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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Filipino Immigrant Oral History Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies
Description
An account of the resource
<strong><br />Note: Collection upload in process</strong>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Isabel Mangoba
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
James Garcia
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
[June 2, 2019]<br />[Begin Audio File]<br />[0:00]<br />MANGOBA: Could you give me your name and just a brief introduction about who you are?<br />GARCIA: My name is James. I am a 1.5 immigrant. I immigrated here when I was 9 years old in<br />2006.<br />MANGOBA: Who are you right now?<br />GARCIA: [laughter] I’m a 4th year college student at UC Davis. [pause] I don’t know how to<br />introduce myself.<br />MANGOBA: That’s fine.<br />GARCIA: Just cut this out. [laughter]<br />MANGOBA: So you’ve answered where and when you were born.<br />GARCIA: Okay.<br />MANGOBA: Where and when were your parents born?<br />GARCIA: So my mom was born in Batangas in the Philippines in 1971, and then my dad was<br />born in Cavite in the Philippines in 1971.<br />MANGOBA: How old were you when you immigrated to the U.S.?<br />GARCIA: So I immigrated to the U.S. when I was 9 years old.<br />MANGOBA: Where did you first live in the United States?<br />GARCIA: So the first place I lived in when I moved here was in Los Angeles in 2006 in<br />Koreatown.<br />MANGOBA: Is that where you live now?<br />GARCIA: No. So my family lives in West Covina now. So they moved from L.A. back in 2009<br />to West Covina.<br />MANGOBA: When you immigrated, who did you come with and who did you leave behind?<br />GARCIA: My mom actually came here first in November 2005, and then, during that time, there<br />were four of us- three of my siblings and I- being taken care of by my grandmother in the<br />Philippines- my mom’s mom. In May 2006 was when we first moved here to the U.S.<br />MANGOBA: Why did your family decide to move out of the Philippines?<br />GARCIA: So, as you know, the life in the Philippines is kind of tough compared to the life in the<br />U.S. The Philippines is filled with situations where there might be possibilities that my siblings<br />and I are going to get sucked into a life of drugs, a life of alcohol, gambling, and stuff like thataddictions.<br />My mom really wanted to take us out from that life, so she decided to bring us to the<br />United States and bring us here so that we can have a better life, better education, and a better<br />future.<br />MANGOBA: What were your family’s hopes, or your own hopes, for your new life in America?<br />GARCIA: Like I said, my mom’s one hope, or one wish, is that we all grow up to be really<br />successful in life- to live a life without drugs and have a really bright future- to live up to our<br />potential basically.<br />My hope from moving to the U.S. is really to just one, reach my dreams, which is to become a<br />doctor, support my family in the future ‘cause my mom worked really hard. My one goal is to in<br />the future just buy her a house. It’s not just my goal, it’s my siblings and I’s- it’s all of our goals.<br />Right now, we’re all just working really, really hard to get a really good career and give back to<br />our families once we grow up in the future.<br />MANGOBA: Did immigration affect what you planned to pursue [as a career]?<br />[4:32]<br />GARCIA: Yeah. In the Philippines, I studied really, really hard. I was in a good school. I was top<br />one out of my whole class in kindergarten, in grade 1, grade 2, grade 3. I worked really, really<br />hard to just excel in school. But immigrating here, I think that it kind of advanced that skill and<br />the experiences. Because of the opportunities that I was given here, I was able to integrate that to<br />who I was in the Philippines and do better here. So I would say that immigrating here really did<br />just give me the skills and give me the experiences I need to really excel and become a better<br />person than I was as a child in the Philippines.<br />MANGOBA: What was the most difficult part about leaving?<br />GARCIA: So the most difficult part about moving from the Philippines to the United States is for<br />sure adjusting to the life here- to the American society- and there was a lot of challenges that just<br />came with that. ‘Cause, you know, there’s that language barrier, the culture barrier. It was really<br />hard. When I was a kid, it was hard for me to adjust just because 1, I couldn’t really speak<br />English that well. There was a time in elementary school where I didn’t talk to anyone for 6<br />months and I just sat by myself during recess and lunch because I didn’t know how to talk to<br />people. That’s the thing- I couldn’t make connections and really engage in communicating with<br />my peers when I was in elementary school. And also the cultural barriers- the life. Families here<br />in the United States are very different from how I lived in the Philippines, or how my family<br />lived in the Philippines, so there was that disconnect between my friends and I. What they<br />experience in their life is so much different than the way I experienced my life. Their values are<br />different, their heritage. I have a very different heritage than they did- a different upbringing than<br />they did. Just like understanding where they come from, and really just assimilating to how they<br />lived their life- I think that was my main goal as a child here growing up. Just to like understand<br />how to really live in the United States. That was the hardest part. I really had to learn a lot and<br />really sit in the background and try to learn how to live here with people- with friends.<br />MANGOBA: Since you were so young, how did you approach having to transition [into<br />American culture]?<br />GARCIA: I had a really good school. I think that, when I was in elementary school, my parents<br />tried really, really hard to let the principal know and my teachers know where I came from, who<br />I was, and that I immigrated here. So my principal and my teachers there were very<br />accomodating of me. It was actually my principal who introduced me to the first person I ever<br />talked to in elementary school here in the U.S- the first friend I ever made. I still remember his<br />name. I don’t talk to him anymore, but he’s made a big impact on me, on my life. I think they<br />were really willing to help me adjust to life here. I tried really, really hard in fifth grade and<br />fourth grade. I still excelled in my studies which was good, but it was because of the them-the<br />staff that worked there- that made it easier to interact with my peers.<br />MANGOBA: Do you think that anyone saw you differently?<br />GARCIA: I think so. I think that fifth grade is that time, you know- I was like 10 I think- where I<br />started to become more integrated into the culture here. In the beginning I’m sure they did. I’m<br />sure they saw me as that kid that just sat alone by himself, didn’t talk to anyone, didn’t have any<br />friends. But once I started to integrate myself more into extracurricular activities that they<br />offered- I was in the basketball team- I did all these extracurriculars. You know, softball,<br />volleyball- I just really tried my best to participate in as many activities as I [could] as my way of<br />trying to fit in. I really liked playing sports, so I was like, “You know what, I might as well try<br />it,” and make new friends, learn from them, and maybe it would make it easier to adjust here.<br />MANGOBA: What was different about living in America as opposed to living in the<br />Philippines?<br />[9:43]<br />GARCIA: [sigh] There’s so much more freedom here. I don’t know. I think that’s also the<br />cultural [difference] here compared to the Philippines. In the Philippines, [pause] there was a<br />problem with poverty and stuff like that so, in the Philippines, it was more restricted, you know?<br />I didn’t have as much freedom as I did here because I didn’t have the capacity to. My mom<br />didn’t have the mean to give us that kind of life. But here, when I moved here, I just found it<br />really easy to [...] In terms of, let’s say, financial capacity, right? They were just giving me<br />money and everything, and I was just like, “Damn, I could really just save up and buy stuff.”<br />Whereas in the Philippines, it was really hard for me to get money. My mom was trying really<br />hard to provide us with money. I think that’s it. [pause]<br />Sorry, what was the question?<br />MANGOBA: What was different about living in America as opposed to living in the<br />Philippines?<br />GARCIA: Yeah, so again, the culture part is a big thing. Different cultures, different values for<br />sure. [pause] Yeah, I want to elaborate on it, but I just don’t know which example [...] ‘cause,<br />you know, American families are very different from Asian [and/or] Filipino families. Our<br />values are different, and there’s just that clash between cultures that I just really had to learn how<br />to live with. You know, as Filipinos, there’s this certain hierarchy that we have to follow, right?<br />We have to always follow our parents, we have to respect our elders. Whatever they tell us, we<br />just have to follow it. It’s just the way it works in our culture. Here, once you’re 18-once you<br />have the ability to make decisions on your own- you can kind of start living on your own life and<br />really just start learning and experiencing whatever opportunity was given to you- whatever is<br />presented to you either in school, at home, or in any other place you come across here in the<br />United States.<br />MANGOBA: [inaudible] So with such a big difference, in culture and value, do you find it<br />difficult to stay rooted in your Filipinx culture while transitioning into America and American<br />culture?