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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.
Jared Perez
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Gwendolin Perez
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
[Session 1, May 31st, 2019]<br />[Begin Audio File]<br />JP: Okay, can you say your name?<br />GP: Gwendolin Perez<br />JP: Where and when were you born?<br />GP: I was born March 2nd, 1969 in Pampanga, Philippines.<br />JP: Where were your parents born?<br />GP: Same place.<br />JP: What jobs did your parents do?<br />GP: My dad was an accountant, my mom was a teacher in the Philippines until she came here<br />and then she did clerical work for Levi Strauss. From the time that she arrived to early 2000’s I<br />think.<br />JP: And your grandparents?<br />GP: My maternal grandparents were farmers. My father’s parents I’m not quite sure what they<br />did for a living.<br />JP: How many siblings did you have and did you come from big family?<br />GP: I have two brothers and a sister and extended family is pretty big on the mother’s side.<br />JP: DId any of your family members move to America before you?<br />GP: No. Oh Before me? My parents. My parents came first and then my siblings and I came<br />maybe 7, 8 years later.<br />JP: What was your academic experience in the Philippines?<br />GP: Say that again?<br />JP: What was your academic experience in the Philippines?<br />GP: I left the Philippines when I was in the third grade.<br />JP: Why did your parents decide to move out of the Philippines?<br />GP: Uhm, Financial reasons, economics, I guess. The story I heard was that my dad was gonna<br />come here, they were both gonna come here and work and save some money and then come back<br />to the Philippines and start a business. But that didn’t materialize, they just ended up staying here<br />and ended up bringing us over.<br />JP: When did you move to the united States?<br />GP: My dad came in 1970, my mom followed a year after and my siblings and I came in June,<br />1977.<br />JP: Did move anywhere else before settling in the United States?<br />GP: No, just the Philippines.<br />JP: What were your thoughts about America before you moved here?<br />GP: Well I was a kid and every time I saw, I knew that you had to fly in an airplane to get to<br />America, so I always thought that America was up in the sky. Being eight years old, I really had<br />no thoughts about what America was like, except what I was told that it was cold.<br />JP: Did your thoughts changed after you arrived?<br />GP: About America?<br />JP: Yeah<br />GP: No because we came in the summer, it was warm.<br />JP: [laughs] What was different about living America, oh hold on. What was different about<br />living in America as opposed to living in the Philippines?<br />[4:50]<br />GP: Uh there was a lot of family members in the Philippines. And as a child you had more<br />freedom to roam around. There weren’t any restrictions like there were here. When we got here,<br />there weren’t any family members it was just my mom and dad and we lived in an apartment in<br />San Francisco. So the freedom to run around as a kid wasn’t there like it was in the Philippines.<br />JP: What were you first feeling when you came to America?<br />GP: Fear. I was scared. It was a whole different way of life and I didn’t speak the language and I<br />didn’t speak the language. And I was a very shy kid at the time.. So fear was the most, was the<br />only feeling I had at the time.<br />JP: What changed?<br />GP: Hm. [Familiarity] I can’t say the word. Just being familiarized with the surrounding and<br />society after a while. And uhm the fact that I was able to communicate by the end of my first<br />year in school. And I found friends in school.<br />JP: Where did you first live in the United States?<br />GP: San Francisco. 16th and Mission.<br />JP: How long did it take your parents to find work in America?<br />GP: Uh I’m not sure, but I don’t think it was that long. We weren’t here when we first got here,<br />so I don’t think, I’m not quite sure how long it took them.<br />JP: What jobs have you had since moving to America?<br />GP: Me?<br />JP: Yeah.<br />GP: My first job was at Marine World, Africa, USA, which is now Discovery Kingdom I guess<br />in Vallejo. And then my second job was at Target and I was the assistant for the Human<br />Resource Manager and then I was going to school at the time and when I got done with school, I<br />quit working at Target and I got my license as an LVN. And that’s all the jobs I’ve done since.<br />JP: Was there a reason why you wanted to become a nurse?<br />GP: I was told that, I didn’t really wanna be a nurse but I was told that I would always have a<br />job. Plus, I think the fact that everyone else in the family was in the medical field, I kinda wanted<br />to learn the medical lingo so I could contribute to their conversations.<br />JP: Can you talk about your experiences with the American education?<br />GP: Uhm, It’s a lot different than it is now. Back when we were in school ,we didn’t have all the<br />convenience of the computer. It was tedious, any research that you had to do, you had to go<br />through the library and carry tons and tons of books, whereas now, you have everything at your<br />fingertips.<br />JP: How would you relate the education here in America to the education in the Philippines?