TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: When I First Arrived in California

Friday, July 18, 2014

When I First Arrived in California

Dear Readers, I'm winding down my Philippine visit and remembering the very first trip I made to California.

I arrived America on March 16, 1969. I had two suitcases with me, the sum total of what I thought would be essential to my life as a student at UCLA. What did I bring? I had some suits and nice dresses that my mother had sewn for me. Did I wear those to my classes at UCLA? How out-of-place I must have looked! And shoes - I know I must have brought a number of high heels with me. And flannel nightgowns - I'm sure my mother had some made for me as well - the long-sleeved, long ones, for winter.

And what did I think? I recall the sense of adventure, that devil-may-care attitude as I went about experiencing life in America. I remember being homesick only when I was physically sick, and hankered for chicken-rice soup (pospas). I tried to cook this once, and it was a disaster, chicken undercooked, the whole thing a mess.

I recall the first brushes with racism, and always from older white women. Never the men, because the older men always had good things to say about the Philippines and Filipinos as they recalled World War II days; and the young men were always flirting.

I remember my first Easter in the US, which was spent at UCLA's International House. There was an afternoon meal served to the students by dutiful volunteers, all of whom felt sorry for us because we had no families in America. We students didn't care at all since we didn't know a thing about American holidays.

I remember being overwhelmed by UCLA since I was used to small Catholic colleges. I couldn't get over the huge classes and the anonymity and the impersonal treatment of the professors.

I recall the kindness of so many people.

In balance, America has been very, very generous to me!

Tags: immigrant, women, writer, Cecilia Brainard

This is all for now,
Cecilia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.