Filipina Immigrant

Homesickness can be a Major Problem

Though not the road my wife and I took, many Foreigner – Filipina couples choose to live in the home country of the foreign partner. For those Filipino immigrants settling in a new land, I have always assumed that there must be some difficult challenges they face. Yuri, a contributor here on this blog site is one of those who with her husband has become a Filipina immigrant in the U.S. and recently she made a video explaining how one of the biggest problems she has faced is Homesickness.

I myself, as alluded to in a previous article, have faced some small degree of homesickness since moving here to the Philippines from Canada. Most of the things that I have missed though revolved around amenities such as longings for western food, modern shopping and decent health care, however a big one was also that I missed being around people of my own culture that could understand my way of thinking. I found the solution to most of that through a move to Dumaguete City and since then have very rarely yearned for a return to Canada. One thing that has never enterred into the equation is missing family. Like many families in today’s western society, mine was never particularly close and honestly whatever family I have that is still alive I don’t particularly like or get along with. I had not seen any of them for years so it is no real change now that I live in the Philippines.

For the Filipina immigrants living in a foreign land, I assume they miss the same things I did, but added in is the huge issue of missing family. As all of us who are in a relationship with a Filipina know, family is hugely important to them. Their families are huge and very, very close and a move halfway across the globe to a foreign land without their family close by to lean on and support them, has to be extremely difficult.

In her video, Yuri tells us some of the ways she deals with homesickness as a Filipina immigrant in the U.S. Not surprisingly, one of her main methods of dealing with it is cooking her favorite traditional dishes, and the other is through shopping which I am sure reminds her to appreciate the financial benefits of living in the U.S. and the freedom it brings.The other main point she mentions is that her American partner is extremely supportive. I believe this last one is key to a succesful integration for her into western society and should be remembered by all you foreign guys planning on bringing your partner back to your own country as a Filipina immigrant.

For more from Yuri check out her efilipino Youtube channel, Facebook page or Website