<br />GP: I’m not sure because I was only there up until the third grade. The only difference that<br />stands out is that I notice with my own kids, I notice that, if you notice a lot of the Filipinos that<br />grow up in the Philippines they have beautiful penmanship. In the Philippines, I believe from<br />first, from first grade, there’s a set time just for writing a certain letter for that day. And it wasn’t<br />just about writing, it’s about how you wrote it and what it looks like and making sure that it’s,<br />they’re all proportioned to one another on a single page.<br />[10:25]<br />JP: Did you notice anything different between first generation immigrants and the rest of the<br />Filipino-American community?<br />GP: First generation what do you mean?<br />JP: First generation like the first to move to America so like I guess you, I think you’re<br />technically one and a half because first generation would be if you moved here after you were<br />fifteen or something like that. But yeah. I think what the question is asking like either the<br />difference between you and Mama and Lolo or you and me and Ate. Talk about both.<br />GP: So what was the question again?<br />JP: What are the differences between your generation and like Mama’s generation? And then<br />your generation and then like Ate’s generation.<br />GP: I dunno. I mean I can only speak about your generation and my generation. Mama’s<br />generation I think from what I see or what I saw, especially with women, Asian women, they’re<br />a lot more submissive, especially to their spouses. And then my generation are kinda like in<br />between where, especially you’re still gonna have that Asian culture lingering in the background<br />so you’re not quite Asian and you’re not quite American fully, ya know? So you have a little bit<br />of, you have an influence from a little bit of both sides of the world where East meets West. But<br />in your generation, I think a lot of the Asian culture might be on the smaller percentage side<br />rather than the American side. So I’m not quite sure how to answer that question, but if we’re<br />talking culturewise, there’s a big, I think there’s a big difference from my generation to yours<br />and from mine to Mama’s. Especially with them growing up in the Philippines.<br />JP: Talk about that then.<br />GP: What?<br />JP: Like what makes it different. Like I don’t know like socioeconomic status-<br />GP: Well okay, so I think even in your generation, kids in the Philippines are a little different.<br />Well, not a little different. Like kids in the Philippines, even your age, you ask these kids<br />because they grow up in poor surroundings and education to them is very important. Education is<br />the ticket out of their poverty. So parents they will crawl through mud to get their kids through<br />school. And in the Philippines, there aren’t any government loans or student loans that they have<br />here. So everything, whatever tuition that the kids need paid, the parents have to find somehow,<br />whether they go to relatives and borrow or what, but they will crawl through mud, they will sell<br />whatever they have to sell to get their kids through school and when you ask kids in the<br />Philippines what their goals are in life, you often hear them say I wanna finish school so that I<br />can help my mom and dad, or so I can help my mom and dad support my siblings so that they<br />can go to school. That’s always the majority of the answer. Here, you know, you ask kids, and<br />then you ask kids in the Philippines what they wanna be, they wanna be either lawyers, doctors,<br />or nurses. Something that’s sustainable as far as jobs. Here, you ask, you ask kids what they<br />wanna do, what they wanna major in, like I wanna major in English, well you answer, you say<br />that to a Filipino parent, they’ll look at you funny. Especially if you say I wanna major in fine<br />arts. There’s just no jobs for that in the Philippines or whatever. So those are kind of like a no-no<br />majors in the Philippines. Did I answer your question?<br />[15:34]<br />JP: Have you had an experience with like Filipino activism here? Anything that you could, like<br />remember?<br />GP: Filipino activism?<br />JP: Yeah.<br />GP: In what sense?<br />JP: Just like anything.<br />GP: Uh like political stuff?<br />JP: Uh yeah. It could be but like I know that like for example, like this stuff happened before you<br />were born. And some of it happened before you got to America.<br />GP: Yeah I haven’t run across that, but what I do remember back in the late 70s is this, back in<br />San Francisco there was this gang war between Filipinos and Mexicans. And I remember my<br />brothers were teenagers and my mom, my mom and dad always told them, ‘don’t go out after<br />dark’ because any Filipinos, especially guy Filipinos wandering the streets of San Francisco<br />often got shot by these Mexican gangs, but other than that, I don’t remember anything of that<br />nature.<br />JP: Was there anything else that you wanted to share?<br />GP: Like what?<br />JP: I dunno anything about your experience. Anything about you immigrating here, like a<br />struggle that you had?<br />GP: Uh one of the struggles that I had was when I first came, I was eight years old, I was, before<br />I left the Philippines, I was surrounded by family and then I come here, I didn’t know how to<br />speak the language, I didn’t understand the language. I had no family members except my<br />siblings or my parents. But it was scary and lonely at the same time.