Celebrating Christmas Abroad
This year marks my second time to celebrate Christmas with my mother here in the United States.
It's been almost two years since I left my career as a sportswriter for a popular tabloid and be with my mother in California who petitioned me for many years to finally join her here.
I admit, I do miss those days when I was attending a lot of Christmas parties because of my job as a sportswriter. Aside from my office Christmas party for the tabloid I was working for, I was also invited to attend similar holiday events put up by my friends in the PBA and other sports.
Here, things are extremely different. I am at home most of the time trying to guard the house while my mother is working and my sister is living in with her boyfriend in San Francisco.
When my mother is on a day off, I help her clean the house on Fridays then we go to Costco together to shop for grocery items.
Then on Saturdays, me and my mother go to Mass together at a nearby church. Sundays are usually spent with me going out with my mother and sister who visits our El Sobrante home while she is working.
Looking for a job especially related to my previous job is difficult and not knowing how to drive a car is something that makes it difficult for me to adjust to life here in the US.
It does take a long time for me to get used to life abroad since this is my first time to be away from the Philippines ever since I was born.
And right now, it looks very difficult for me to come back to the Philippines because my mother needs someone to keep her company at home now that she's 70 years old and still mourning the death of her African American husband in 2009 after a kidney ailment.
My passport, which is Taiwanese, has long expired already and it will take months for me to get a new one since I'm not a Filipino citizen although I was born in the Philippines.
Secondly, although Americans are having a hard time because of the Trump administration, things back in the Philippines aren't as good as well because of the drug-related killings under the Duterte administration.
And thirdly, my mother doesn't want to go back to the Philippines anymore because she isn't in good terms with some of my uncles and aunts who keep on begging money from her.
In fact, when one of my uncles died in 2016, we didn't come back anymore for the funeral.
As of now, I'm still praying for the day when I can come back and savor Philippine life anew. But now, times are so hard that it takes a lot of sacrifice for me to adjust myself to American life.
Whoever is reading this, I'm sure you share the same thoughts as mine.
Merry Christmas to all!
It's been almost two years since I left my career as a sportswriter for a popular tabloid and be with my mother in California who petitioned me for many years to finally join her here.
I admit, I do miss those days when I was attending a lot of Christmas parties because of my job as a sportswriter. Aside from my office Christmas party for the tabloid I was working for, I was also invited to attend similar holiday events put up by my friends in the PBA and other sports.
Here, things are extremely different. I am at home most of the time trying to guard the house while my mother is working and my sister is living in with her boyfriend in San Francisco.
When my mother is on a day off, I help her clean the house on Fridays then we go to Costco together to shop for grocery items.
Then on Saturdays, me and my mother go to Mass together at a nearby church. Sundays are usually spent with me going out with my mother and sister who visits our El Sobrante home while she is working.
Looking for a job especially related to my previous job is difficult and not knowing how to drive a car is something that makes it difficult for me to adjust to life here in the US.
It does take a long time for me to get used to life abroad since this is my first time to be away from the Philippines ever since I was born.
And right now, it looks very difficult for me to come back to the Philippines because my mother needs someone to keep her company at home now that she's 70 years old and still mourning the death of her African American husband in 2009 after a kidney ailment.
My passport, which is Taiwanese, has long expired already and it will take months for me to get a new one since I'm not a Filipino citizen although I was born in the Philippines.
Secondly, although Americans are having a hard time because of the Trump administration, things back in the Philippines aren't as good as well because of the drug-related killings under the Duterte administration.
And thirdly, my mother doesn't want to go back to the Philippines anymore because she isn't in good terms with some of my uncles and aunts who keep on begging money from her.
In fact, when one of my uncles died in 2016, we didn't come back anymore for the funeral.
As of now, I'm still praying for the day when I can come back and savor Philippine life anew. But now, times are so hard that it takes a lot of sacrifice for me to adjust myself to American life.
Whoever is reading this, I'm sure you share the same thoughts as mine.
Merry Christmas to all!
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