Monday, May 12, 2014

New Life in the United States

I interviewed my coworker Maribeth O. Ration. She was a nurse in the Philippines, and  Her parents came here before she settle in the US. She was enjoy and like her life in the Philippines. However, she married to a Filipino America. After she got married, she came to the US with her husband. She has positive personality toward her living in the US. Now she is a preschool teacher and I did the interview in the classroom where she teach.


Interview Maribeth Ration by Sio Keong

Part 1 
Personal Background
An introduction about her


Part 2
Life when  living in Philippines
She talks about her live when she lived in the Philippines.


Part 3
Reason to leave
She talks about why she come to the US.


Part 4
Settling down

She talks about the first settling in the US.



Part 5 
Life in the US
she tells me about her life in US now.



Part 6
Filipino in American

She tells about being a filipino in American.


Part 7 
Reflection
She talks about her feeling in the US.

Life in America: Amado Ayson, interview by Henry Ayson

Video segments from an April 2014 interview by Henry Ayson with his father,

Amado Zareno Ayson

My interviewee, Amado Zareno Ayson has lived in this country for 37 years.  Amado had served the United States Navy and was given the opportunity to live in America as well as bring his family along.


Segments:
  1. Family Background
  2. Leaving the Philippines
  3. Settling in the United States
  4. Life in the United States
  5. Being Filipino in the United States
  6. Reflections

Segment 1: Family Background
Amado introduces himself and tells us where he was born and raised in the Philippines.  He also tells us how life was like where he was born and raised.




Segment 2: Leaving the Philippines
Amado tells us how he was able to come to the United States.  He also tells us how much different it is in the United States compared to the Philippines.




Segment 3: Settling in the United States
Amado tells us where and why he first settled in the United States.  He tells us what he remembers the most once he first came to the country.




Segment 4: Life in the United States
Amado describes the different lifestyle from the one he had in the Philippines compared to the one he has in the America.  He also discusses the difficulty of adjusting to the new homeland.




Segment 5: Being a Filipino in the United States
Amado discusses what he misses about the Philippines.  He also discusses his plans for the future.




Segment 6: Reflections
Amado defines his "American Dream".
(Dream is Real)




Surprisingly Happy Journey. An interview of Laureano Santos by Franzine Erika Santos


Surprisingly Happy Journey

Laureano P. Santos interviewed by Franzine Erika R. Santos



This is an interview of my grandfather about his journey in the United States with his wife and son. 



His ID when he used to work for the Embassy of the United States of America in Manila, Philippines.




Golden wedding anniversary in March 2008 in the Philippines. 


Santos Family





Table of Contents:

I. Leaving the Philippines
II. Family Background
III. Settling in the United States
IV. Life in the United States
V. Being a Filipino Immigrant in the United States




Segment 1: Leaving the Philippines

-his reason for leaving the Philippines and his other children, the sacrifices he made and his expectations of the United States.




Segment 2: Family Background

-he talks about his family and his experiences from childhood until his manhood in the Philippines. 






Segment 3: Settling in the United States

-his first impression of the United States.







Segment 4: Life In the United States

-how they started over in the United States. His best and worst experiences and the reason why he did not feel discriminated on his entire stay in the United States. 





Segment 5: Being a Filipino immigrant in the United States.

-how he eased homesickness, his decision of staying in the United States, and why his happiness is overflowing after more than 20 years of leaving in the United States.


Home is Where the Heart Is, Melani Terfia interviewed by Laurice Lee

Melani Tarifa, Filipino American

I interviewed Melani Tarifa, a Filipino American residing in Daly City, CA.  Melani travels back in time to tell me her
stories of how life in the Philippines was when she was a youngling, to her journey to America.  The hardships that she
faced when she starting living in San Francisco and looking back at what would've happened if she never immigrated to the United States.

Table of Contents


 1. Family Background
2. Leaving the Philippines
3. Settling in the U.S.
4. Life in the U.S.
5. Being Filipino in the U.S.
6. Reflections


Melani talks about her family background and what it was like growing up in Manila.

Family Background
 
 
Coming to America, leaving behind her home, the Philippines because her mom petitioned for her when she was 18.
 
Leaving the Philippines
 
 
 
A cold room, social gatherings and living with her mom's friend.
 
Settling in the U.S.
 
 
Life in the U.S.
 
 
Being Filipino in the U.S.
 
 

Education is what Melani wish she had continued to have a better financial life, like retirement.
 
Reflections
 
 
Melani has a strong point of view that she will never return back to the Philippines, she has come to accept the United States as her home.  Until things start to change back in Manila or the Philippines she might consider going back but for now she's where her heart considers home.
 
