I am from chicken adobo for dinner and staying up with heavy eyelids while I listen to my Lola’s stories and my Lolo adding his additions in song. I am from realizing that not everyone shared the same experience of having older Asian women bend down to squeeze my cheeks telling me how cute and chubby I am while surrounded by ube rice cakes and hopia in the Asian market.
I want to explore the terrain of carrying two cultures within one self, learning how to balance being culturally Filipina and white.