<br />GARCIA: Surprisingly, no. [...] There’s two different examples for why I was able to stay rooted<br />in my Filipino culture. One is because, being a part of an immigrant family, my whole family<br />was deeply rooted in our culture. That would help because I would come home to my family, my<br />mom would cook Filipino food, I would speak Tagalog at home because I couldn’t speak English<br />at home. Well, it’s not that I couldn’t, but my mom just told me that in order for us to not forget<br />our language, we have to preserve it at home. And two, my first group of friends here were<br />Filipinos. They were the ones that I spent all of my elementary school [years with]- Fourth and<br />fifth grade and most of middle school. We just stayed friends and they were all Filipinos too. A<br />lot of my friends, even now, are mostly Filipinos, and that’s the main reason I was able to stay<br />rooted. We were able to share our values, our experiences, our culture. So being exposed to the<br />values of being Filipino both at home and at school and my other experiences too, I think that<br />kept me rooted in my culture.<br />MANGOBA: So you say most of your friends are Filipino and always have been, but do you<br />notice anything different between first generation immigrants and Filipino Americans here?<br />[14:14]<br />GARCIA: Yeah. My friends back then- yeah, they were Filipinos, but they had a very different<br />upbringing than I did. They were second gen[eration] Filipinos, so meaning that they were born<br />in a society where they can live their life as Americans. Yes, they are Filipinos- that’s how they<br />were born- but they were really living American lives. Whereas, for example, for me, I was born<br />as Filipinos and I lived a Filipino life. Yeah, so the main difference again, it comes back to how<br />we function in society. The culture and the values that we all have are very different. So, for<br />example, like I said, even if my friends were Filipino, the way they talk to their families, or just<br />the way they spend time with their families, were not similar to Filipinos do it. You know,<br />Filipinos are very family-centered. They’re very collectivistic, meaning that family is one of the<br />big things for them. They always want to support their family. They always want to respect their<br />elders. Whereas here, Filipino Americans- yes, they do still live that kind of life, but they<br />definitely live by the American life more. They’re more towards autonomy, like making your<br />own decision. They’re more into following their dreams. In Asian culture- in collectivistic<br />cultures, especially in the Philippines- you can follow your dreams, but your main goal is to<br />support your family in the future. You can always see that. Kids in the Philippines, once they<br />grow up, they’ll still live with their parents. There’s kind of that switch in roles: once they grow<br />up and get their jobs and make money, a lot of that money is going to go back to their families.<br />Whereas here, once you get money, you can start buying stuff. You can create your own life.<br />You can experience new things. The family values is very diminished within Filipino Americans<br />here compared to Filipinos in the Philippines.<br />[pause]<br />MANGOBA: So your family has tried really hard to maintain that type of dynamic right?<br />GARCIA: Yes.<br />MANGOBA: And it’s still like that to this day? Nothing has really influenced [a shift away from<br />those values]?<br />GARCIA: Actually, no. So I live in SoCal, my family’s in L.A. I think there has been a shift in<br />the way my parents have treated [my siblings and I] now compared to how they treated us as<br />kids. I think that once my siblings and I started to adjust to the American life, my parents started<br />to treat us like American kids. They would tell us, “Follow your dreams or whatever makes you<br />happy.” which is not common in the Filipino culture. The fact that they’re saying it really just<br />shows that they’re really trying to give us the means to be happy and to do a career where we can<br />prosper and love what we do. There has been for sure a shift from how they treated us as kids<br />and how they treat us now. I think living in the United States has really influenced how they<br />treated us.<br />MANGOBA: [pause] [inaudible]<br />GARCIA: [laugh] It’s okay, take your time.<br />MANGOBA: [pause] How do you think migration has changed or formed who you are today?<br />GARCIA: That’s a good question. I think definitely moving to the United States has given me<br />more opportunities prosper, to become a better person, to do more with my life. I think it really<br />goes back to the things I was given as a kid- the opportunities I was given: better education, a<br />better way to develop my own autonomy. If I was in the Philippines, for sure I would’ve been<br />different- I wouldn’t be the same person if I was in the Philippines. The way I am now, I’m a<br />very service-oriented person. Service-oriented meaning that I like to give back to my<br />community. I think the main reason why is because I experienced living a life in poverty. I<br />experienced a life surrounded by stress, surrounded by pressure to assimilate into this culture. So<br />whatever I can do to lessen that stress, because I went through it, in other people, I think I really<br />try my best to make sure that other people- not remove that experience, not remove that feelingbut<br />just alleviate what they’re going through. Yeah, I think my experiences before migrating here<br />and, actually, my experiences after migrating here, really shaped who I am today and what I<br />want to do in the future.<br />[20:52]<br />MANGOBA: What do you wish more people knew about immigrants and immigration?<br />GARCIA: I love this question. So, in my opinion, I think that when people think about<br />immigrants, it’s more like people coming here to work, to have a better family, and that’s just<br />where it ends- to work and to have a better future for their families. But they never really think<br />about the things that these families have to go through. I don’t know if you know the word<br />“acculturation”. Acculturation is a little similar to assimilation, but more towards adjusting to<br />the receiving culture and experiencing everything that comes with this cultural clash, like stress.<br />There’s something called acculturative stress that is very big on mental health research in Asian<br />American immigrants. People need to realize that immigrants come here not only to work, nbut<br />also to really overcome challenges that go with that. The United States- yes, it was built by<br />immigrants. We all know that, it’s in our history books. But it’s it is not made, right now, for<br />immigrants. As you learn in [Asian American Studies], the path to citizenship is so difficult right<br />now. I have Filipino friends whose families aren’t even citizens yet, and they’ve been waiting for<br />20 years. There’s so many implications that come with that. You can’t do much in the United<br />States without being a citizen. In order to rent an apartment, you have to be a citizen. In order to<br />start a bank account, you have to be a citizen. All these challenges that come with becoming<br />citizens, and not even [just] that- like providing for your families, looking for jobs that don’t<br />require you to be a citizen. A lot of those jobs are minimum wage, low-income jobs. In addition<br />to trying to become a citizen, you’re also trying to get a lot of money for your family. All this<br />stress builds up to the point where it affects immigrants’ mental health and physical health. I<br />think if we can come to an understanding that immigrants are going through much more than just<br />trying to get a job- just moving here and trying to get a job. They all have to go through a great<br />deal of obstacles. A few do rise above. It takes time, but it happens. In order to live a good life in<br />another country, you have to work for it. I think our society, especially the American society, just<br />needs to sit down and understand what’s going on within these immigrant families.<br />[ 24:49]<br />MANGOBA: You took ASA 150 [The Filipinx Experience in America] right?<br />GARCIA: I did. Yes.<br />MANGOBA: Do you think the class does justice [in reflecting the experiences of all generations<br />of Filipinx in America]?<br />GARCIA: I think so. ASA 150 is one of the few classes in the United States where it talks about<br />the Filipino culture, Filipino migration. I think that’s really important because it gives us the<br />opportunity to learn something about ourselves- learn something about who we are that we didn’t<br />learn in high school. When I took ASA 150, and I learned a lot of different topics about Filipino<br />migration, export, and stuff like that, it really just took me back to how my family is. Honestly,<br />that’s how my family is- how one of the greatest sources of income or GDP for the Philippines is<br />labor export. I have my aunts and my uncles that work in Dubai and Singapore, and all of these<br />remittances go back to the Philippines and raise their GDP and stuff like that. Learning about<br />these things in ASA 150 really opens your eyes to how the process is. It really makes you realize<br />that it’s not just your family, but it happens to families all over the world. At least in my opinion,<br />understanding that this is happening not only to you but to everyone else is a doorway- an<br />entrance to figuring out how to help each other out. Because, again, our Filipino culture is very<br />family-oriented and we really try to do our best to look out for each other so ASA 150 is a<br />subject that gives you the first step in how to do that. It always comes back to understanding<br />where you come from.<br />MANGOBA: I think you covered most of my questions, so is there anything you’d like to add<br />that has not been asked?<br />GARCIA: No. Unless you have any other questions, but it’s up to you.<br />MANGOBA: I don’t think I have anymore questions.<br />GARCIA: Cool.<br />[End Audio File]<br />Finding Guide for Oral History of James Garcia<br />[0:00-10:00]<br />Immigration at 9 years old in 2006 - 4th year college student at UC Davis - mom born in<br />Bantangas in 1971 - dad born in Cavite in 1971 - First lived in Koreatown in 2006 - Moved to<br />West Covina in 2009 - Mom immigrated first in 2005, grandmother takes care of siblings in the<br />Philippines until immigration in 2006 - hopes for immigration - effect of immigration on career -<br />transition into American culture as a child - comparison between American and Filipino culture<br />[10:01-20:00]<br />Comparison of life in America and in the Philippines - affect on personal cultural life -<br />comparison between immigrants and Filipino Americans - family values - affect of immigration<br />on family values - affect of immigration on identity<br />[20:01-27:24]<br />What more people should know about immigration - acculturation - acculturative stress - affect<br />of immigration on mental health - Immigrant perspective/opinion on ASA 150