<br />JP: Do you wanna talk about your family experience? How you felt like your family experience<br />would have been different if you were in the Philippines as opposed to when y’all were living in<br />America?<br />GP: Uh, I dunno how it would have been different.<br />JP: Do you think it would have been different?<br />GP: Probably.<br />JP: Why?<br />GP: Probably would have different because well a lot of it had to do with family dynamics here.<br />My parents weren’t all that they weren’t all that parental. You know what I mean?<br />JP: Do you think that could be due to the fact that they had to work so much?<br />GP: No, I think it was just how their relationship was. I mean, I kinda, they brought us in when I<br />was eight years old and my oldest brother was fifteen and I think I always said that one of my<br />biggest blessing was not growing up with my parents because they didn’t know how to parent<br />and one of my blessings was that I was raised by people who set that good foundation. I don’t<br />think I woulda had that here with my parents.<br />JP: Was there anything else you wanna share? Nothing?<br />[19:51]<br />GP: No, I mean I pretty much, I was eight years old when I came here, so any way of life that I<br />know would be the way of life here in America, here in California. I remember very, the thing<br />that stood out to me was that of course in the Philippines, we were surrounded by family, by<br />cousins and aunts and uncles and the houses, ya know, you wanna go to your uncle’s house, it’s<br />a hop, skip and a jump away. You wanna go play with your cousins’ they’re all over the place.<br />And here, I didn’t have that, so that was the one thing that really stood out to me. I missed out on<br />that family dynamic, or that huge family dynamic.<br />JP: What about your experiences with Dad? Or like Dad’s experiences?<br />GP: I don’t know anything about Dad’s experiences, what do you mean?<br />JP: Nothing.<br />GP: I mean Dad grew up in the Philippines, he was in his thirties when he came here. So, I think<br />he has, I dunno. I dunno what he would have to say. All I know is that I remember him telling<br />me that he left the Philippines because well, first of all there wasn’t much work out there and he<br />did a lot of hanging out with buddies and with no job and little to do they did a lot of drinking<br />and just hanging out. So he decided to just come to America to see if, to try his luck. And I guess<br />he was fortunate, he found a good job when he got here.<br />JP: What was the process of both of you getting your citizenship here?<br />GP: What’s that?<br />JP: What was the process of both of you getting your citizenship here?<br />GP: Well, mine was easy, I was a minor when both your grandparents became citizens. So that<br />carried us over into citizenship. So I just had to file for it and claim it. But when Dad, Dad had to<br />wait to be a resident at least, I think 3 years before he could file for citizenship and then he had to<br />go through the process of taking the exam, which was nothing, just waiting it out.<br />JP: What was Dad’s background, like in the Philippines? What kind of background did he come<br />from? What kind of family did he come from?<br />GP: I dunno, you’re gonna have to ask him about that.<br />JP: What did his parents do, do you know?<br />GP: His mom was a housewife and his dad owned his own radio control shop. That he repaired. I<br />guess. They’re the two-way radios, he would repair them. And I guess Dad worked a few jobs<br />while he was out in the Philippines. Before coming here. Other than that, and I know that he had<br />a grandfather that had his PhD in Math or something like that. He taught at one of the big<br />universities in the Philippines. But I don’t know much.<br />JP: Okay, that was it.<br />GP: That was it?<br />JP: Yeah<br />GP: Okay, I’ll talk to you later.<br />[24:55]<br />[End Audio File]
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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 Gwendolin Perez
Subject
The topic of the resource
Pampanga, Philippines, Accountant, Teacher, Clerk, Levi Strauss and Company, Farmers, San Francisco, Marine World Africa USA, Vallejo (Calif.), Target Corporation, Personnel management, Nurse, Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN), Asia, Culture, Immigration, Gangs, Mexicans, Mexican American criminals, Family & Relationships, Family Dynamic, Citizenship -- United States, U.S. Citizenship, Mathematics, University
Description
An account of the resource
Oral History Interview with Gwendolin Perez, interviewed by Jared Perez
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
5/31/2019
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_0038
Accountant
Asia
Citizenship -- United States
Clerk
Culture
Family & Relationships
Family Dynamic
farmers
Gangs
immigration
Levi Strauss and Company
Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVN)
Marine World Africa USA
Mathematics
Mexican American criminals
Mexicans
nurse
Pampanga
Personnel management
Philippines
San Francisco
Target Corporation
teacher
U.S. Citizenship
University
Vallejo (Calif.)
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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.
