I relate to this so much! I was born in the Philippines but moved to the US when I was 3 years old. I think growing up, my identity as a Filipino was really watered down in order to integrate into the larger American society. It was only until I moved to Australia/ NZ that I reconnected with what it means to be Filipino and reshaped my relationship with being American. It’s a dance I’m constantly in. Now, I feel like I’m a mix of all the different countries I’ve lived in, and that kind of identity fragmentation can feel really hard to grasp at times, which you so eloquently put here.
I'm a migrant living in Australia for 20 years now. My kids basically grew up here na. I know that feeling well. You just try to navigate and create your own home away from home. And with kids, it's even more challenging at the same time, refreshing. Because you we get to recreate traditions from the culture that we grew up with. We love coming back to the Philippines for visits. But we have etched our home here now. Still Filipinos at heart because that's never going away.
I recently recorded a pod with singer/songwriter Lotti and she shared a very similar sentiment. It took a recent trip back home to make her realize that there is a distance now that didn’t exist before after 10 years away.
One of my better friends spent many years in Taipei, even went so far as having permanent residency there. I remember when she moved back to work here in Manila, and realized she's no longer used to the bustle of being with her family as opposed to living alone.
And then I think of myself and how I moved out during the first lockdowns, thinking it'll be temporary, only for me to still be living alone five years later (well, the ex was here for half the time). I go back home, and it's the same, but also, it isn't.
Typing that out, I'm not sure if that's the same thing, haha.
know what you mean. Whenever I visit the Philippines, I’m always caught off guard by how much has changed. It’s not the version I grew up with. I mean, of course, time moves forward… but still, it always feels like a surprise.
Like a friend of mine once wrote in her blog: we go home not just to feast on food and good company, but to feast on the familiar. We want to revisit the version of ourselves we haven’t seen in years. And when that’s no longer possible, home becomes a place where our current selves meet our past ones.
I relate to this so much! I was born in the Philippines but moved to the US when I was 3 years old. I think growing up, my identity as a Filipino was really watered down in order to integrate into the larger American society. It was only until I moved to Australia/ NZ that I reconnected with what it means to be Filipino and reshaped my relationship with being American. It’s a dance I’m constantly in. Now, I feel like I’m a mix of all the different countries I’ve lived in, and that kind of identity fragmentation can feel really hard to grasp at times, which you so eloquently put here.
I'm a migrant living in Australia for 20 years now. My kids basically grew up here na. I know that feeling well. You just try to navigate and create your own home away from home. And with kids, it's even more challenging at the same time, refreshing. Because you we get to recreate traditions from the culture that we grew up with. We love coming back to the Philippines for visits. But we have etched our home here now. Still Filipinos at heart because that's never going away.
I recently recorded a pod with singer/songwriter Lotti and she shared a very similar sentiment. It took a recent trip back home to make her realize that there is a distance now that didn’t exist before after 10 years away.
One of my better friends spent many years in Taipei, even went so far as having permanent residency there. I remember when she moved back to work here in Manila, and realized she's no longer used to the bustle of being with her family as opposed to living alone.
And then I think of myself and how I moved out during the first lockdowns, thinking it'll be temporary, only for me to still be living alone five years later (well, the ex was here for half the time). I go back home, and it's the same, but also, it isn't.
Typing that out, I'm not sure if that's the same thing, haha.
know what you mean. Whenever I visit the Philippines, I’m always caught off guard by how much has changed. It’s not the version I grew up with. I mean, of course, time moves forward… but still, it always feels like a surprise.
Like a friend of mine once wrote in her blog: we go home not just to feast on food and good company, but to feast on the familiar. We want to revisit the version of ourselves we haven’t seen in years. And when that’s no longer possible, home becomes a place where our current selves meet our past ones.