MY STORY
I was born and raised in a country in Southeast Asia that has an abundance of islands (7,641 in total) with delicious foods and wonderful beaches called the Philippines. The weather in the Philippines is tropical with typhoon season happening by the end of the year, typically around August. I lived there for 12 years with my mother, father, and younger sibling. Typically, my routine will scramble around waking up early for school, dressing up in my uniform, getting picked up by a tricycle (you could compare that more of transportation to a school bus),
I immigrated to the United States back in August 2012, at the age of 11, with my father and younger sibling. We used to live in my grandparents' living room which was quite a small space (about 12x6 ft) for about 5 years. My mom couldn't immigrate until 4 years later due to immigration and petitioning rules. It wasn't easy living without her and only seeing her through Skype but we pushed through it and she came here to celebrate all of our accomplishments. One of my proudest moments is when I graduated high school in June 2020. My family was so happy!
In May of 2022, I got married to my husband in our hometown back in Yakima, Washington. The venue was a beautiful garden with many of our close families and relatives coming together and celebrating our special day. We had foods such as lechon (suckling pig), pancit (Filipino noodles), sushi, 아귀찜 (agujjim - spicy braised monkfish), 갈비 (galbi - Korean short ribs), and much more! After I finished my finals, we went straight to Hawai'i and celebrated our honeymoon.
In August 2022, I transferred to Washington State University - Pullman after two years of studying music and English education at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. I moved in with my husband who is completing his Ph.D. in Mathematics while I move forward with my undergraduate research at WSU's McNair Scholars program. Life in Pullman has been wonderful for us with our small chihuahua mix dog named Uni. We enjoy learning about cooking, baking, and never forgetting to play video games together!