Clarimin Diaz
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Noemi Botor
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
Diaz: Okay it is June 2, 2019 and it is 3:00pm. This is Clarimin Diaz interviewing for the Filipino Immigrant Oral History Project for the Welga! Filipino American Labor Archives and the Welga! Project. Today I am interviewing:<br /><br />BOTOR: Noemi Botor<br /><br />Diaz: Okay, let us begin. So lets begin our discussion by talking a little bit about your childhood and early adult life. Where and when were you born?<br /><br />BOTOR: I was born in Baguio City, Philippines.<br /><br />DIAZ: Can you talk about your childhood experiences in the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: I moved at kind of a young age from the Philippines so from what I can remember, I just remember like the area I lived in and going to school but like not too much [laugh].<br /><br />DIAZ: Okay Noemi, where were your parents born?<br /><br />BOTOR: So my parents were also born in the Philippines [Baguio City].<br /><br />DIAZ: Do you know anything about their experiences in the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: Not very much, I know that they went to college there and what not. They didn’t come from or move to the states or go to college here [The United States] so we didn’t know very much about what to do with that process [going to college]. Their experience there, they were both working as nurses and we moved because they didn’t get paid very well in the Philippines so I guess they were looking for a better life elsewhere.<br /><br />DIAZ: I see, so do you know what kind of jobs your grandparents had?<br /><br />Botor: My grandparents. I know for my dad’s side, my grandmother was an office worker and my grandfather was in the Navy.<br /><br />DIAZ: So did you come from a big family?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah, it was a pretty big family. I remember for my first birthday there were like hundreds of people there, so it was a pretty big, yeah [laugh]<br /><br />DIAZ: Did any of your family members move to America before your you or your parents?<br /><br />BOTOR: There were a couple, but it wasn’t family that we were very close to so, I am not sure where they are now. But I know there people who had moved before us.<br /><br />DIAZ: Earlier you mentioned your experiences in school, can you give me any more specific details about your academic experiences in the Philippines, like what it was like to be in school in the Philippines at that age?<br /><br />BOTOR: Well I remember first I went to a private school and our teacher was only responsible for our class and within our class there was only about I would say 10 kids max. It was very small, private, and personal. I remember having to walk to the school every day. I feel like the basic things that I learned were things I needed when I moved here [United States], but I also learned other things like brushing our teeth [laugh] and stuff like that [laugh].<br /><br />DIAZ: Why did your parents decide to leave the Phillipines and move to America?<br /><br />BOTOR: Well first we actually moved to England before moving to America and I feel like one of the biggest factors was just basically how much they were getting paid. Like I said, they don’t pay nurses in the Phillippines very well and so they got jobs offers in England so we moved there, but I think they got better job offers in California so then we ended up moving to California.<br /><br />DIAZ: Around how old were you when you were living in England? Do you remember what it was like living in England?<br /><br />BOTOR: I left the Phillippines when I was like 4 or 5 and then I lived in England for two or three years before moving to California.<br /><br />DIAZ: Do you know what year your parents moved to the United States?<br /><br />BOTOR: I am not sure [laugh].<br /><br />DIAZ: That’s fine.<br /><br />DIAZ: So what were your thoughts about America before you moved here?<br /><br />BOTOR: I feel like it was the typically stereotypes that people think about. I was just thinking about the types of food that I would like to eat because America is known for burgers and like really big foods and things like that. So that was one of my expectations but like culturally, that wasn’t something I thought about I guess when I was younger [age 9] but I just knew that this is how this place is and so I am going to move there and it will be fine [laugh].<br /><br />[5:20]<br /><br />DIAZ: So, growing up in America, how has your view changed about living in the United States?<br /><br />BOTOR: Well there is a lot of talk about why people move to America in the first place and its because people want to chase that American dream. So when I moved here with my parents, I knew how lucky I was compared to my cousins who had to stay back in the Philippines. But I think just like the image of the American dream and like what it stands for, that has definitely changed over time because things are a lot harder than like how people say it is.<br /><br />DIAZ: So what do you think are some of the differences between living in America as opposed to living in the Philippines, like the culture and overall experience?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah, I would say one of the biggest differences in definitely transportation. Back in the Phillipines my family and I would mainly travel by Jeep or like taxi but coming here or like when my parents moved to the UK [England] at first, they had to like get their own drivers licenses which they didn’t need before. So, I think that transition was definitely a big thing. And then, I also think, I remember when I was younger, I would like always be outside playing [in the Philippines] and it didn’t matter where I was or what time it was. So, I feel like when we first moved to California, when I was like living in the city, because I was living in this place called Berlingame, instead of like here where I live now in Brentwood. It was a lot more city like so I didn’t have the chance to go outside to the park and play with my friends and things like that.<br /><br />DIAZ: What is your academic experience like here in America?<br /><br />BOTOR: I feel like compared to when I was back in the Phillipines, I feel like for one the classes are bigger and I guess you’re not like so personal with your teachers compared to back in the Philippines. We [the Phillipines] still teach the basic stuff, like the education and GE’s are the same but then there are some differences because I remember back in the Philippines they would like teach us like basic hygiene, cutting out nails, and check our hands if they were clean and if they weren’t they would tell our parents about it [laugh] and I didn’t experience any of those kinds of things [here in the United States] because I thought like initially coming to America like, oh I wonder if they are stricter here but it was like to opposite.<br /><br />DIAZ: I see, so from your experience do you notice anything different between first generation immigrants and the Filipino American community here in Davis?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah, I know first generation immigrants speak out more on like the culture since they’re the ones who know how to speak [the native language] and things like that. And so, it’s nice to see that being involved with the community that way, educating like Filipino Americans who’ve like never have been back home [the Philippines] and things like that. <br /><br />DIAZ: How do you retain your culture in America?