. Ofcourse we'll always go back to our motherland. Nothing beats going home and then spending your hard earned dollars in your home country.

[Gen1]

When you've decided that spending christmas at your adopted country is better than celebrating it here in good ole pinas, then I guess you've finally emigrated.

We will miss you here in our country. I choose to stay here not because of the maids, or the drivers, or the money I make but because I enjoy spending the holidays here, and I enjoy staying in place full of familiar faces of various mocha shades.

I have always felt sad that even my activist friends from my UP days live in foreign lands instead of here where their skills would have been far more useful, but I have accepted the choice they have made.

Good luck to you who have chosen to live in different climes. I hope you find whatever it was your mother country failed to provide for you. But please do not put down our mother country. To those who have stayed behind, please, let's make this nation great again.

[badik]

work lang sa abroad para makaipon tapos balik pinas.......................

[mauler]

wala nang mas gaganda pa sa pinas! Pasko, New Year, Fiesta, marami pang iba! lahat yan sa pinas pinakamagandang i-celebrate. Dito pinakamasayang tumira.

Kaya lang i have to make a sacrifice to leave, I migrated not for myself pero sa future ng pamilya. If we were to have kids, mas gusto kong dito sila sa tahimik na lugar, at mabigayan ko sila ng bagay na di ko kayang ibigay kung nasa pinas ako. Kaya kung gusto mo mag migrate, isipin mo kung para saan ang pag alis mo, kung para sa iyo lang and you already have a good life/job sa Pinas think again, pero kung sa magiging future ng mga anak mo then go. Just don't forget kung san tayo nanggaling, our heritage is our biggest treasure outside our homeland, this is what makes us different from the others.

[jolog1]

Gen1 - who is putting down this country? We've just stated out the truth. Maybe we should all just lie and pretend none of these problems exists so we don't offend anyone. Let's all live in ignorance in the name of patriotism.

And what skills are you talking about? Most of my friends that got left in pinas with a 4 year degree ended up as waiters, store clerks or just helping out their family business. Imagine when I saw the smartest girl in my sister's class ended up as a hostess at some restaurant. There's not enough opportunity here that could make use of your skills. OFWs, the ones that are brave and smart enough to go abroad, makes up 10% of this country's GDP. They are the reason the value of peso is not plummeting. The money they send here each month plays a bigger role in this economy than working at some measely job (with few exceptions).

Every Christmas, just hang around the airport and watch thousands of balikbayans coming back to visit. Imagine how much money they'll be spending here from the Philippine Airlines ticket they bought, to pasalubongs, to hotels/restaurant, gifts, airport fees, and so on until they finally leave. That's how much money they're bringing here. I know when I visit here, I spend nearly P600 a day just on eating at restaurants and that's just my share of the bill. When I go back to the US, I have suitcase full of pasalubongs.