The more I read and think over this story the more I am certain that it must be treated like a dream. A fantasy. A fairytale. Not that it's all fiction but it has been fictionalised. This lady's story is the exact scenario that no doubt has played out in so many Filipino minds. Let's take a look at "Coming to America."
“Come and visit me before going back home,” Tita Nene said over the phone. I was at the time enjoying my first major travel on a three-month spring vacation to Switzerland in the early 1990s, and Tita Nene, a childhood friend of my mother, would keep in touch with me by letter and phone calls. She was based in West Virginia.
“Come and visit me,” Tita Nene insisted. I demurred and came up with an excuse, but she countered, “Have you inquired yet at the United States Consulate?” We left it at that.
After several weeks and a couple more phone calls, I finally caved. Five days before my Swiss visa was about to expire and I was due to return to the Philippines, I headed to the United States Consulate in Zurich with just my Philippine passport. To my surprise the U.S. consular officer simply gave me a once over and prompted me to apply on the spot. A few hours later I was a proud US visa holder!
Now, in my late 20s, I was on to my next adventure… America!
Our story begins with a late 20-something single woman named Maria who is on her first ever major trip abroad, a three month vacation to Switzerland. The time is the early 90's. What a beautiful era to be alive. Grunge rock ruled the radio, the Clintons were on the ascent, and the internet was just beginning to make its way into people's homes. More importantly 9/11 had not yet happened which means security was lax. So lax that what is now a months long process took her only a matter of hours. With only five days left in her vacation Maria, the lucky lady, applies for and receives a US visa on the same day. Now she can be off to the exciting land of America to visit her Tita in West Virginia.
Tita Nene met me when I landed in New York. After a few days in her lovely home in rural West Virginia, she suggested we go sightseeing along the East Coast where she said she had many relatives we could stay with. Our first stop was Washington, DC. It was a hot and muggy summer day. There were throngs of tourists at the US Capitol. After a tour, I was overwhelmed. As I gazed at the Mall, I decided, for reasons that I can still not quite explain, that I had arrived at my destination and that I was staying put.
Our quirky heroine then boards the first plane for New York City to meet her Tita. Oh Maria! How were you to know that New York is hundreds of miles away from the mountains of West Virginia and that you should have taken a plane to Dulles in D.C.?
After picking up Maria, Tita Nene suggests they go sightseeing up and down the East Coast. Naturally the first place this lovable pair starts is hundreds of miles south in D.C. and not in New York where Maria landed. They take a tour of the US Capitol building. The sight of the wide shiny marble hallways of the US Capitol, whose walls are plastered with storied symbols of America's life-long fight for freedom and independence, must have been overwhelming for Maria who begins to feel dizzy from soaking in the aura of liberty which permeates the nexus of the world's most powerful nation. As she gazes out at the Mall, the long strip of grass leading from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial, the world starts spinning.
A little voice inside her head says: "Don't look back, you can never look back." She thought she knew what life was but what did she know? She can never go back to the Philippines. Those days are gone forever. Maria is in the USA and in the USA she will stay.
Tita Nene supported my decision. Staying with her relatives in Maryland, my immediate concern became finding a job. I assessed my skills, interests and weaknesses before job hunting. I knew I was a people person and a talker. I was counting on my personality and work ethics. After knocking on a few doors, I found a day job at a quaint gift shop in downtown DC. Once my shift ended at 5 p.m., I would dash six blocks to an evening telemarketing job for the Washington Performing Arts Society. Both jobs were in downtown DC and my hosts lived in the outer suburbs. I usually got home by midnight and would get up at 6 a.m. to hitch a ride with my hosts.
Maria confides in Tita Nene pouring out her heart and Tita vows to give her all the assistance she can. Tita's relatives allow Maria to stay with them and now the next concern is getting a job.
Q: How was Maria able to convert her tourist visa to a working visa before she had any offer of employment?
A: Who cares! It does not matter. This is all a part of the fantasy.
Brave little Maria, with fire in her belly as she will say later, performs a self-assemsent of all her qualifications. She is a people person and a talker with a pleasing personality and good work ethics. Of course someone will give her a job. They would be foolish not to! Sure enough she gets not one but two jobs which gives her an opportunity to quickly earn a lot of money but only enough time to sleep 6 hours every night. No rest for the determined.
After a month, it was time to find my own place. I did not want to overstay my welcome and I had a desire to be in the city. My income was just enough for subletting a room. For a while I bounced from one roommate to the next. At times, I was a few hours from being homeless. But I stayed focused, trusted my instincts and rolled with the punches.
Besides the income, my first two jobs allowed me to meet people who became my friends. I worked diligently, was always punctual and never missed a day of work. However, since I had fire in my belly, I wanted something more challenging and with security.
