Pinays in the City

Two Pinays meet for lunch on a beautiful sunny New York afternoon. We eat, enjoy the view, and the conversation abounds with laughter and gossip like two old friends just recently reunited. She speaks in Tagalog with a few English words here and there. I speak in English with a few Tagalog words here and there.

Both of us have recently relocated to New York. Both of us just starting our careers. Both of us away from our families. Both of us - two Pinays trying to "make it" in the city and make our parents proud.

She has just moved here from the Philippines and strives to become a nurse. She desperately wants to stay and needs to find a full time employer to sponsor her before her visa runs out. Meanwhile she studies rigorously to pass nursing exams. She sells some hand made jewelry that her friend makes to make a few bucks for herself.

I moved out here from California to take up graduate studies. I desperately want to spread my wings and fly; to pursue a career that fulfills me, and a life path of my choosing. I bury myself in student debt to follow this dream and count down the days for my work study check to come in.

She communicates with her parents by email because phone cards are a luxury she cannot afford. She told me its probably best she doesn't hear their voice very often or it will make her want to go home. She lives in a home owned by very extended family friends and shares a room with their grandmother.

I speak to my mother almost every other day about everyday things - from wondering the best way to remove a stain from my new blouse, to wondering how my father is doing, to just plain being bored and wanting to hear her voice. I sleep in my own room, in my own bed, only having to share the bathroom, living room, and kitchen.

When she told her parents she wanted to go to the states to try to be a nurse, they could not have been prouder. When I told my parents I wanted to go to New York to be a social worker, they tried to convince me to stay. When she told her boyfriend she was leaving, he told her he would wait for her. I told my boyfriend we were over because I was leaving and I could not wait for him.

 ...Two very different worlds...Two very different cousins...but still two Pinays trying to "make it" in the City.