The first time I met Pinays in the States, I notice the differences in upbringing and attitude. I could not pinpoint the various Filipina in America until I read this entry from Sorsi who is currently in the US.

But the truth is, the more I meet the “Filipinas” here, the more I feel that I’m not one of them. I don’t like generalizing…okay, I actually love generalizing and making lists like this…even if they may be 95% inaccurate…but here are some of the kinds of Pinays I’ve seen here so far…

1. The Bitch-ified Fil-Am Pinay- These are the girls who grew up here and have been totally westernized or try hard to be. They usually act and look a certain way and it is easy to spot them. ..

2. The Confused Fil-ba-ko-Am-ba-ko Pinay- These are the girls who grew up here but were raised in a traditional Filipino way

3. The Blue-collar Pinays - They work as stackers, baggers, cashiers in Vons, Wal-Mart, Walgreens…(groceries and drugstores) etc

4. The married-to-a-white-guy Pinay - My bestfriend here for some reason tells me that one day I will be hooked up with a white guy too cuz he’s seen it happen so many times

5. The ‘changed’ Pinay

6. The 100% Pure Pinay - They came here to work…to provide a better future for their families.

7. The well-adjusted Fil-Am Pinays - Yes, there ARE those too. They have a nice balance of being Filipino and being American

Continue reading Portrait of a Pinay as a Fil-Am

Pinay, you have gone a long way!

When we talk about Filipina before, the first thing that would enter one’s mind is a weak naïve, dependent and helpless woman second best to the race of Adam.

Being deprived of the right to education, her task is to help on the household chores instead of going to school for the reason of being an inferior gender responsible for taking care of her children. What even degrade your morale as a person is being coined by an international translator that “Pinay” is synonym to a maid.

The society has blind spotted the viewpoint of taking care of kids is more crucial obligation and thus seen as an easy task without even realizing that your worth, Pinay is more than just anything else.

Pinay, who are you nowadays? I’m very proud that you are out there in the business industry showing your potentials. Some of you were even holding the most powerful position in your chosen career. What makes you even more impressive Pinay is becoming the first in
Asia to rule over the so called superior gender in the world of politics.

The issue is not all about who’s the greater gender but being a woman, what is your worth being part of a double standard society?

Let us prove to the world that we are vital part and should not be disregarded. Despite of our weak physical attributes, we possess brilliant minds that could come up with big ideas that would change tomorrow. And also, they should not forget that we have the power to give birth to a new generation that will lead and shape the future.

Why do women wear makeups? Why do they wear clothes that emphasize their figures? Why do they spend so many hours at the shower? Why do they wear shoes that kill their feet?

Is it worthy to say that its because they wanted to get the attention of men? Is it justifiable to say that they are doing it just to please someone?

After posting these questions, a lot of images entered in my mind: Geishas, the parable of the virigns, one of my best girl friends- Michelle, and Kisengs perhaps.

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Filipina Charice Pempengco is a 15 year old girl from the Philippines. Her international career went on a headstart when a Swedish recording company discovered her videos on You Tube. Charice also performed in South Korea where she impressed the Korean audience. Charice appeared recently in North America at The Ellen Degeneres Show. Ellen and the audience were captivated by the girls’ performance.

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Finally, a foundation to perfectly match my skin tone. And no more searching: the key to my ideal eye shadow shades are only a page-turn away. I have spent hundreds of dollars hoping these empty claims would fulfill the gap in my aesthetic personality. But little did I know that this gap went further than a hole in my wallet.

A child’s innocence saved me from early years of disaffection. Back then, familial differences were not recognized as such, and home life was simply familiar. But the elementary and middle school years broke this reverie and, against my sturdiest opposition, these differences became emphasized. The fact that I ate snails, that my parents spoke another language and had accents and that our dishwasher was used to store dishes and not clean them became points of embarrassment and no longer normal; I was lucky that every meal included a healthy helping of rice, or else having friends over for an evening meal would have been an exceedingly embarrassing event.

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Here are two playlists of Filipino Christmas songs in Tagalog (some Visayan) and English. I compiled these Christmas songs from imeem.com for your listening pleasure during the Holiday season. Pinoy Christmas songs are often festive and leaves special memories in the years to come. You can download the tracks or stream it straight from this entry.

The first song in the track is Pasko na Sinta ko, sung by my two girls and three other members of the Manila Children’s Choir circa 1999.

Enjoy!

Tagalog Christmas Carols (with 2 Visayan Carols)

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Filipina Mothers nowadays has sprung from a simple housewife to the presidential seat. They are mostly educated and working in tandem with their husbands…gone where the times when they are only found at home taking care of the children.

My late grandmother was a very sweet and tender person. Since the time I knew her, I never saw her leave the house and go to work. She was very committed to her chosen vocation – housewife. I admire the way she took care of my grandfather, her children and grandchildren.

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Congratulations to the winners of the Win a Wordpress T shirt

In the Filipina Writing Contest

Getting the shirt

1. I will need to get your mailing address so I can have the shirt directly shipped to that address
2.To have an idea of the sizes, check out Wordpress Shop
3. Email me your size and mailing address.