AFTER FIVE YEARS...

Wow! Can't believe it has been five years, it felt like forever. Five years since I left my country, my family and my safe place. What has changed? MANY. I left the Philippines with my only child, James. Now there's three of them. :P I left as a single yet engaged person, now I am a married woman. These past five years was a rollercoaster of emotion and I guess, I did not regret any of it. Although things were not ideal, they contributed to where I am now, to where we are today.

I could say I feel less homesick than I was when I first got here, hindi na ako gaanong umiiyak, minsanan nalang pag tinotopak. Unlike my first year, unang mga celebration mamimiss mo talaga Pinas, especially unang pasko and new year. You would really feel the difference. Christmas here is mostly kainan and gift giving. Unlike in the Philippines, kainan, sayawan, regaluhan, palaro, and the highlight of all, KARAOKE! So yeah, I guess, I would still get slightly emotional during this special holidays knowing what I have been missing every single time.

Okay! Another thing that has changed was during my first year, I was so scared of talking to customer reps over the phone. Like, when we have to inquire things or pay bills by phone. I know I could converse in English, but sometimes I get mental blocked. Not anymore! Sometimes you just got to do it more often to get use to it. Being a mom and a wife helped me with that. Calling for medical/dental appointments, inquiring and acquiring insurances, paying bills by phone, asking assistance from tech supports team, calling my son's school and etcetera. See, my life wasn't boring after all. Ha ha! How about, let's go back to memory lane and look back to some of my whoa moments when I first got here.

WHOA #1: The 16-lanes highway. Wide freeways yet still gets busy, like heavy traffic. As in, anglawak lawak na ng daan, nagkakatrapik pa rin. WHOA #2: Normal freeway speed limit ranges from 55-65mph, that's 90-100kph. In the Philippines, normal speed is probably around 40kph, at least from where I was from, and 70kph is already fast. WHOA #3: We arrived late May, the sun set past 8pm. Wow! In RP, it was always around 6pm. Tapos pag August naman 9pm. Aytah, late na kami natutulog. WHOA #4: Anlalaki ng burgers nila. I ate a burger almost the size of my face. Oh diba, kulang nalang yung burger na ang kumain ng mukha ko. WHOA #5: The drivers are pretty disciplined. Walang nag aagawan ng linya at walang busina, very rare circumstances lang. WHOA #6: Andaming variety ng harina. Yes, harina. Kasi when mister went to the Philippines, we were planning on making a certain bread that requires a certain flour. Tapos sa Pinas, majority ng nasa store was AP flour, kaya nung dinala nya ako sa store, nahilo ako sa dami ng klase ng harina. Nagkanda-duling duling ako pramis! Yan na muna ang WHOA moments ko. Nakalimutan ko na yung iba. Okay, sa five years ko dito one thing I certainly like: nasa part kami ng California where we don't get snow, but just 45-mins away from the mountain where good amount of snow falls every year. Would I wish to have stayed where the snow is just at our doorstep? BIG NO NO! Watching the snow from the TV screen is very different from experiencing it. Haha, sobrang lamig. Yun nga lang na malayelong lamig na ihip ng hangin hindi na kaya ng buto't-balat kong katawan, yan pa kayang snow. I don't mind making a trip to the snow, that's all I can say.

What else has changed in my five years here?

Being a homeowner is a huge accomplishment. Mainly for my husband, this has been his dream. Especially, knowing it is not easy to find an affordable house in California. We were thinking maybe Nevada or Oregon kasi less ang cost-of-living. But glad to be rent-free. Although we still pay the mortgage. Mortgage and rent are not alike.

Other than that, I am now a small business owner. I've got an Etsy and Ebay store, yay! Hindi pa man ganun karaming binebenta, decent naman ang bentahan. Being able to earn some money from home while attending to my husband, my kids and the house, it is a good feeling to have. Masaya ang may business, aside from my side hustles, of course. Right now, I am grateful for what I have and who I have with me in this journey. I've got lots of love around me and BIG LOVE to give.

I FEEL NOTHING BUT OVERFLOWING JOY.

love lots,

ELA