Fil-Ams

EARLIER in March we were happy to be visited at home by a cousin who came home from the US, accompanied by his wife and three other relatives.

We remember visiting their home in Northern California during our trip to the US way back in 2002.   Our visit was very memorable because they brought us on a tour of Northern California, and to the Hearst’s Castle which is a legendary vacation home owned by a well-known New York Publisher.

We are pleased to know that they are now retired and doing well. Their three children of two girls and one boy have finished school. Their eldest girl has married an American and this gave them already two apos.

Our cousin is an architect while his wife is a nurse. They formerly run two care homes in the US which they have now leased out so they can travel and enjoy retirement. They came home to Iloilo and built another house so they can stay here part of the year.

According to the latest census, four million Filipinos live in America. Most of them have embraced dual citizenship, with some 1.5 million Fil-Ams concentrated in California state. The rest are spread out to other areas, as follows: Hawaii, 342,095; Illinois, 139,090; Texas, 137,713; Washington, 137,083; New Jersey, 126,793; New York, 126,129; Nevada, 123,891; and Florida, 122,691.

We have travelled and experienced one thing with Pinoys you meet in foreign countries. They never fail to say “Hi!” once they spot you in a group.  We think that Pinoys are now almost everywhere in the world.

Going back to Filipino-Americans, we have the highest rate of assimilation compared to other nationals in the US, and are described as the most “Americanized” of Asian-Americans. One thing good, the moment Fil-Ams retire from work or business in the US., many of them build homes in the Philippines even if they continue to keep also their residence status in the US, especially when they have grown up children settled there.

The 2010 census counted 3.4 million Fil-Ams in the US, but the US Department of State’s estimate in 2011 is 4.0 million  or 1.1 percent of the US population. Fil-Ams are the second largest self-reported Asian ancestry group after the Chinese-Americans, according to the 2010 American Community Survey.

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GEM OF THOUGHT

“Harken to my words, fair traveller from afar,

Upon thy palm, guard the seed of a Star,

Sowed by the One, a fitting gift to man,

From emerald bows, rivers of grace once run.”

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