whether my trip to the US did me good is something that i still have to ask my family and friends. if you're a typical filipino, you would always yearn to go to the States. it represents something far-fetched, a dream, a world of opportunity, a "pot of gold" at the end of the rainbow. no typical filipino can be faulted for aspiring to go there at least once. some for vacation, perhaps, but mostly for work and the chance to earn dollars. i am not most so i went there for a vacation. still, i couldn't help but think of the vast opportunities that awaited my fate. once you're there, you cannot help but be lured by the lifestyle of the filipino nurses earning as much as $60 per hour for a 12-hour workday. some would even extend up to 16 hours a day! which does not leave pretty much time for leisure but in return you get your own house and car...and more! the disparity is indeed glaring. for an 8-hour workshift in philippine hospitals, you only get paid around Php 400-500 a day or roughly $9-10! if you further break it down into pesos per hour it's somewhere aroung Php60-70 per hour or a measly $1 point-something dollar per hour! see the discrepancy? so, economically, it's really a viable place to work your butt off in the US. same time, same effort, loads of cash!

but, as the saying goes, you win some, you lose some. the stakes are high, though, in exchange for the good life. you are uprooted from everything you have called home for half of your life. you will have to start everything anew from looking for a place to stay, meeting new friends, and trying to survive in a place where you are sometimes looked upon as an "intruder." can't blame them. you are an alien in their own country yet you earn more and gets hold of the higher position. it also doesn't help that you are just around 5 feet tall and has brown skin.

i returned home with dreams of working in the States one day. perhaps as a teacher. who knows? but after a month and a half of vacation, i just couldn't help but look forward to going home. i am glad i went there and saw how things work and go. i am glad i met my long-lost friends. i am glad i got to see different sights and been to places i've never imagined i could be in! it was fun. but it's just not home.