Meet a new Filipina Friend

This week, I met another newcomer to America. Anaflor is a Filipina from Manila and she just moved to California. Pretty cool!

I was hanging around Borders Santana Row - waiting for my friends Judith and Marife, when Judith informed me that she's bringing along a fellow immigrant who just got here. Judith brought Anaflor along and we all had a great time exchanging stories about adjusting to life in the United States over cassava cake made by Marife. It was the first time I've seen cassava cake bring carried around in an LV bag. LV's and cassava cake just don't normally get within such close proximity.

Back to the the topic: Homesickness is much more common that I thought. I was extremely homesick in the first months here. I still get crazy homesick at times. Especially during fiesta, birthdays, any special ocassion, or any given Saturday. Not all my Filipina friends here got really homesick though. They love it here! Totally understandable. It is pretty nice here.

It was interesting to note that not all of us have the same reactions to homesickness. Oh wait, we all get sad and cranky. For the most part, I just spent the time sleeping. One of the girls just stop talking to their hubbies, one asked to be sent home. Meeting and having Filipina friends here eases the homesickness a lot. It feels really good to relax and speak Bisaya with people from back home. Especially when it's over Filipino food.

I remember when I was the newcomer to the "circle of friends". I was so thankful that they were so accepting and nice and fun. The least I can do is to offer the same kind of welcome to Anaflor. So, here's to Flor: welcome to the club!