<br /><br />BOTOR: I feel like a big part of it is my parent’s influence because obviously if they decided not to eat Filipino food anymore then I eventually forget what Filipino food is. So it’s a good thing that my parents you know kept cooking Filipino dishes, they always speak Ilocano and Tagalog in the house, so that I would not forget how to speak [Tagalong and Ilocano] and yeah I would say that my parents role in retaining the culture is a big part of it. <br /><br />[10:05]<br /><br />DIAZ: Do you visit the Philippines often, and if so what type of things do you usually do when you go back to the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: I visited last last summer [2 years ago] but before that I haven’t been there in like six years. When we do visit I notice that we never go to like where people consider tourist areas of the Philippines. We always like go back home [Baguio City] and stay around that areas or we would be in Manila just because that where the airport is. <br /><br />DIAZ: Is there anything you miss about the Philippines when you come back?<br /><br />BOTOR: I definitely miss the food because for example, us living in Davis, there is not a Filipino restaurant near by so when I like come home [Brentwood] on the weekends one of the things I like to eat is Filipino food. Its just not accessible to me back in Davis. Also like how cheap the food is [laugh] and things like night markets and stuff like that are really fun and I miss those. And of course, most of my family is in the Philippines so it’s nice seeing them because back here [in the United States] its mainly just me, my mom, and my dad.<br /><br />DIAZ: Do you currently go to college right now?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yes<br /><br />DIAZ: And what are your plans for after graduation?<br /><br />BOTOR: So after graduation, I’m thinking of taking a gap year and during the gap year I want to continue to taking education classes and I also want to start preparing for the GRE and take that. I am hoping to apply to grad school in like this upcoming year. I am going to apply to Davis [UC Davis] again so hopefully I can stay in the area but I am also going to apply to other places like UC Santa Barbara for their toxicology or environmental program.<br /><br />DIAZ: What are your career goals? Is there anything you want to pursue specifically?<br /><br />BOTOR: Well one thing, there is something I keep telling myself that I am going to do but I don’t think I will end up doing it until I really have the time and certain outlet to do it for, but I’ve been really wanting to become more fluent in my language [Tagalog and Ilocano] because I would want my kids to know it too and so I can teach then obviously, but I don’t know it myself. So I think it would be cool to become more fluent in Tagalong and Ilocano.<br /><br />Diaz: Have you been involved in any activism while in college at UC Davis?<br /><br />BOTOR: No not really.<br /><br />DIAZ: How involved would you say you are in the Filipino American community on campus [UC DAVIS]?<br /><br />BOTOR: I was more involved during my first two years. I definitely went out to more events and things like that. I’ve kind of been more focused on my other club activities during my junior and senior year, so I wouldn’t say that now I am extremely involved with the Fil-Am community.<br /><br />Diaz: So, I want to as you a few questions about your academic experience here in America. Have there been any obstacles you’ve experienced while pursuing higher education?<br /><br />BOTOR: I think one of the biggest obstacles that, I don’t know much about it, but I just know from what my parents have told me but people always say that “Oh if you want to apply for this, just know that they also offer financial aid” because there was this one summer where I wanted to study abroad in Japan but I have never applied for financial aid and I know from my parents it can get frustrating because sure they both make enough to be considered okay financially but I feel like they don’t consider that they put their money into other things like for example, my parents always send money back home to the Phillipines to help out there, they don’t just use all of their expenses on me. There are so many other things that are not considered. So its kind of annoying that we are not able to get aid.<br /><br />DIAZ: Have you struggled in college or has it been a smooth sail for you?<br /><br />BOTOR: No, I would definitely say that I struggled a lot, just like trying to figure out how the [academic] system works I guess. Like I said, my parents didn’t go to college here so we didn’t really know the things that I could have taken advantage of. I later found out that people take college classes at a community college while they are in high school to help them with GE’s and stuff. I wish I would have known that because I would have done that if I did, but I didn’t. So there’s just little things like that that my family and I didn’t know just because they haven’t been to college here so I’m kind of like the guinea pig in this trial.<br /><br />[15:00]<br /><br />DIAZ: Is there any advice that you would have for any Filipino immigrants that are pursing higher education?<br /><br />BOTOR: I would definitely say if you know family that have been here for a while, definitely talk to them and ask for advice because sometimes when you go to [academic] counselors they have the same experience as you do and although some of their advice may be helpful, there is no harm in finding someone who’s like more similar culturally and how they went about things.<br /><br />DIAZ: Okay Noemi, thank you for your interview today.
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<a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PLgpOo4hJf2sw08uD22E-Rw9D8TTPnbd/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PLgpOo4hJf2sw08uD22E-Rw9D8TTPnbd/view?usp=sharing</a>, <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zMO_7fTa-xndInro7jGALQoXIjrlxOXa/view?usp=sharing">https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zMO_7fTa-xndInro7jGALQoXIjrlxOXa/view?usp=sharing</a>
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 Noemi Botor
Subject
The topic of the resource
Baguio City, Philippines, nurse, nursing, office worker, Navy, England, UK, OFW, California, American Dream, Berlingame, Brentwood, Filipino school curriculum, Filipino education, Davis, Tagalog, Ilocano, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, toxology program, environmental program, graduate school, grad school, financial aid, finances, Japan, study abroad, first generation, first-generation, immigrant families--United States
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with Noemi Botor, interviewed by Clarimin Diaz
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2-Jun-19
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 archivst 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_0008
American Dream
Baguio City
Berlingame
Brentwood
California
Davis
England
environmental program
Filipino education
Filipino school curriculum
finances
financial aid
first generation
first-generation
grad school
graduate school
Ilocano
Immigrant families--United States
Japan
Navy
nurse
nursing
office worker
OFW
Philippines
study abroad
Tagalog
toxology program
UC Davis
UC Santa Barbara
UK
-
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.
