By: Angelina R. Class: Mrs. Fry

My Dad’s side of the family 1)What were your ancestors’ settlement experiences? My dad’s parents both came from the Philippines-I call them Lola(Grandma)and Lolo(Grandpa). Lola came to the United states when she was 19 years old to pursue a Masters Degree in Business Administration. Lolo was already a doctor when he came to the U.S He wanted to do his training in one of the hospitals here. One of the biggest adjustments they had to make a living in the United States was getting used to the weather. In the Philippines, it’s always hot and humid, with no snow so it was difficult getting used to the cold as well as driving in the snow and ice. Especially in the first few years of living here, they suffered of homesickness especially during the holidays. They did not see their families for years at a time, and could not afford to call them often because the long distance rates were so expensive. Also, there were no computers at that time so they just had to write letters that took over a week to be delivered. 2)What contributions did your ethnic group make to the U.S? Because most of the people immigrated to the United State from the Philippines were professionals and highly educated, we were able to fill some of the positions in hospitals, corporations and other businesses that otherwise would have remained vacant. There was a shortage of doctors and nurses in this country so we were able to provide the hospitals with the personnel that they needed to serve. 3)How did your ancestors make a living? Lolo is a medical doctor(an anesthesiologist) who worked very hard and spent lots of sleepless nights in the hospital saving lives and making people feel better. Lola worked for only a couple of years as a marketing research analyst at an advertising agency but quit working to stay home and take care of their 4 sons. In their families, there are a lot of doctors and attorneys.

This is the Philippines. The red dot is where Lolo lived and the dark blue dot is where Lola lived.

My Dad’s side of the family SLIDE 2 4)What was life like for your ancestors? When we started a family, life was very busy.. Lolo worked long hours in the hospital so Lola had to take care of the children, the household & everything else. Our life centered on our family, church & Lolo's work. As our sons were growing up, we became active in the Filipino and Medical communities. We got involved in a lot of fund raising activities to help the poor & the needy. Because Lolo was a doctor, we enjoyed the respect of the community and we were able to provide our children with a comfortable life and a good education. 5)What was your ancestors former country like? My paternal grandparents were both born and raised in the Philippines, a country in Southeast Asia. It is a tropical country with beautiful landscapes, volcanoes, beaches and oceans. We have only 2 seasons--- dry and rainy. It's warm all year round. "Tagalong" is our national language but majority of the people speak English since the medium of instruction in schools and universities is English. There are over 92 million people living in the Philippines, majority of them being Catholic. The Philippines is composed of 7107 islands but only three main islands are inhabited by the people. 6)Under what type of government did they live? The Philippines has a constitutional republic with a presidential system of government. The president is the head of the government who is elected by popular vote for a single six year term. We have three branches of government: the executive, legislative and judicial branches. We did not come to America to escape the government. There was a period of dictatorship in the government but we were already in America when that happened.

A little on my Mom’s side My mom’s parents came from two different sides of the world: India and Italy. My mom’s father was born in Srinigar, Kashmir in The Bhans owned huge farms, and saffron was one of the crops. Everyone there were a peace-loving people, and it was ruled by a peaceful King. The first picture(from the left) are the Kashmir mountains. The second picture is saffron and it is very expensive. The third picture is where saffron comes from, the dried out middle of the flower. 1 st picture from: 2 nd picture from: 3 rd picture from:

Photo Gallery

Photo Gallery slide 2

My family today

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