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral History Interview with James Garcia
Subject
The topic of the resource
Batangas, Cavite, University of California Davis, Immigrant families--United States, Filipino Americans -- Social conditions, First Generation Immigrant Families, 1.5 Generation Immigrant Families, Second Generation Immigrant Families, Children of immigrants -- Education, Immigrants -- Education, Americanization, Acculturation, Assimilation, Collectivism, Individualism, Filipino Labor Export, OFWs, Reasons for Immigrating, Language barrier, Filipino Americans -- Family relationships
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with James Garcia, interviewed by Isabel Mangoba
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
6/2/2019
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies and the UC Davis Asian American Studies department holds intellectual control of these recordings. Usage is restricted for educational, non-commercial purposes only. For other uses, please contact archivist Jason Sarmiento at ajsarmiento@ucdavis.edu
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Audio Recording and Transcript
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ucdw_wa014_s001_0027
1.5 Generation Immigrant Families
Acculturation
Americanization
assimilation
Batangas
Cavite
Children of immigrants -- Education
Collectivism
Filipino Americans -- Family relationships
Filipino Americans -- Social conditions
Filipino Labor Export
First Generation Immigrant Families
Immigrant families--United States
Immigrants -- Education
Individualism
Language barrier
OFWs
Reasons for Immigrating
Second Generation Immigrant Families
University of California Davis
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Filipino Immigrant Oral History Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies
Description
An account of the resource
<strong><br />Note: Collection upload in process</strong>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Shawn Lupo
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
"Jane"
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
[Session 1, June 2, 2019]<br />[Being Audio File]<br />SHAWN: It is June 2nd, 2019, 7:08pm, I shall be doing an interview with a Filipino immigrant,<br />this immigrant did not want her real name to be used in the interview , so throughout the<br />interview I shall be referring to her a Jane. So hello Jane , and thank you for giving me your time<br />today.<br />JANE: Hello and go ahead with your questions<br />SHAWN: Okay, so to start off where and when were you born?<br />JANE: I was born July 7th, 1968, in Dingras, Illocos Norte, Philippines<br />SHAWN: Where were your parents born?<br />JANE: It is the same thing, Dingras, Illocos Norte, Philippines<br />SHAWN: Oh okay, so it looks like your family is generations into that city, how many<br />generations is your family in that city?<br />JANE: We have three generations.<br />SHAWN: Oh okay, what did your parents do in terms of work?<br />JANE: My father is a businessman and my mother is a housewife<br />SHAWN: So for your father’s business is it like a family business or was just working under<br />someone?<br />4<br />JANE: It’s a family business<br />SHAWN: Oh okay, what did your grandparents do?<br />JANE: My grandfather on the mother's side is in military and my grandmother is a farmer and a<br />housewife and my grandmother on the father’s side is a businessman, the same thing with my<br />grandmother<br />SHAWN: On your grandfather that was in the military was the military in the family?<br />JANE: Yes<br />SHAWN: And on the business side, for your grandparents that were in the business is that also in<br />the family?<br />JANE: Yes<br />SHAWN: Okay, and so growing up how many siblings did you have? And like was your family<br />big?<br />JANE: No, we have a small family, and I have two siblings<br />SHAWN: Two siblings, okay, did you or did any of your family members move to American<br />before you?<br />JANE: No, it’s just by myself<br />SHAWN: Just by yourself, okay, what was your academic experience in the Philippines?<br />JANE: When I was in college I was a library assistant, and after college I served as an assistant<br />at Allied Bank<br />SHAWN: What did you major in at college?<br />JANE: Business and Management, Business Management, bachelor of science in business<br />management<br />5<br />SHAWN: Okay, so do you have any professional experience working in that field?<br />JANE: Yes I do<br />SHAWN: Okay so, what made you devide to move out of the Philippines?<br />JANE: Coming here to the US, its financial staiblity and a better life<br />SHAWN: What made you think that you would have better finacial stability in the US?<br />JANE: First of all is they said that there’s more job here compared to the Philippines and the pay<br />rate is better than the Philippines<br />SHAWN: And who did you hear this from?<br />JANE: A lot of people, a lot of Filipinos coming here and I heard it from them.<br />SHAWN: Okay, so when did you finally move to the US?<br />JANE: That was 1996<br />SHAWN: 1996, was there any huge struggles you had in moving to the US?<br />JANE: Yes, because it is hard to get a visa and when I came here again I had to find a job, thats<br />the struggle I do, and then competing with Americans is not that easy to find a job<br />SHAWN: When you first moved to the US how were your English skills?<br />Jane: So-so<br />SHAWN: So-so, did you move anywhere before you came to the US?<br />JANE: Yes, I work in Taiwan and Hong Kong, Indonesia, and China<br />SHAWN: Was this apart of the export economy of the Philippines? Where they send out many<br />workers to different countries, was it apart of that?<br />JANE: No<br />SHAWN: This was on your own accord?<br />6<br />JANE: This one I applied in the Philippines, its an import-export business from a US company,<br />they hired me after graduation, like 6 months before my graduation they hired me, and they send<br />me to every countries, like every like Hong Kong 6 months, I go to Taiwan, 6 months,<br />something like that. It’s like quality control.<br />SHAWN: Okay so with your thoughts that you had about America before you immigrated did<br />they change after you came to America? Before you came to America you believed there was<br />more financial stability, do you agree with that now that you arrived here?<br />JANE:Not exactly<br />SHAWN: Why?<br />JANE: Because if you don't have a good job money is not good , yes, and if you don't have an<br />education job is not good either, so it’s not a paradise<br />SHAWN: Okay so, what was different about living in America compared to the Philippines?<br />JANE: Living in America is easy if you have a good job, living in the Philippines is not that easy<br />because there's no job in the Philippines, there is a job again they’re hard to find , you have to<br />have a connection to get a job in the Philippines. Down here it is fair, you apply, you have the<br />skills they hire you, so that’s the difference in it<br />[4:57]<br />SHAWN: With your belief that with skills you can get hired in America, do you think as an<br />immigrant your discriminated against a lot more than Americans? In the American job market<br />JANE: Yes-yes , and no. Yes if it depends on the company and no because some companies<br />don’t discriminate. But on my experience they do discriminate, the first time I worked, but the<br />second time I worked for a company, no.<br />7<br />SHAWN: And so with your English abilities being so-so, do you think it gave you an advantage<br />or disadvantage compared to other immigrants from other countries?<br />JANE: Disadvantage<br />SHAWN: Why do you believe that?<br />JANE: Because sometimes they don’t understand you, the way you speak in English is different,<br />they can hardly understand you sometimes with the Americans. But with the migrants just like<br />us, they do understand, so that’s the disadvantage of it<br />SHAWN: Okay and so when you came to the US where do you live?<br />JANE: I live in San Diego<br />SHAWN: Did you stay with family or were you alone by yourself?<br />JANE: Alone by myself<br />SHAWN: How did you provide for yourself<br />JANE: I had to work<br />SHAWN: So what was your first job when you came here?<br />JANE: When I first came here, my visa was just a tourist visa, so I did so-so job, like a<br />housekeeper, babysitting, something like that. And then when I get my card, or greencard<br />something like that, I get married, so I helped my husband, my ex-husband by the way, to run his<br />business, and then after that when we get divorced i find my own job by myself, which is in the<br />hotel being a manager.<br />SHAWN: Did your professional and academic experiences help you get this job as a manager?<br />JANE: Yes<br />SHAWN: Was the job related to what you did in the Philippines in terms of profession wise?