Samuel Hewitt
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Noemi Botor
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
[Session 1, May 24, 2019]<br /><br />[Begin Audio File]<br /><br />HEWITT: Okay are you ready? [laughs]<br /><br />BOTOR: Yep!<br /><br />HEWITT: Alright my name is Sam Hewitt and today is May 24th. It is currently 7:15pm and I am interviewing:<br /><br />BOTOR: Noemi Botor.<br /><br />HEWITT: Alright. So, I have a couple questions that - not a couple, a good amount, I was hoping you could answer for me. First question: Where and when were you born?<br /><br />BOTOR: I was born in Baguio City, Philippines. And when?<br /><br />HEWITT: Mhmm.<br /><br />BOTOR: March 1st, 1997. <br /><br />HEWITT: Where were your parents born?<br /><br />BOTOR: My parents were also born in Baguio City, Philippines. Yeah.<br /><br />HEWITT: What jobs did your parents have in the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: Before I was born, for a while my parents were managing a floral shop. But they decided to move out of the Philippines to find better pay as their main jobs as nurses because they weren’t paid very well in the Philippines.<br /><br />HEWITT: Okay what jobs did your grandparents do?<br /><br />BOTOR: My grandma was just like an office worker and then my grandpa - on my dad’s side - and my grandpa was, he was in the, oh yeah, he was in the navy.<br /><br />HEWITT: How many siblings do you have?<br /><br />BOTOR: I’m an only child [laughs]<br /><br />HEWITT: That’s rare for Filipinos. [laughs] Do you have a large extensive family?<br />BOTOR: Yeah. Actually, even my parents’ families are kind of small. Cause my mom had two other siblings and then my dad has one other sibling but their parents, they had families of like ten to twelve siblings.<br /><br />HEWITT: Did any of your extensive family move to America before you did?<br /><br />BOTOR: Some of them, but not really the ones who we’re very close to so I’m not really sure where they're at or what they're doing.<br /><br />HEWITT: What was your academic experience in the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: I remember for preschool, it was very - it was a very small class and it was very hands on. And then when I moved to a different school, it was kind of more of what you see here with several classrooms and different teachers and things like that?<br /><br />HEWITT: Was the different school in the same city?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah it was in the same city. But I think one was private and one was public. So the private one it was really only our class that they had to manage.<br /><br />HEWITT: Why did your family decide to move out of the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: Like I said, my parents wanted better pay as nurses cause they don’t pay very well in the Philippines. But also, just like in general trying to look for a better life. So first we moved to England then we moved here.<br /><br />HEWITT: When did you move to the US?<br /><br />BOTOR: When I was seven or eight. That’s when I moved.<br /><br />HEWITT: What year?<br /><br />BOTOR: Oh god what year is that? <br /><br />HEWITT: I don’t know [laughs]<br /><br />BOTOR: I’m twenty-two [laughs]<br /><br />HEWITT: Alright well some year. Okay did you move anywhere else before settling in the US, other than England?<br /><br />BOTOR: No, it was just - we left the Philippines, well actually at first my parents left to England ahead of me and it was just my grandparents taking care of me for about two years. And then when they felt I was old enough, then they brought me over to England. But then after that we moved to California.<br /><br />HEWITT: Okay what were your thoughts about America before you arrived?<br /><br />BOTOR: I don’t know, I feel like since I was really young, I didn't really have any really big expectations. But I feel like the usual stuff I was thinking about was there. Like “oh I can eat really good burgers” [laughs]<br /><br />HEWITT: Really good American food? [laughs]<br /><br />[4:59]<br /><br />BOTOR: But I didn't really have any expectations on school would be like or making friends would be like. So, nothing really big then.<br /><br />HEWITT: Did your thoughts change after you arrived?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah, a little bit. I noticed that, for example, a lot of kids would be interested in - especially the first month that I was in America because I still had an accent from England, so a lot of kids were intrigued by me. So, I kind of felt like an attraction to some people. There like “Oh my god look at this Asian girl, she has an English accent. Blah blah blah that’s so cool!” And they would ask me questions like “Oh why do you eat that and why do you do this and that?” I remember being asked those things.