Maxene Vasquez is from the Philippines. She lived in a large city. Much larger than Cambridge. She spoke of missing the beautiful beaches and her family. At the school she attended, children were required to learn Mandarin from a young age until they graduated from high school. The families are sometimes nuclear, meaning only parents and their children live together. It is also very common that families have extended families they live with. Pets are common in most households. Many people take care of strays as pets as well. She and her mom have dreams of traveling to Europe and Asia on their visits. She and Mom love exploring new things. She went to Canada once to visit an aunt.
The move
Her parents had worked to get here for more than 10 years, and her grandparents helped her mom pass exams to obtain a U.S. visa. She was 7 or 8 years old when her parents found out they had received their U.S. visas. They left on September 8th, 2018, and arrived two days later. Her mom’s employer picked them up and drove to a Filipino friend’s house in Newbrighton, where they lived for two weeks before moving to Cambridge. They decided to settle here and became homeowners by 2019. She later attended Cambridge Intermediate School. 4. Years later, her parents applied for citizenship and passed in the same year. She hardly gets to see her family, and the time zone difference makes communication challenging. She has adapted to speaking more English due to being surrounded by English speakers all the time at her new school. Her mom and dad had very good English before they came to the U.S. Maxene had already known English in her old school. She met lots of new people. In 3rd grade, she was put into ELL, also known as English Language Learners, a class for students new to English, and she recently passed her ACCESS test last year. She knows fluent English and Filipino. Her mom applied for a job as a nurse. Her mom first worked at Gracepoint and advanced to a position at the University of Minnesota Medical Center as a Nephrology nurse. Her father worked his way up to become a Bio Med technician for a large dialysis company.
The two reasons for her family’s moving were more opportunities and a better life. The education opportunities are better. And better healthcare. She met with her father’s side of the family last year. They traveled here to see her. It took almost 6 years to get United States passports. She and her parents plan to visit family overseas next year. She is interested in art, music, learning, baking, and reading. She hopes to become a lawyer specializing in immigration or criminal law. The reason she chose an immigration lawyer is because of stories of families struggling to enter the United States legally for their children’s better lives. She wants to help families and children have a chance at a better life and a future, just as her parents allowed her to have a good education and a promising future.
On the flight to the United States, there was a layover in Japan. Japan was extremely clean and beautiful. People rarely speak in public in Japan, whereas in the Philippines, people often enjoy interacting with tourists. Her family, friends, and locals are very conversational, which is a common trait.
Differences
The schools are incredibly different between our school and schools in the Philippines. Children were expected to adhere to a strict dress code, including uniforms, no makeup, and ID badges, whereas here we have the freedom to dress as we like in schools. She felt incredibly different here in the U.S., but soon discovered how accepting people were. She thinks the schools are better here because they would make kids redo their mistakes, again, instead of failing them and just moving on. They have different disciplines. They would punish students in front of the classroom for discipline. She once spoke to a classmate without permission, and her teacher instructed her to share the conversation she and her friend were having with the whole class. Corporal punishment was not in her school, but it was rarely common in others. They had high expectations. Her old school expects everything immediately, meanwhile, here we are gradual and considerate of the time it takes to learn to reach those expectations. School was difficult to start, but it gradually got easier.
They start celebrating and decorating for Christmas in September and continue until January. They don’t celebrate Halloween. Most people in the Philippines are catholic. Catholics are often more strict than Christians. When the Spanish conquered them, they influenced them to be Catholic.