<br />8<br />JANE: Yes, because its management<br />SHAWN: Was managing in America very different from managing in the Philippines?<br />JANE: Of course<br />SHAWN: What were the biggest differences?<br />JANE: Here, it just not only management, in the Philippines if they say you're manager, you're<br />manager. Down here being a manager you need to do everything, like if you're short of staff you<br />need to step in and do their job, in the Philippines you don’t do that, you have to find somewhere<br />else to do the job, not you doing it, here you are forced to do it<br />SHAWN: When you came to America did you continue your education in America? Did you go<br />back to college?<br />JANE: Yes<br />SHAWN: What college did you go to?<br />JANE: Ashford University, online college<br />SHAWN: What did you do?<br />JANE: I did my master roll<br />SHAWN: In what?<br />JANE: Business management<br />SHAWN: Business management, and so has that helped you with your career in America?<br />JANE: Yes<br />SHAWN: Is it significant or just a little?<br />JANE: Significant<br />SHAWN: Like how?<br />9<br />JANE: Right now I’m dealing with a lot of doctors, okay, and also in hospitals it helps me do all<br />the job im not supposed to be doing it, meaning to say it advances, because they see that with<br />master roll they respect you more, and they give you more opportunity to go up<br />SHAWN: So when you came to America have you noticed anything different between first<br />generation immigrants like yourself and the Filipino-American community?<br />JANE: Yes, I do, the first generation, more family orientated, more respectful to their eldery<br />family, listens more, advices and education are the priority, while the second generation is<br />ego-lucky, doesn’t know struggles, disconnection from Filipino culture, and traditional culture<br />clash with western culture, and largely unfamiliar with their home country<br />SHAWN: What do you think causes these differences?<br />JANE: Well which one? Are you talking about the first generation or the second generation?<br />SHAWN: What do you think caused the difference between first generation immigrants and the<br />Filipino-American community, do you think it's more so how the Filipino-Americans were raised<br />or do you think it's more so just being in America?<br />JANE: Definitely the way Filipinos raise, like when the children are born here they are raised<br />like Americans, whereas the Filipinos born in the Philippines come here they raise us like a<br />Filipino, meaning to say that the respect is there, the more--go ahead<br />[10:08]<br />SHAWN: So you believe the first generation immigrants raise their second differently than they<br />would in the Philippines?<br />JANE: Yes, definitely<br />SHAWN: Why do you think that happens?<br />10<br />JANE: Maybe because parents down here don't have much time with their kids, while in the<br />Philippines we got a lot of time to mold our children. Here parents they tend to work more hours<br />and they tend to forget their kids, they need to mold them the way their supposed to be, but<br />because of their work hours or work load they don't have that time, that’s the reason why,<br />because the way you do it, you have to spend more time with the kids or the children while<br />they’re growing up, so that that’s the big impact of raising a kids, so comparing to the<br />Philippines y’know people down there you have your own family, you have your relatives that<br />they look after, so the kids saw it. Down here in America you have your family and your<br />relatives, it's still again the time is not there for them together or something like that. Plus you<br />know there a lot of people here already like a lot of, what do you call it, countries coming in here<br />so those things they learn things from those in the school, where in the Philippines there’s only<br />one country that you're dealing with, so we are just like one company or something like that, that<br />you don't have any kind of people there like Americans or Chinese in the school that they learn<br />bad things or good things from them, it's only Filipinos, down here [California] its Filipinos,<br />Mexicans, White, or something like that, so those are the different one, those one different<br />cultures. So with this one they learn things from them, that’s what I think, I might be wrong<br />though.<br />SHAWN: So I know you’re pressed for time so I guess I’ll just ask you one more thing. So do<br />you have any advice for any Filipinos in the Philippines that want to come to the US?<br />JANE: For them it’s not bad to dream to come here, but you need to think first, because down<br />here if you come here without education it’s useless, okay, with education on it it's easy, better<br />life, because if you don’t have an education , you can have like housekeeper making $9 an hour,<br />11<br />$9 an hour not gonna put food on the table, not enough. So with education your making more<br />than that , so better before you come here to get an education first , and then when they come<br />here they can study more, that's all I can tell<br />SHAWN: Jane, thank you so much for your time<br />JANE: You’re welcome<br />SHAWN: So it is June 2nd, 2019, 7:22PM, and I shall be ending this interview<br />[End Audio File]
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Oral History Interview with "Jane"
Subject
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Dingras, Ilocos Norte; San Diego, California; Filipino Americans -- Social conditions, Criticism of American Dream, Filipino Americans -- Employment, Discrimination in employment -- United States, Ashford University (online college), Business Management, First Generation Immigrant Families, Second Generation Immigrant Families, Filipino Americans -- Family relationships, Filipino Americans -- Cultural assimilation, Generational differences
Description
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Oral history interview with "Jane" [pseudonym], interviewed by Shawn Lupo
Date
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6/2/2019
Rights
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The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies and the UC Davis Asian American Studies department holds intellectual control of these recordings. Usage is restricted for educational, non-commercial purposes only. For other uses, please contact archivist Jason Sarmiento at ajsarmiento@ucdavis.edu
Format
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Audio Recording and Transcript
Identifier
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ucdw_wa014_s001_0026
Ashford University (online college)
Business Management
California; Filipino Americans -- Social conditions
Criticism of American Dream
Dingras
Discrimination in employment -- United States
Filipino Americans -- Cultural assimilation
Filipino Americans -- Employment
Filipino Americans -- Family relationships
First Generation Immigrant Families
Generational differences
Ilocos Norte; San Diego
Second Generation Immigrant Families
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Filipino Immigrant Oral History Project
Publisher
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Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies
Description
An account of the resource
<strong><br />Note: Collection upload in process</strong>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
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Matthew Lawrence
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Andrea Alcantra
Transcription
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[Andrea Alcantra is a 1st year civil engineering major, I know her through PASE as she is part of the incoming board with me. I’m interviewing her for the ASA 150 Final project spring quarter 2019]<br />Matthew: <br />The first question is when and where were you born?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I was born in Manila Philippines on November 12, 2000.<br /><br />Where my mom was born in Balayan Batangas and my dad and I have no idea i have no information on him.<br />Do you want me to talk about my dad or my biological dad or like?<br /><br />Matthew: whoever you feel more connected to<br /><br />Andrea: Ok um, Well then my dad is born in Manila Philippines<br /><br />Matthew: did your mom and dad meet in Manila?<br /><br />Andrea: yeah that's where my mom grew up. She was born in the province then came to Manila<br /><br />Matthew: and then the next question is what jobs did your parents do growing up?<br /><br />Andrea: growing up[pause], my mom had a restaurant that lasted for just like the most recent thing I remember she had a restaurant down the street from my house and that lasted for like 8 years. And she was an english teacher online and that lasted for another 6 years and then no, yeah we came here. <br /><br />Matthew: <br />Alright, do you know your grandparents on either side?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I know my grandma from my mom’s side.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />And then, Do you know what your grandma did or where she was from?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />My grandma is also from Balayan Batangas and she also grew up in Manila, that’s usually how it works<br /><br />Matthew: <br />Yeah I kind of figured<br /><br />Andrea: <br />Yeah that’s kind of how it works, you were like raised in the city and my grandma did everything. She sold everything that she could sell. She graduated college with journalism, and so she was writing a little bit but that doesn’t really make money. She was also a realtor and that’s really all I know from like what she did before she came to the US. and then when she came to the US she worked for [inaudible Bishop?] and worked her way up and became a manager and then she retired<br /><br />Matthew: <br />Do you have siblings? Wait you have more than one right?