Rosemarie Espiritu-Parreno - Surviving the Life of an Immigrant in New York City

Surviving the Life
of an Immigrant
in New York City

Rosemarie Espiritu-Parreno

Copyright 2016 by Rosemarie Espiritu-Parreno.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 05/13/2016

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

www.Xlibris.com

728074

CONTENTS

Part 1: The Late 80s
My Short Memoirs As A Newly Arrived Immigrant

Part 2: The 90s
My Colorful And Promising Life As An English As A Second Language Teacher

Part 3: The 2000s
My Successful And Fulfilling Life As A Multiawarded Esl Teacher

To my par ents,

Bernardo and Rosario

To my husband of forty-two y ears,

Henry Bernardo

To my chil dren,

Karlene Grace, Kathleen Joy, and Lady Grace Joyce

To my only gran dson,

Ezren Henry

To my sibl ings,

Remedios, Filomena, Renecio, Chris tina,
and Jose Maria

S URVIVING THE LIFE of an Immigrant in New York City is an informational true-to-life book divided into three parts. Part 1 is about my life as a newly arrived immigrant in the late 80s. Part 2 discusses my experiences as a working immigrant in the 90s. Part 3 describes my successful life in the city in the 2000s. These parts are presented in short memoirs of different topics, interviews in various places, and remarks of people from many programs, organizations, and schools about me, the au thor.

Sharing ones life experience requires recollection of happy and sad memories that make the readers wipe their tears or smile, associating them with their own experiences in life. I was reluctant to write this inspirational book for immigrants who have gone to foreign lands, because I am not one of those phenomenal authors who studied journalism as their bread and butter or one of those celebrity writers who stole the limelight publicly abroad. Consider me as an ordinary citizen from a country of 7,107 islands with eighty-seven dialects. I am one of those who left my country of origin and made teaching a mission to conquer the hearts of immigrants over seas.

The purpose of this book is to share my true-to-life experiences on the topics I have mentioned above. I will write not only my successes but also my failures in dealing with the problems and solutions during the late 80s, 90s, and 2000s, when I was living in a big city. I would like the readers, whoever they may be, to realize that whatever happened to me on these years can serve as lessons in life whenever they encounter them, or they may act as judges to avoid the same mistakes I faced in the past.

The words I use in this book are simple because I want the readers to imagine that I am speaking as an immigrant, like them, who is giving a message about what life is really like in the eyes of a newcomer whose culture is different from that of other immigrants of many countries in the world. I will walk my readers, page by page, in the three parts of my life as an immigrant. This book will be a good reference to people seeking better opportunities in life as an immigrant ab road.

Finally, I will use aliases for people I have worked with and places where I used to work to protect their privacy. My personal photos are included to show the stages of my life as an immigrant in various years. To all the readers of this short book who have plans to live overseas, I truly wish that your life will be filled with promising opportunities and successful journeys every moment of your stay. As an immigrant, I hope one has the will to face the harsh realities of living away from home and learn to survive tough times with guts and cou rage.

M ANY PEOPLE HAVE inspired me to write this book. I wish to express my gratitude to my family in New York City and in the Philippines, my close friends, teachers, classmates, and mentors. I wish to thank my deceased parents for providing me the best education. I owe thanks to my husband, who supported my dream of becoming a writer. My admiration goes to my three daughters, who gave me the courage to share my lifes experiences with p ride.

Special thanks to my sister-in-law Lyanette, who provided me the opportunity to study and live in the USA. Also, I would like to express my big thanks to my former director, Mae, who gave me the self-confidence to become an ESL teacher for the first time in the late 80s, when I was a newcomer in New York City. Further thanks to Loretta, my mentor in ESL, who inspired me to be what I am t oday.

Above all, thanks to our Lord and Mother Teresa, whose words of love and service to others strengthened me to share this inspiring book for the readers, especially immigrants. I want to thank my best friends, Lumen, Linda, Corazon, and Josette, who gave me their love and trust in making this book a rea lity.

Finally, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Xlibris Publishing Company and its staff: Krista, who motivated me to write this book, and Louis and Michael, who have been patient and helpful in publishing this book. I truly appreciate their advice, which helped me complete and submit this pro ject.

PART I
The Late 80s
My Short Memoirs as a Newly Arrived Immigrant

When everything around is new, one has to be ready to take lifes risk, then fear turns to cou rage.

Rosemsarie Parreno

ARRIVAL

I ARRIVED IN the city by plane at 3:00 a.m. from another city. My husbands employer in my country picked me up at the airport. The first time I saw the city was early morning, and it was full of bright lights. That was in August 1986, when we crossed the famous bridge. My eyes wandered at the myriads of lights overlooking the two boroughs until we reached our destination. As the car moved, I thought, Will I survive this big city?

After my summer studies as an exchange teacher-student scholar to study another language at a university for two months, there was a feeling of anxiety and uncertainty about what the future would be for me. I stayed at the basement that morning. As I lay in bed, I recalled my mothers words, my husbands one last look at me, and my three teary-eyed young girls when I left my country. I was blessed because I had a place to stay in the city. The woman who allowed me to live in her house was a religious doctor, who brought me to church daily to attend the Holy Mass. That first month, I had only God to cling to, whatever would happen to me in the succeeding mo nths.

JOB HUNTING AS A TRAINEE

When I completed my summer studies, the university extended my stay abroad by granting me a practical training visa as an ESL teacher. I was so grateful because at least I could apply the language strategies that I learned from my studies. My professor gave me an excellent recommendation because when he requested me to present an ESL method to the professors from other countries, I did it without hesitation. I presented Total Physical Response in Ilonggo, my dialect, with classroom orientation as the theme. This presentation gave me the courage to go to the big city and find a job as an ESL tea cher.