<br /><br />HEWITT: When you say, “eat that,” what do you mean by “that”? Like traditional Filipino food?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah. Like my mom would pack me lunches and I've heard other people’s stories before where they were ashamed to bring it. But I haven't experienced a bad one, people were just wondering what I was eating, and it was never a bad thing to me so I wouldn't stop eating it. I would continue to bring food from home that my mom or my dad made.<br /><br />HEWITT: That's good. What was different about living in America as opposed to living in the Philippines?<br /><br />BOTOR: I feel like - I don't know, when I was in the Philippines, I felt more free just because I could go out anywhere with my friends even at such a young age and it would be fine. But when I first moved here, I lived in - I didn't live here in Brentwood. I first lived in Millbrae and it was kind of more like a city. So, I didn't really get to go out and play as much because we lived in an apartment and it was in a city area. So, there wasn't really - I couldn't really go out into the street to play with my friends really because it would be a highway or something.<br /><br />HEWITT: Yeah like a busy intersection.<br /><br />BOTOR: Mhmm.<br /><br />HEWITT: What was different about education in America as opposed to the Philippines? If you can remember?<br /><br />BOTOR: [clicks tongue] I guess there was less punishments in America. In the Philippines, they would be really strict. I remember that before going into the classroom, they would check how clean out hands were, and we would get in trouble if they were dirty because they were really look for hygiene and stuff. I remember even transitioning from England to America, it was kind of different because I remember my teach asked me how to spell the word color. And in England they have the u in it, but they don’t here. And so, when I was trying to spell it out with the u, the other kids were like “no that's not how you spell it” and my teach had to be like “oh no that how they spell it in England.” So, there was stuff like that [laughs]<br /><br />HEWITT: Where did you first live in the US? You said you lived in Millbrae?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah, I first moved to Millbrae. And then I think in the fourth grade that's when I moved to Brentwood.<br /><br />HEWITT: Did you notice anything different between first generation immigrants and the Filipino American community?<br /><br />BOTOR: I feel like for Filipinos there’s - I feel like there's a lot of insecurities because of all the colonial baggage that we face. I feel like a lot of Filipinos have a lot of trouble identifying themselves because it’s like we’re part of that Asian American model minority. But there are some of us who aren't like that and are into different things. So I just find a lot of Filipinos having trouble identifying with themselves and who they really are. Because there's a lot of outside influences that pressure them to be a certain way.<br /><br />HEWITT: Do you feel that’s true for the FilAm community at UC Davis?<br /><br />BOTOR: Yeah definitely [laughs]<br /><br />HEWITT: Alright well I think that’s about it.<br /><br />BOTOR: [whispers] Is it long enough?<br /><br />HEWITT: [laughs] Do you have any more remarks?<br /><br />[9:59]<br /><br />BOTOR: I don't know. I hope - obviously with each community, especially one that's like Filipino Americans and things like that, they'll always have their flaws, but I hope that they continue to grow in the rights ways in rather than the wrongs ones. That’s all I have to say about that.<br /><br />[10:25]
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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 Noemi Botor, interviewed by Samuel Hewitt
Subject
The topic of the resource
Brentwood, CA, California, Baguio City, Philippines, floral shop, florist, nurse, Navy, England, UK, United Kingdom, California, Millbrae, first generation, immigrants, immigrant families--United States, model minority, UC Davis
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with Noemi Botor, interviewed by Samuel Hewitt
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
24-May-19
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_0018
Baguio City
Brentwood
CA
California
England
first generation
floral shop
florist
Immigrant families--United States
immigrants
Millbrae
model minority
Navy
nurse
Philippines
UC Davis
UK
United Kingdom
-
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.
Daniel Gonzalez
Interviewee
The person(s) being interviewed.
Rheanne Cruz
Transcription
Any written text transcribed from a sound.