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah I have 9 siblings, or there’s nine of us yeah from my mom’s side.<br /><br />Matthew: And then do all of them live here?<br /><br />Andrea<br />Uh so all of us live here in the US except the eldest Which because when we were trying, immigrating she was like overage. <br /><br />Matthew: <br />And then did anyone move to America before in terms of your siblings, or obviously your mom, did your mom come over first?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />No so my great grandma came here, then immigrated my grandma and her kids. Then my mom was overage so she had to wait 15[?] years and then immigrated all of us like my grandma did it<br />So we all came here at the same time <br /><br />Matthew:<br />Ok. and then what age did you move over from the Philippines?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I was 8. <br /><br />Matthew:<br />And so yeah do you remember anything from school in the philippines? What was that like.<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I was there until I was in third grade. I was put into a school a really big private school, and all the kids were rich and it was a really competitive school. Out of all my siblings I was the youngest so I was the only one they could afford to put in there. And then it was like a bunch of spoiled rich kids And I wasn’t that because I had so many siblings and had very little money and whatever money we had was to put me in school. And then it was a lot of comparisons between what they had and what I didn’t have. And but yeah school was a lot harder in the Philippines they’re just less sympathetic with your needs in education and how people are in different levels. They expect you to just be smart and if not you just fail [insert expletive from Matthew]<br /><br />Matthew:<br />So have you had any professional experience?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />No but here I don’t know what that means.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Did you move anywhere else before coming to the US?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />No I’ve only lived in two countries, and like 3 homes<br /><br />Matthew:<br />What were your thoughts about the US before moving here?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I thought the US was a lot of chocolates, and I thought the whole US was chocolates and it was really cold everywhere and that there was snow everywhere all year long. And then when I talked to my cousins on facebook they come from the philippines to here and they were like your feet don’t get dirty here and everywhere’s carpet so your feet don’t get dirty.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />And so what was it like finding out the US wasn’t full of chocolate?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Well when I came here it was like, I didn’t know I was going to stay here forever cause it didn’t like register to me till like a few months of being here and then like i don’t know, I didn’t love it because it wasn’t my home and I thought we were going to go home. And like I just started hating little things about the US and then the chocolate was [insert Matthew saying: so the chocolate was gone] like way gone I didn’t even think about it anymore. And then I realized even here we weren’t rich and there were a lot of trips to the dollar store with my grandma but like as a kid to me you know it was just a store you went to. It wasn’t until school like influenced my thoughts on what like poor people had or rich people had.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />What was the switch like coming from private schools in the philippines to US schools? Did you go to private school, public school, catholic school?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I went to public school and I went with my cousins so it kind of helped. She was around for like recess and stuff. It was a lot more diverse people, and in the Philippines I went to school with like a lot of muslims and it was weird not to [see] people with Hijabs and stuff.and I went to school with a lot of Koreans too so yeah and it was weird not seeing that. And then it was like it was a lot of people that look different but was all American. As for school was I wasn’t really studying for tests like I did in the Philippines where I had like pages and pages of study guides and practice exams in the third grade [laughs] and then here it was like all the test scores didn’t matter and it would be hard to fail a grade.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />That’s a big change. then what school did you go to in the US, what city are you from?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Um I’m from richmond. But for my first year of school I lived in Pinole which is also in east bay cause that’s where my cousins went to school.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />And then in school did you stay with your cousins, did you stay at your cousins school?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I’d stay with my cousins During the week and then on the weekends my Uncle would bring me back home.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Ok<br /><br />Andrea:<br />That was also because my house was really crowded, [inaudible]<br /><br />Matthew:<br />And then how much older is your oldest sibling?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />My oldest sibling is like 30,yeah, but then like they’re all like a year a part and me and my sister is like 3 years apart.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />And then when your family first moved here did you stay with extended family like cousins and uncles?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />My grandma actually bought a house for us before we moved here and that was in Richmond so then yeah and then a month after living there she had us pay for everything so my siblings got jobs like 2 weeks after moving here. But yeah it was with my grandma.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Let’s see, [commentary on questions not being applicable] and then what were your thoughts on America moving here? You mentioned a lot of transitions any thoughts on that?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Well in terms of family we didn’t really have extended family in the philippines anymore because they all came here so it was getting to know family and cousins who barely go back to the Philippines and there was a lot of family parties and trying to have everyone connect. And there was a lot of like I remember my mom tried to keep me out of it but there was a lot of like financial problems you know? Because my grandma didn’t really give us much room to make money and expecting payments and stuff. I don’t blame her but she’s already had done a lot for us. That brought me and my siblings together and that kind of helped us mature faster. I can’t really be a kid anymore because they’re too busy working. And like theres more serious things going on than me wanting to play or wanting nice things and stuff<br /><br />Matthew:<br />I suppose the next question is when you were in high school or as you got older were you expected to work a job?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />My mom always put that I was going to college no matter what, because on top of everything that was the priority that was why my family came here in the first place. So that even though none of my siblings went to higher education, I would go and I would graduate but I knew that we wouldn’t have money for me to go to college. And at 16 I started looking for jobs so junior year. I knew I had to start saving up money for college and anything else I wanted to do. The last thing in my family’s mind was to be giving me money for like needs I had with everyday stuff. And then seeing my siblings work it was kind of weird for me not to work and I always wanted to work because [my siblings were working] and so I wanted to work. It was never expected of me though<br /><br />Matthew:<br />I know your mom expected you go to college, what brought you here to Davis instead of the East Bay or SF state or something?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />It had a lot to do with family. I didn’t apply to schools in like Southern California or anywhere else other than Northern California just cause I wanted to stay close to my family ,as close as possible, even though I wouldn’t be going home very much like every weekend so if anything I could just go back. [inaudible/and/um] The thought of being like a flight away from my family I just didn’t want to do it. I wasn’t ready for it and I’m glad I stayed close to home.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Do you notice anything different between first generation immigrants and the FilAm community? Things like cultural differences, between people born here vs people coming here as a kid. <br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah I do, like I’m not going to name any names but I here some rich kids talk and it’s just really different cause they never really experienced not having money even though they can speak on their parents’ behalf. If you’ve never experienced it first hand, you won’t really now how much you had compared to how much you would have had<br /><br />Matthew: <br />Any cultural differences that you noticed?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah actually, I noticed like back home with a group of friends back home there’s no judgement and everyone’s close. No matter who you hang out with it’s not like a conclusion that you’re into that person. Here it’s like oh you talk to one person it’s easy to assume you’re into that person. You know? [You can’t just be friends with someone without people starting to talk] In the Philippines it’s common they don’t really see the gender if you’re a group of friends you’re a group of friends anyone is going to be talking to anyone. And then there’s also like yeah sometimes I feel like people aren’t as genuine as people back home. There’s still like fakeness despite coming into the FilAm and expecting genuinity and yeah it’s still like a bunch of American kids.