A month goes by and now it is time for Maria to leave the nest. Thankfully her two jobs have given her enough money to sublet a room downtown.
Q: Hold on! Rent is not cheap in D.C. so how was Maria able to save up enough money in only a month to afford a room downtown?
A: Remember this is part of the fantasy. She is spunky and has a little cash. The spunk is all that matters though.
Maria bounces from room to room staying focused and rolling with the punches. But like all new comers to America she wants more. She wants the world. Or a better paying job at least.
I finally got my lucky break when I got my first real job – a full-time salaried employee with benefits – as a classifieds account executive with a weekly legal trade publication. During the interview process, I was honest, bold and genuine. When asked to give a ballpark of the kind of salary I was expecting, I replied, “What does ballpark mean?” as I had never heard that expression before. I was not sure I did well because the publisher made a comment during the interview about my foreign accent. Imagine my reaction when I got word to report the following week! This good news could not have come at a better time: I was in dire straits, having just signed a contract for my first own apartment without being sure how to pay my second month’s rent!
Finally after rolling with the punches for so long Maria gets a lucky break and gives the hard knock life an uppercut goodbye when she lands a salaried position as a classifieds account executive.
Q: Whoa, whoa, whoa! What qualifications did Maria have to be able to land a job as an account executive? So far we have not heard word about her college education or any sort of job experience except as a clerk at a gift shop and as a telemarketer. She assessed her skills as being a people person and a talker. How did she get this job?
A: Once again it is all part of the fantasy. But do pay attention to the little detail she mentions about someone making a comment about her foreign accent. Do you think naive little Maria, who has no idea what "ballpark" means, has any notion of what affirmative action is?
This job comes at exactly the right time as she has just signed a contract for her very own expensive apartment in D.C. and now she can pay the rent. Hopefully the place is pre-furnished. Can you say deus ex machina?
After a few months on the job, my boss disclosed to me during my first evaluation that he and management had not expected me to last through my first month. I had surprised them with the significant revenue I had generated for the company in such a short time.
This became my hallmark in my career as a publishing advertising account executive. For this I thank my primary education under the Benedictine nuns who taught us to use one’s talents and not to waste time, accountability in other words. This was reinforced by my parents as well. I was conscious to make a good impression based on my Filipino heritage – to be professional and pleasant, reliable and trustworthy.
Oh Maria you plucky little underdog with fire in your belly and a pleasing personality, you have out smarted them all! Her bosses did not expect Maria to last the first month but she surprised them all by generating a significant amount of revenue in such a short time. Oh the wonders a Filipina with a pleasing personality, good work ethics, and a laser focus can achieve! Watch out world!
Q: If they didn't expect her to last then why did they hire her?
A: Did you miss the part in the last answer about affirmative action?
How did she do it? She didn't do it. Not alone anyway. With her in spirit were the Benedictine nuns and her parents via the teachings they instilled during her youth. With a little bit of grit and luck and a whole lot of Pinoy Pride Maria overcame the odds stacked against her and found success in America.
And you can too!
What a beautiful story. What a beautiful, lovely, fantastic story. Literally it is fantastic. Maria leaves out so many crucial details (how did she get a work visa, how was she able to afford a room in D.C., how was she able to rent an apartment without a means to pay the rent) that her story is completely unreal.
What is the point of this story and why did the Inquirer publish it? Maria San Jose has no other writing credits for the Inquirer. Her name is so common that it is impossible to search for her online. Does this lady even exist? Obviously Maria cannot give a detailed exposition of her early life in America in such a short space but she should have provided a little more detail about her visa situation.
I think the point of this story is entirely the fantasy. It's not just a Filipino fantasy either. This is the dream of all who come to America. That they can get by and succeed with good old fashioned hard work and gumption. It's not exactly untrue but it's not exactly true either and to lure people to America with a story like this where the lady arrived on a tourist visa but ended up becoming a resident? citizen? she does not divulge her status, is an awfully deceitful thing to do. You simply cannot travel to the USA on a tourist visa and expect to convert it to a work visa just because you are resolved to never return to the Philippines.
The way Maria ends her story is a real head scratcher.
I was conscious to make a good impression based on my Filipino heritage – to be professional and pleasant, reliable and trustworthy.
If Maria's Filipino heritage makes her professional, pleasant, reliable, and trustworthy then why is the Philippines filled with so many unprofessional, obscene, and dishonest people especially in the government? How is it that one's Filipino heritage is an asset abroad and a liability at home? This is a central point of her story. The values instilled by her country are what she claims pushed and enabled her to succeed in the world. Well then why is the Philippines at the bottom in so many categories What is the source of all the corruption in the Philippines if Filipino values are able to make one successful and ethical? Why don't Filipino values work in the actual Philippines?
This story is a pile of garbage and does nothing put implant false ideas and dreams in people's heads.