[Session 1, June 10, 2019]<br />[Begin Audio File]<br />Daniel: So today is June 10, 2019 and it is 11:10 AM. This is Daniel Valentin Gonzalez<br />and I am interviewing for the Filipinx Oral History Project for ASA 150: The Filipinx<br />Experience in the US. Today I am interviewing:<br />Rheanne: Rheanne Cruz.<br />Daniel: Alright so let's get started. So first we are going to start by talking a little but<br />about your childhood and your young adult life. When and where were you born?<br />Rheanne: I was born in Manila, Philippines and I was born on March 19th, 2000.<br />Daniel: Okay, and where were your parents born?<br />Rheanne: My mom was born in Mindanao, Philippines but I’m not sure where my dad was<br />born.<br />Daniel: And what did your parents do?<br />Rheanne: My mom is currently a nurse, but in her time in the Philippines she was just a<br />student.<br />Daniel: Oh okay. And do you know what your grandparents did for work?<br />Rheanne: Yes. My grandma moved over 20 years before my mom and I did, and she was a<br />personal caretaker.<br />Daniel: Oh okay, and that’s here in the US?<br />Rheanne: Yes.<br />[3]<br />Daniel: Okay. And how many siblings did you have?<br />Rheanne: I am the only child.<br />Daniel: Oh okay, so you said that your grandma moved here before you and your mom<br />did?<br />Rheanne: Yes.<br />Daniel: And was she the only family member that moved here before you did?<br />Rheanne: Yes my only immediate family member, but I had extended family here. I had like<br />aunts and uncles.<br />Daniel: Okay. But your grandma was your primary contact?<br />Rheanne: Yeah.<br />Daniel: Okay, and did you have any schooling or academic experience in the Philippines?<br />Rheanne: No I didn’t.<br />Daniel: So when did, at what age did you come here?<br />Rheanne: I came when I was four.<br />Daniel: Okay. And why, well I guess you didn’t have much of a say in coming did you?<br />Rheanne: Yeah no, my mom moved over, well she decided to come here because the<br />“guarantee of a better life”<br />Daniel: Okay, so right now where do you live?<br />Rheanne: I live in Los Angeles, California.<br />Daniel: Okay, did you live anywhere else prior to living there?<br />Rheanne: I lived in Roseville, California in Sacramento.<br />[4]<br />Daniel: Okay then, and what made you go back to, or go to LA?<br />Rheanne: Oh it was my parents divorce.<br />Daniel: Okay I see. Did you have like, do you remember any feelings you had about the<br />United States before you moved here?<br />Rheanne: I was really young, but I guess all I really remember thinking about Americans or<br />America was that they had a lot more than the Philippines did.<br />Daniel: And what about your mom, did she like express anything about the US?<br />Rheanne: No not really, I don’t remember talking to her much about it.<br />Daniel: Oh okay, and did your grandma have any influence in you, what your family did?<br />Rheanne: We video chatted with her and not really, if it was something she had a lot more<br />than anybody in the Philippines did, but she was definitely sending it over to us.<br />Daniel: Okay, do you remember any differences about the way you lived in the<br />Philippines compared to the way you lived here?<br />Rheanne: In the Philippines I guess I saw a lot more people, I lived with a lot more people,<br />and here I lived with my grandparents and my mom and I didn't really see anybody like that<br />around, it didn't feel like, there was a bigger sense of community in the Philippines.<br />Daniel: Oh okay, so you haven’t been able to find something similar here?<br />[5:02]<br />Rheanne: Yeah it's like in the Philippines there's like being able to walk over to a neighbors<br />place and feeling very welcomed, and here it’s like not super normal.<br />Daniel: So umm, did you, where did you first, oh sorry.<br />Rheanne: It’s okay, don’t worry.<br />Daniel: Where did you first live when you came to the United States?<br />[5]<br />Rheanne: I first lived in Roseville, California.<br />Daniel: Oh okay so you started there.<br />Rheanne: Yeah.<br />Daniel: So did you, so you went to school here in the US right?<br />Rheanne: Yes.<br />Daniel: And did you go to school with like any other first generation immigrants or other<br />Filipino immigrants?<br />Rheanne: I went to, I lived in Roseville, so that was predominantly white I remember only 3<br />students of color in my classes and I didn’t know if they were immigrants or not, but when I<br />moved over to Los Angeles there was actually a lot more first generation immigrant kids.<br />Daniel: Oh okay then, did you, so how was that comparing those two different<br />environments?<br />Rheanne: When I was younger I guess I felt like an outsider in order to socialize with kids<br />and feel relatable, but when I moved over to Los Angeles where its much more diverse I felt a lot<br />more welcomed.<br />Daniel: Okay, and what about, did you notice, so when you lived in LA was there<br />diversity between just like other ethnicities besides Filipinos?<br />Rheanne: Yes.<br />Daniel: So did you notice anything different between those immigrants and the Filipino<br />immigrants, or did you feel like they shared similar experiences?<br />Rheanne: I think they were pretty similar, if there was family around people were very close<br />to family, and family was, and like, our home countries, people definitely were still in contact<br />with them, but I don't know. I guess in the school that I went to there weren't as many Filipinos<br />and Filipinos that I met had a lot more family over so it was kinda different. Yeah sorry if that<br />was a little bit vague.<br />[6]<br />Daniel: No yeah, no you’re good. Yeah a lot of times we don’t really like think about<br />these things when you're going through it. Okay well that's all the questions that I have unless<br />you have any closing remarks or any other comments that you’d like to make as well.<br />Rheanne: Oh no I think that’s it.<br />Daniel: Okay then well thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.<br />Rheanne: Okay no problem.
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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 Rheanne Cruz, interviewed by Daniel Gonzalez
Subject
The topic of the resource
Manila, Philippines, Mindanao, nurse, Los Angeles, California, LA, Roseville, Sacramento, first generation, immigrant, immigrant families--United States, divorce
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history interview with Rheanne Cruz, interviewed by Daniel Gonzalez
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
10-Jun-19
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_0015
California
divorce
first generation
immigrant
Immigrant families--United States
LA
Los Angeles
Manila
Mindanao
nurse
Philippines
Roseville
sacramento