My Filipina Wife

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It is getting close to our third wedding anniversary soon, and the second anniversary of my wife being in Canada. We married in Manila three years ago this month. And it took a year after our marriage for all the paperwork to be issued and Joy's immigrant card to be issued. LilyJoy is the name of this wonderful beautiful lady.

My time in Manila was wonderful. Though it was quite a bit different for me. I was not used to having to go through an armed checkpoint just to get in to the mall. Armed guards on the doors was not really what i was expecting. But they were always polite. That is just the difference between an emerging democracy and an established one, i guess. The Philippines is struggling to get there. We are there already.

But no matter how different it seemed over some things, the people were what i liked the most. The people of the philippines are among the friendliest in the world. Always helpful, always smiling. It's part of why i love my wife sooo much.

My wife works full time here in Edmonton,Alberta and she currently sends every second paycheck home to her family. One goes to our own family expenses and one goes back to the family in the Philippines.

The family is currently living in Baggiuo City and is almost finished building our house there. A lot of the money over the past three years has gone to buying the land and building the house, which her family is living in. Like i said, this is now almost complete.

My wife has also been sending money home to put her younger brothers and sisters through school and University. Education is such a big thing in the Philippines. Every parent strives to the best of their ability to get their children an education. It is a wonderful thing. But i just don't know how they ever end up affording to do it. The cost of a University Education in the Philippines is just as expensive in Canada as it is in the Philippines, and it is hard enough for us to put our own children through a University education in Canada. How in the world do they do it in the Philippines, where the standard of living is so much less than here? One Canadian Dollar is worth approx. 44 Peso's. I can imagine the average wage in the Philippines is maybe around 6000 to 8000 peso's a month? For a ya ya a lot less. How are so many Philipino's so educated? Like i said, its a wonderful thing.

So my wife is currently paying for her brothers and sisters education. One brother is about to get his degree in ingeneering. He is in Manila now for his review. That will take about four months. After he passes his review he will be a certified engineer. Hopefully he can then start working and start helping the rest of his family also on their schooling. I love how everybody works toward helping everybody else in their family to succeed and get ahead.

I joke with my wife sometimes and kid her that the only reason she married me was to help her family. We both laugh.

After the house is built and another sibling graduates from University, we plan on getting the process started to bring her mother here to live with us. Although it is a little differnet here in Canada for sponsering people than it is in the U.S., we can still sponser a parent to come here. My wife wanted to get one of her brothers here first, to give him the best chance here, but when it comes to brothers and sisters, you cannot sponser a sibling who is over 18 years old. Not as a family class sponser. It's a stupid policy if you ask me. But oh well. It is what it is.

The biggest difference for my wife here would have to of been the weather changes here. It was the first time she actually saw snow. It was fun to watch her. But the cold was probably the worst. You can go from 30 degrees celcius here in the summer to -30 degrees in the winter. Even colder with the wind chill. Now that takes getting used to when your used to Manila temperatures, hummm????

I am starting to get used to the nuances of my wife also. That takes a bit of work. She can be quick to get her feeling hurt. Especially over little things that we wouldn't give a second thought to. But like anything else, you live and learn.

I would pass on one little bit of advice to any Filipino's coming to Canada in the future. Don't be afraid to smile at another Filipino here. You will be quite suprised how many Filipino's ignore other Filipino's when they pass by them walking down the street or walking in the mall here. Keep smiling. People will smile back at you when you do.

Anyway, thats the start of my new life with my Filipina wife. It is a joy and a challenge, all in one. But it is so worth it. I love you Joy.

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