Feb 15

When I was younger, my parents wanted me to be a doctor. And since I was the eldest, I felt obliged to consider their wishes and be one…

But as fate would have it, although I conditioned my self to be one, by being good in school, taking the necessary course and having the necessary interests, I ended up marrying the summer after my last semester and even before I completed my thesis.

So, instead of being the MD that they wished me to be, I ended up having a marriage degree. So the path that would lead me closer to getting to America became further out of sight although never out of mind.

But I guess things would eventually take their natural course… I became a wife, finished my degree, started working, became a mother, stopped working, became a mother again, started working again, became and mother again and stopped working again…and started working again.

Now that my kids are all grown up, I realized I still envied my sister who was the first to go to America having finished Biology and getting a nursing degree and my brother who became a doctor also went to America, gotten married and now has two kids as well.

Stories reaching us in the Philippines made me envy them even more that I promised my self that I will do all that I can to reach America… until that day finally came…

January 9, 2007, 1:00 p.m. my visa interview at the US Embassy. For me, it felt like this is now or never… I probably would stop trying if they refused me still… but lo and behold, I finally got it!

So I scheduled the trip and left the country on February 11. I arrived at Detroit Metro, 12:48 p.m. cold and hungry, tired and aching all over, still had to wait for someone, who finally showed up (late as usual) but because he was late, I cancelled my trip to Chicago and rebooked my flight to Syracuse again.

Arriving in Syracuse around 6 pm I saw the faces of my nieces whom I’ve never seen before, my brother who is as fat as ever and my sister in-law whom I’ve only talked on the phone.

My first impression of America? COLD