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Were you surprised by that coming into it because I know you spent a lot of time about half your time growing up here were you surprised that people weren’t as genuine<br /><br />Andrea:<br />I expected people to be exactly like people from back home. Or at least resemble that like family trait or that family comes first and that we’re all family. It’s not like that we’re just friends.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Any other differences you noticed culturally with about food, relations, sports ?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />A lot of people in the filam actually play volleyball and in the philippines everyone played volleyball and everybody knew how to play volleyball. It was funny to see how every Filipino played volleyball. And then there’s some weird sports that filipinos wouldn’t know. Like you play water polo? And then the thing where everybody likes boba, that’s a thing in the philippines too[Matthew: so the addiction goes across the ocean?].yeah Bingsoo too. And like yeah people in the Philippines are obsessed with falafels and korean food, and even here filipinos are known to go to Korean BBQ. [Interjections from Matthew about mutual friend Anthony going to korean BBQ the preceding day] yeah but Korean BBQ is so expensive!<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Yeah I think that’s a NorCal thing because I used to go to a place back home that was $10 and I complained when it became $12.<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah I went to Socal it was so much cheaper<br /><br />Oh I guess that was another thing. Famous people were like everywhere but that was just LA. I thought all the Landmarks were all in one place and I could go to like the Statue of Liberty from the Golden Gate but it’s like really big. I thought no states existed other than California and New York. [Matthew: So Texas that’s not real?] Yeah [laughs] I didn’t know there was so many different states<br /><br />Matthew:<br />When you were going to high school and middle school did you interact with the Filipino community there? Or was Davis FilAm your first experience with Filipino Americans?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah it was, there was just a lot of Latinos. I guess it’s just cause it was California. It was either white, black, latinos yeah.<br />You can ask me about my profession, I worked here!<br />I worked at target here and every summer I worked at a camp.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />What was the camp like?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />It was Camp Galileo, so it was for exploring science and stuff like that. It’s about advancing science and technology, stuff like that.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />So getting more people into the engineering major?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah like basically K-8th grade<br /><br />Matthew:<br />What was it like coming to Davis and going to Engineering?<br />Andrea:<br />Well as a woman, there’s a lot of men with intentions. It’s really hard to get respect from people as engineers and as a student because yeah. I feel like people always got their intentions. Like I’ll help you in this class but they got intentions. Like my professors are really intimidating, as a colored person I always try to go for a colored professor or hispanic or at least women. That way I won’t end up with some random guy with a really bad accent. <br /><br />Matthew:<br />And then the other question I have that I ask a lot of the filam, do you ever felt impostor syndrome?Like it’s all kind of an act or that you don’t belong?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah I feel it, coming into Davis I knew because I talked to like so many people about it. How I get through things is you know fake it till you make it and it’s like I know I belong here and as long act like I belong here, I belong here. And no one can take that away from me because I’ve worked hard to be here. Impostor syndrome, I didn’t know that there was a word for it<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Are you a first gen-[switched the phrasing in the moment] are you the first in your family to go to college? How was navigating things like college applications and filling out the FAFSA for Financial Aid<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah my mom never finished college, and she was really good at filling out forms like tax forms. My siblings also went to CC [community college] before I did. They never really graduated, my mom also went to CC for a couple semesters so she knew and was able to help me with that part. It was more she didn’t know how hard it was, she just, I couldn’t show her how hard high school was or how hard applications were or the essay questions. [Matthew: groans, oh the damn essay questions.Do you want to say anything about them? For context I spent nine months writing mine] [Laughs] no I don’t want to say anything about them I blocked them out. I’m never gonna look at these again, I don’t remember the ones I answered. It just goes to show how unimportant these [expletive] questions were.And then my mom was an english teacher but she wouldn’t look over them.<br /><br />Matthew: <br />Did you have any language barriers coming over here with your mom or grandma?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />No because my mom was an english teacher and I was taught to speak english and Tagalog at the same time.That’s another stigma in the philippines, if you don’t speak english you’re poor. So yeah my grandma was a journalist and wrote some books. She even has a published book, it’s a poem book. [Matthew: Do you want to put a plug in here?] Nah I don’t even remember the name. I didn’t really support it because when she was looking for pictures and stuff because she chose my third cousins. My grandma never really liked me until I got into Davis. Then she started representing me before she didn’t represent me because I was the dark kid. She would always representing my sister because she had the lighter skin. She’d always represent my third cousins because they had lighter skin.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Did you ever have to deal with that in the philippines or from you family here outside of your grandma?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Yeah um, when I first came here there was jokes about how I’d be surrounded by black kids and be in a group of black kids because I was dark. Like that was something my uncles always played around with. They always made jokes when we’d get together like “How is your black friend?” even though I didn’t really have black friends. Black people actually hated me, I was hated by black girls a lot. I only remember a few black girls who liked me because of my hair. It was really straight and yeah.<br /><br />Matthew:<br />Has your experienced changed since coming to Davis?<br /><br />Andrea:<br />Well it was, they compared me a lot to my other cousins. Since I got here I was always compared to my cousins. We were still being compared and that they always had this idea that I didn’t work hard to get to college and that it was given to me. I don’t know how college acceptance works but I guess however you want to make yourself feel good about yourself. None of my aunts went to college and the aunt that came here when she was the same age as me had a kid by like 16 and ran away from home. A lot of people thought that I was gonna be like that but she didn’t really take advantage of the privileges. She took it as a joke and didn’t really plan out her life. By the time she came here my grandma was working and had money where by the time I came here my mom didn’t have money so I saw that struggle and used that as a motivation to work harder in school.
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Transcription of Immigrant Interview of Andrea Alcantra
Subject
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Richmond, Pilipino Americans in Science and Engineering (PASE), Manila, Philippines; Balayan, Batangas; Families -- Philippines, Grandmothers -- Family relationships, United States -- Emigration and immigration, Immigrants -- Education, Criticism of American Dream, Filipino Americans -- Family relationships, Filipino expectations on education, Generational differences, Food habits, Impostor Syndrome, Women in engineering, Colorism
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with Andrea Alcantra, interviewed by Matthew Lawrence
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
6/20/2019
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies and the UC Davis Asian American Studies department holds intellectual control of these recordings. Usage is restricted for educational, non-commercial purposes only. For other uses, please contact archivist Jason Sarmiento at ajsarmiento@ucdavis.edu
Format
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Audio Recording and Transcript
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ucdw_wa014_s001_0025
Batangas; Families -- Philippines
Colorism
Criticism of American Dream
Filipino Americans -- Family relationships
Filipino expectations on education
Food habits
Generational differences
Grandmothers -- Family relationships
Immigrants -- Education
Impostor Syndrome
Manila
Philippines; Balayan
Pilipino Americans in Science and Engineering (PASE)
Richmond
United States -- Emigration and immigration
Women in engineering
-
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Filipino Immigrant Oral History Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies
Description
An account of the resource
<strong><br />Note: Collection upload in process</strong>
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Interviewer
The person(s) performing the interview.
