My family moved from Manila, Philippines to New Jersey right after my high school graduation in 2006. It was a pretty abrupt move, where we had to pack and sell most of our belongings in two months.

‍

Needless to say, it was pretty hectic and rough since it seemingly came out of nowhere, but we survived. I remember my dad telling me to read the book, "Who Moved My Cheese?", and it helped me out a lot in learning to adjust and in dealing with adversity. I was a very angsty teenager back then, and all I wanted was to just hang out with my friends back home.

‍

A year later we moved to NYC, and that’s when I started to feel like I could belong here. It felt like Manila, and it helped that there was a vibrant Filipino community in Queens as well.