Like I said on the previous page, our first stop in the US was Colorado. We lived in Colorado Springs for a while (nine months). While there, I attended Rampart High School. After our move, I grew unusually shy (more so than before) and rarely spoke. Why? Because whenever I did, it sounded weird. I didn't sound like everyone else. To this day I struggle to get rid of this foreign accent.
I learned the English language while in the Philippines, but I never really spoke it. I didn't know any of the colloquialisms commonly used in conversation. So I listened. And I observed. Now, I do nothing but talk. I talk about anything and everything to anyone who listen. I speak as though English were my native tongue. I think in English now-- where as before, I used to formulate my sentences in Tagalog and then mentally translate them into English before actually speaking. I still have a bit of an accent, it's no longer as apparent as when I first arrive in this country.
Anyway, my family eventually moved to Ohio where we lived for five months. We lived in Baltimore-- a small, you-blink-and-you'll-miss-it kind of town on the outskirts of Columbus. It was alright, but we lived out in the country and there wasn't much to do (other than mow the acreage). |
I suppose the teenagers there were a bit restless as well. I can just imagine how bored they were (we had to replace our mailbox like three times during our five-month stay). Thankfully, Dad found another job and we were able to get out of there. We moved to Derby in 1994. At first I dreaded moving to Kansas because I feared it would be just as boring as Baltimore, if not more so. Honestly, despite all the stories that you hear, life here isn't so bad-- better than I anticipated, anyway. Dad really likes it here cos it's supposedly the bowling mecca of the US. There are more Filipinos here than anywhere we have ever been outside of the Philippines. Although sometimes Dad'll work in another state (i.e. he worked at Exxon in Houston for a couple of years), we've pretty much stayed put for four years (geez, has it been that long?). As much as I want to leave this sorry excuse for a state, I really would rather not any time soon. Moving is really taxing and stressful. I didn't have too terrible of a time, but I hated having gone through four different high schools. |
On the left is a photo of me at one of the Filipino functions-- the annual dinner-dance held at the Marriott in Wichita to honor the year's debutantes, graduates and anniversary celebrants. My profile is awful, I know. I think it's cos of my flat, little nose. But hey, at least it's not flat and big. Anyhoot, I graduated from Derby High School in 1996 and shortly after that (in the fall of the same year) began my first semester at WSU-- with the help of a little National Merit corporate-sponsored scholarship to ease the financial burden a bit. |
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