Tyler Ho
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Angelika Villapando
View/Download File(s)
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1512Omdgt-zGjIKHjONF8NvkiTmEHQ5KB/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1512Omdgt-zGjIKHjONF8NvkiTmEHQ5KB/view?usp=sharing</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MwWAzE-3m2O7B8sOxV-zVue5lJdNgbtV/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1MwWAzE-3m2O7B8sOxV-zVue5lJdNgbtV/view?usp=sharing</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eBEjgNCmLnRQ39SiwDrevnshesWJj8dN/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eBEjgNCmLnRQ39SiwDrevnshesWJj8dN/view?usp=sharing</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a4KrI0AxtHIzaq5SgGD_fw-HCZV_I-F0/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a4KrI0AxtHIzaq5SgGD_fw-HCZV_I-F0/view?usp=sharing</a>
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
Ho: Hi everyone it's June 1, 2019 and its currently 12:07AM . This is Tyler Ho, interviewing<br />for the Filipino Immigrant Oral History Project Today, I am interviewing<br />Villapando: Angelika Villapando<br />Ho: Nice to meet you. So we like to start off our questions by trying to get to know you, so I was<br />wondering where and when were you born.<br />Villapando: Okay, I was born in August 29, 1998 in Mataas Na Kahoy, Batangas, Philippines.<br />Ho: Mhm, okay, it's good to hear that. I was also wondering where were your parents born.<br />Villapando: My mom was born in Quezon City, I have an accent, okay.<br />Ho: Okay.<br />Villapando: Like not a Tagalog accent, like an American accent. Um, yeah, she was born in<br />Quezon City, ugh I hate when I say that. Um and I don’t know where my dad is from.<br />Ho: mkay, mkay, so you mentioned you had an American accent, where do you think like that<br />came from, or it first started.<br />Villapando: Um I know I had um… I know I had a Filipino accent when I first came here and it's<br />not like that I try to lose that accent, I just- I got teased for it, so like I didn’t talk for a while so I<br />guess I am trying to- I wasn’t trying to lose it but like it's just harder now after years of speaking<br />English cause my parent- my mom speaks English to me<br />Ho: Mhm<br />Villapando: And so I don’t really and my grandma is the only one who would speak to me in<br />Tagalog and I would speak to her in Tagalog and now that she's like- like we’re not- she can’t<br />speak in- like I don’t have anyone to practice Tagalog with, so now I have an American accent.<br />Ho: Mhm, mhm, okay. So how long were you in the Philippines before you immigrated to the<br />America.<br />Villapando: I was seven when we moved.<br />Ho: Mhm<br />Villapando: Should I say why?<br />Ho: Um if you feel comfortable for it.<br />Villapando: Yeah we moved because- I was going to joke but I was- I’m just kidding. We moved<br />because um most of my family was already moved up here. Like my grandma and all of my<br />mom’s other siblings like theres eight of them, five of them already moved up here. So she’s the<br />only one left. So she moved up here cause she’s also the caretaker for my grandpa<br />Ho: Mhm<br />Villapando: And so she was doing that all by herself and she was raising her kid, you know thats<br />alot for a single mom, so we moved up here. And that was the plan all along.<br />Ho: M’kay, so um did you, you were- said- you moved here around seven, correct?<br />Villapando: Mhm<br />Ho: Um so in your first few years in the Philippines, were you taught Tagalog first, English first?<br />Villapando: Oh yes that's a good question, because so the Philippines, I told this in another<br />interview- um that the Phillipines stop trying to be a super power at one point, I don’t remember<br />what point in history that was, probably after the second colonization. I don’t know, but um they<br />stopped being- trying to be a superpower and instead their goal is to export like their citizens to<br />other nations and have their money sent back to the Philippines, that way it can kick up their<br />economy. So basically, when you go to school, you are taught in Tagalog but you’re not allowed<br />to speak in Tagalog. Like you have to- um I remember in elementary school, like if you were<br />caught speaking Tagalog you have to wear a necklace that has a like a plaque that says ‘I don’t<br />know how to speak English’ and if you do speak English and you don’t get caught, you get like a<br />little star that says ‘I can speak English’ and there's a smiley face on it.<br />Ho: Wow, haha.<br />Villapando: Yeah, that's in all schools too, like I moved- I don’t if I moved from an island to<br />another island, but I moved very far away and we- that, that was still applied.<br />Ho: Oh hm, how did you uh feel about like that whole concept like oh, um you would have to<br />wear like this plaque or you wear a star just based on like how you spoke.<br />Villapando: Um, I thought that was- I mean I was just a kid, I was like I just want the star, you<br />know. So it didn’t like- but I felt bad, I felt like that was kinda shameful to a kid, that was kind of<br />sad. But I mean- like... their more rough in like asian countries, you know. Even in that aspect<br />and like in an educational aspect like I don’t mean to be rude but like when I got here, I got here<br />when I was in second grade right? And I kinda had to wait like a year for like for them to catch<br />up. Like we were already ahead like, by like the middle of like third grade I was like okay, now I<br />am learning new things, you know. Cause in like the Philippines like I feel like it goes like way<br />faster, you know. Like they really get you started<br />Ho: So-<br />Villapando: and here, it’s like aw.<br />Ho: Which like subjects in school did you feel like oh this is everything I already bust off-<br />Villapando: Math.<br />Ho: Math?<br />Villapando: Mhm, actually yeah it just math but still, that's still like a good thing to be ahead<br />about.<br />Ho: Was there any struggles you faced in school when you moved here?<br />Villapando: When I moved here? … Honestly, I don’t know if I can remember or if I just don’t<br />have- No I did, I did. Like I had like, the- I was very nonchalant so I didn’t really care that I didn’t<br />have any friends, like it didn’t hit me very hard. Probably did, I’m just not remembering, but- I<br />think it was just not understanding anybody. Like I- I feel like I’m more- I had an advantage<br />cause I had people speak to me in English. Their English was broken too, like there was like no<br />English speaking person to like correct us so we were all just speaking broken English in the<br />Philippines. Um, but it was not understanding like the teachers or like even if they spoke really<br />basically like theres like intentions and nuances in the way their speaking so even like or<br />connotations, like I couldn't understand like what someone was saying sometimes so I would<br />like nod to my homework cause I didn't know there was homework. I just didn’t get it, like it took<br />me a long time to be like a per- like a student. Like it was a long adjustment period, but I feel<br />like- I said this in another interview too I was was blessed in the sense that where I moved to<br />was a good diverse place like- I didn’t see so much white people until I moved to Davis, you<br />know. And like everyone was very welcoming and like my- I was introduced in all my classes- by<br />all I mean my main class and my PE class like to my- the entire- my entire grade. I think that's<br />nice, and it was like, I never felt like I was like isolated by anybody because my race or because<br />I came from somewhere else.<br />Ho: Hm, that's interesting. So you mentioned, um um when you moved to Davis there was quite<br />of a big culture shock, what was that like?<br />Villapando: I feel like.. Okay, I feel like where I lived, the Asian people lived like white people.<br />Does- is that- does- you know what I mean by living like white person right? Like it's different.<br />Oh, okay, oh I have something else to say, I didn’t even like understand words like ‘woke’ and<br />like- I was always knew I was a liberal person but here I understand why those beliefs are valid<br />in my head, do you know what I am saying?<br />Ho: Mhm<br />Villapando: So, wait where was I going.. White people.. Culture shock?<br />Ho: Culture shock in Davis.<br />Villapando: Oh yeah, and I feel like, I feel like I didn’t even like understand like police brutality<br />and like racism like that- I never, I probably have, I don’t know, systematically probably, but, but<br />like direct racism, I never experienced that cause I lived in such a diverse area. And then<br />coming here is when I started to understand like- like ra- like stuff like that, like systematic<br />racism exists even if you never experienced it, you're experiencing it somewhere else, like I had<br />to ask Angela if you can be racist to white people. It's a whole different thing.<br />Ho: Um for our listeners out there, Angela is um Angelika’s housemate.<br />Villapando: Oh yeah<br />Ho: Um so you mentioned like you didn’t understand all these systematic racism topics, and um<br />concepts, um do you feel- uh- what about when you were in the Philippines, do you felt like<br />there was some type of racism.<br />Villapando: Oh yeah, Filipinos are super racist.<br />Ho: What was your experience like with that.<br />Villa pando: Oh like in the Philippines? What no no no, okay- I think I don’t know if this is racismokay<br />what I mean by Filipinos are super racist is Filipinos are super racist to every other race<br />but white people. And I feel like that, that is an effect of- I don’t know, whats it called colonialism<br />and shit, that's for sure. [gasp] I said a bad word... okay, and then um Filipinos… I don’t know if<br />this is racism but its like I always got shi.. I always got shit.. Can I say that? I always got shit for<br />being dark, like I always been dark and then um like my grandma and my mom would be like<br />‘Stop going out in the dark, you’re going to get dark’ they’re both light skin and I always thought<br />there as - even when I came here, it's not even from kids from like school or like other people or<br />like white people, I know that's a whole other thing, but it's always from my family, they always<br />teased me for being so dark, like I thought it was problem, and I didn’t know I didn’t even think it<br />was problem, I thought it was just confusing like what's wrong with being dark. But um, I feel like<br />that racism. Like on TV, like Filipinos only show like skin people, I feel like that's racism right? In<br />the Philippines, that's here too though, it's in a lot of culture.