 


It Runs in the Castro Family, An interview from Rolino Castro by Neil Bryan Castro


Rolino Castro was born in Makato, Aklan, Philippines and he is 61 years old. He came to America 9 months ago and he is now working as an engineer at the Serrano Hotel in San Francisco. He is the brother of my Dad, Nilo Castro. He came to America for the purpose of finding work. His story ,however, is unique because he came to america even though he is very old. His process of coming to america was through chain migration yet there was more obstacles that lay in the way. Rolino Castro is different immigrant and that is why I interviewed him.

Him and his wife, Fleda Lacson Castro

Segment List of him talking about the immigration process:
Intro
Section 1: Philippines 
Section 2: Going to Daly City 
Section 3: The Immigration Process 
Section 4: Life in Daly City 
Section 5: Reflection 
Outro 


Intro: This is Rolino Castro and his profession today 



Section 1, Philippines: He Talks about his hometown in the Philippines and Class Life



Section 2, Coming to Daly City: He talks about his ambitions and needs for going to Daly City from the Philippines



Section 3, The Immigration Process: Rolino recalls his immigration process and how "Chain Migration" worked for him

Him and his youngest son, Ollen



Section 4, Life in Daly City: Rolino tells his first impressions of Daly City and the differences between Filipino American and Filipino Immigrants 



Section 5, Reflections: Rolino reflects after staying for 8 months in America 



Outro: Rolino's last thoughts of the interview




Me and Rolino after the interview

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Maria Purganan Filipino Generation 1.5 by Jesus Angeles

Maria Purganan was born in the Philippines and came here with her family when she was just 3 years old.  Her father, who was in the Navy, knew the opportunities that the U.S had to offer and as a result migrated to America.  Maria has thoughts of going back to the Philippines just to visit, but does not want to live there.  She grew up and had lived most of her life here in America.

Maria Purganan

Maria's Father

Maria's siblings






The following video segments explains Maria's life in America as well as her story of migrating.
Segment 1: Family Background
Segment 2: Leaving the Philippines
Segment 3: Touchdown in America
Segment 4: Life in the U.S
Segment 5: Being Filipino in the U.S
Segment 6: Reflections

Segment 1: Maria talks about her family background





Segment 2: Maria describes about her experience leaving the Philippines





Segment 3: Maria talks about her experience when she first came to America





Segment 4: Maria talks about her life in the U.S





Segment 5: Maria expresses how its like being Filipino in the U.S





Segment 6: Maria reflects about her life and talks about her What If's 

Elaine Villasper Dizon, Undocumented by Marielle Beltran

Video segments from an April 2014 interview by Marielle Beltran with her cousin 
Elaine Villasper Dizon



Table of Contents:
Segment 1: Introduction
Segment 2: We're moving to America?
Segment 3: We're here! America vs Philippines
Segment 4: Undocumented, gotta hide!
Segment 5: Finally documented, but why do I feel bittersweet?


Segment 1 (2:34) Introduction- Elaine introduces herself and talks about how it was like growing up with a middle-class family and how education was like in the Philippines. 



Elaine posing with her younger sister, Joan, in the Philippines.

Segment 2 (4:50) We're moving to America?- In this section, Elaine talks about how she found out she was moving to America, and how it did not bother her because she was so young.  


Segment 3 (4:32)- We're here! America vs Philippines- Elaine discusses how she felt when she first arrived in the Philippines, and how America turned out to be versus her expectations.


A picture of Joan Villasper (left), Elaine Villasper Dizon (middle), and Normita "Meng" Villasper's (right) excited faces when they first arrived in the United States. 

Segment 4 (14:17) Undocumented, gotta hide!- This video is the most important video. In this video Elaine shares her experiences about being undocumented, how difficult it was for her to live a "normal" life due to the fact that she had to hide a part of her identity. This whole experience is what gave Elaine her perspective on Filipinos and Filipinos living in America, also it introduced her to her passion, which is helping Filipinos survive in America. If it weren't for this experience, she would not be the person she is today. 


Segment 5 (2:45) Finally documented, but why does it feel bittersweet?- In this segment Elaine talks about being documented and how it made a big difference in her life. It made a good impact, however, why does she not feel as happy as she should be? 


Her experience living in America does make her miss home, so her way of "returning home" to the Philippines is through helping the Filipino community and paints vivid pictures of images you may see in the Philippines. Today, Elaine works for the Filipino Community Center in San Francisco. She works in the domestic violence program as a coordinator and a women's advocate.