<br />Ho: Interesting, okay so one last thing I like to um hear more about is um when you immigrated<br />here after seven years in the Philippines, what were a couple of the hardest things you<br />struggled with?<br />Villapando: mmm, hardest thing I struggled with… Its.. I feel like, I felt.. Oh now it's coming back<br />to me. I did not, not care that I didn’t have friends. But I was shy, it was combination of being<br />shy and not being able to communicate with my peers so that feels very like isolating, especially<br />for a little kid, That sucks. And then um, it was… I think that was really it. Other stuff was like<br />personal family stuff, but I don’t think it attributed to being an immigrant cause they’re filipino<br />too.<br />Ho: so you said you didn’t really care about having friends cause you couldn't communicate with<br />them.<br />Villapando: No I got that wrong, I was just not remembering that correctly, I did feel bad I didn’t<br />have friends, but I Didn't know what I could do, I mean could still play but they need to think I'm<br />funny or something<br />Ho: Was there like this specific memory where you feel like you couldn’t communicate with them<br />and you felt bad.<br />Villapando: Oh I remember, this is going to seem like anything but this is stuck in my head. Like<br />in, it was the second grade school performance, and Chris Moon, ugh Chris Moon was so mean<br />to me and I went um my.. My sweater is so scratchy and he was like ‘Scratchy isn’t a word, its<br />itchy’ but I couldn't… wait that's not even related to what you ask about being able to<br />communicate to my… But that was like a thing, like… I- right now it seems like scratchy and<br />itchy are the same thing to me right? They are! But I didn’t know better and that kind of thing got<br />to me, like I- it was just- it felt like I was scared to say the wrong thing and I knew I- I knew a lot,<br />I Knew most of the time I would say the wrong thing. On my- in my second grade art project, you<br />could see it was very grammatically incorrect, but I was also seven who was grammatically<br />correct at seven years old.<br />Ho: so when did you realized that this was actually normal for you and that like you- and there<br />wasn’t anything wrong with your word choice were<br />Villapando: Um probably like, fifth grade, I don’t know, when I learn the word scratchy. I just feel<br />like I didn't ever.. Did I think something was wrong.. I don’t think I ever… I think I just gained<br />confidence over the years, I don't think I ever thought I was wrong, but I felt confidence in myself<br />over the years, you know what I am saying. And I learned English better but I lost tagalog a little<br />bit.<br />Ho: What were some ways you gained your confidence?<br />Villapando: I started doing well in school and I feel like that's a power move you know. Like she<br />ain’t even from this country and she's getting good grades, I think that's, that's the dream! There<br />it is, there you go thats some American shit.<br />Ho: Alright, so I just liek to close this interview by just saying thank you for your time for<br />everything, it was a honor being able to interview you. We got a lot, we really appreciate you<br />being able to share your story because it takes a lot of courage to come out here and share<br />your story out here and reveal your struggles… Um is there any closing remark you want the<br />listeners to hear.<br />Villapando: Thank you for listening and if you are an immigrant you are an amazing person and<br />it seems hard now but it will get better.<br />Ho: So hello everyone again, this is Tyler Ho interviewing for the Filipino immigrant um oral<br />history project, um I here with Angelika again. We wanted to add a couple more things to this<br />interview. So first question was that um what was different about living in America as opposed<br />to living in the Philippines<br />Villapando: Living in America, I remember my first night here, we came back from the airport, we<br />ate dinner and then my aunt do you want ice cream and I was like yeah and she went what<br />flavor and i was like wait you not only have ice cream here but there's multiple flavors<br />-interview paused due to an incoming call for Angelika-<br />Ho: Okay so we’re back, earlier we were talking about um your exper- you thoughts about<br />america before you moved here, oh no sorry actually what was different about living in America<br />as opposed to living in the Philippines, and you mentioned getting ice cream with your aunt.<br />Villapando: yes, for dessert she was like do you want ice cream and I was like yes and she was<br />like what flavor and I was like not only do you have ice cream but you have different flavors thatand<br />then their freezer came out from the bottom of the fridge and water came out of the fridge.<br />That blew my seven year old brain and their garage door opened, it was just like- it was legit a<br />whole new world and this was like middle class living like this isn’t even the top yet, they're not<br />even millionaires and their garage door opens on its own and they have a freakin water machine<br />coming out of their fridge they have multiple ice cream flavors it was just ... it was an<br />experience. It was- And in the Philippines, you showered with a bucket in a tub with a little thing.<br />Like that's how you showered, here the shower comes out of a magical faucet, that just<br />something rich people had in the philippines, you had a tv you know. That just something you<br />had, i lived in a apartment, i swear half this size [referring to her apartment in Davis] and my<br />mom was like working at the same like amount- working the same amount she was here you<br />know, it just a higher standard of living no matter how you don’t want to admit that you know?<br />Ho: alright yeah, that sounds good, sounds good. Earlier I was uh, wanted to ask you, what<br />were your thoughts about america before when you moved and did they changed after you were<br />here for a couple of years?<br />Villapando: yes, so I thought honestly, the way my family was moving here it seem like we were<br />running away from something in the Philippines or something or like this place was more<br />amazing then was I super understand why we moved but prior to moving here, I use to think like<br />America. Oh I said this earlier, America is just like Disneyland, I honestly thought that. like . like<br />America was just california and AMerica was just disneyland, and I thought everyone was going<br />to be white, I didn’t know other races could exist here i thought everyone was just white... and i<br />thought everyone was just rich, yea that was it. Everyone was rich, everyone was white, and it<br />sounded like really perfect in my head, that how i imagined here but moving here we got issues<br />y'all and the people I thought were the knight in shining armor the white people they were the<br />source of the issue. [laughs] I did not know that. And i did not know we were the way were<br />because of that. I just learned a lot of things in america, lie I- I know america is like not good but<br />like I get why people move here- like I understand the concept of the american dream and I<br />think for my mom a lot of immigrant the american dream isn’t just moving here and getting crazy<br />rich it's just moving here to have a higher standard of living and not having to kill yourself over it.<br />I mean you still do but its very different.<br />Ho: Mmm... so um thank you for your response. And so for the last question, I just wanted to<br />ask did you notice anything different between the first generation immigrant and the filipino<br />american community here.<br />Villapando: Yes! Okay so, I don’t want to seem arrogant but this is a real answer, I notice that I,<br />I’m- I don’t take things for granted as much as my cousins did. Like when I first moved here, II’m<br />still like this for every- I don’t feel like I can ask for anything you know. I’m very afraid my<br />cousins got whatever they wanted and I feel like thats me understanding I know what my mom<br />comes from cause I came from there too and I know where their parents come from cause I<br />came there too. Like its, we’re the same age but we have different context. They live in a world<br />where it's easy to get things. And I came from a world where I know moving here is a giant hit<br />on my mom you now. My mom can’t take this but this is for us in the future and that teaches you<br />to be more grateful and you don’t take things for granted.<br />Ho: when you mean your cousins, you mean your cousin who were<br />Villapando: Who were born and raised here<br />Ho: Uh, thank you!<br />Villapando: Yeah.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Oral history interview with Angelika Villapando
Subject
The topic of the resource
Batangas, Quezon City, Accents, Family separation, Filipino Americans -- Family relationships, Tagalog shaming, Education -- Philippines, Racism of Filipinos, Colorism
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with Angelika Villapando, interviewed by Tyler Ho
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
6/1/2019
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
The Bulosan Center for Filipino Studies and the UC Davis Asian American Studies department holds intellectual control of these recordings. Usage is restricted for educational, non-commercial purposes only. For other uses, please contact archivist Jason Sarmiento at ajsarmiento@ucdavis.edu
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Audio Recording and Transcript
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
ucdw_wa014_s001_0020
Accents
Batangas
Colorism
Education -- Philippines
Family separation
Filipino Americans -- Family relationships
Quezon City
Racism of Filipinos
Tagalog shaming