Redondo Beach

I am familiar with a lot of immigrant woes living in a foreign land. I am lucky that I have my husband and children with me in Los Angeles. My 2 children were born here in the United States. Some people here haven’t seen their families for decades now. Whenever I want to unwind, I hit the beach to chill. Southern California is blessed with great beaches like Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Laguna Beach, etc. The city of Redondo has the Redondo Beach Seaside Lagoon for toddlers and children. Overlooking the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the left, Redondo is home to beachfront properties and nice ambiance. It is a good place to think about where my life is headed and what I want for my life and my family. I usually look at the happy faces of the beachgoers and commune with God as I look at the sky, thanking Him for all the blessings that have come my way, most especially for our health. Some immigrants here have a hard time coping up and I went through that in my first years here living alone away from my family and all that I’ve gotten used to. But over time, I have learned to love the beautiful city of angels.

I am grateful that I have surrounded myself with friends who care about my well-being. Friends who also were migrants like me. I have a family friend whom I met here, they are a deeply religious family and always visits me and are there for me when I need some help. I also have a friend who is a devout mom to her kids and takes care of other children as well. and also does catering on the side. She is a stay-at-home mom who lives day to day attending to her children & other children’s well-being. These people are the ones I try to emulate because they are God-centered and focused on their family. It is hard enough to raise children in a foreign land but if you’re deeply anchored with God and run with the right crowd, then you are off to a good start. Your depression and homesickness will be eased by people like them who knows their priorities and willing to sacrifice & improvise to keep the family together. Life in a foreign land is simply hard if you have little network of friends but if you have the right support group, then you are bound to succeed. However, I consider myself a native Angeleno now since I’ve been here for almost a decade now so I’ve learned to embrace the changes that have come my way.
 
Since becoming a mom to 2 boys and being stuck here for 7 years now, I became a fan of cooking shows in Food Network. Rachel Ray’s European travels and eating on a budget and Giada de Laurentiis has showed me that I too, can cook. But I’ve never tried elaborate dishes. LA is a melting pot of cultures and most ethnic dishes are represented here because LA has Thai Town, Filipinotown, Armenian Town, Little Tokyo and the always there wherever you go, Chinatown.

They say you can take the Pinoy out of Manila but you can’t take Manila out of the Pinoy, food preference included. So my friends who cater always make it a point to send me their best dishes. Just yesterday, my friend sent over some crispy pata, lumpiang shanhai and embutido and arrozcaldo.

There’s just so many things to love here in Southern California, most especially in Los Angeles aside from the Mediterranean weather. Next, I will blog about places to go to when you are in the area.

For almost a decade now, since I don’t have TFC, I’ve always relied on the net for chika about the Philippines. Sites that i usually check out are PEP(www.pep.ph), Celebrity Gabfest(Girltalk) Celebrity Blind Items of Female Network for the blind items, and the online version of Philippine Daily Inquirer, Philippine Star & People’s Journal because I also love reading Pete Ampoloquio’s blind items. I wanted to get my daily dose of news & entertainment even if I’m thousands of miles away from Manila. Here in the US, when I want to check out Hollywood news, I visit perezhilton.com & justjared.com. I must say that even when perezhilton wasn’t THE perezhilton yet, I was one of the few who was already an avid reader of his blog when all it contained before was him lashing out about Tom Cruise being gay then he published the very first Brangelina photos & since then, his blog exploded and chaos ensued. He’s now one of the most sought-after celebrity commentators/expert when before he was in awe himself when Hollywood stars give him the time of day, grateful that they chatted w/ him either on a set or an event.

Just now, I’m reading about this blog from GirlTalk about Jenni Epperson then I was led to her multiply site http://mabuhaygirl.multiply.com and I must say, I don’t know Jenni personally but from my one meeting with her for the promo of my CD before i left Manila, she was very professional and very nice. Jenni actually reminds me of my friend Ria who’s taking her doctorate now in Chemistry in Utah coz they look a bit alike.

The thing is, I get truly upset when I read blind items or news about people that I know. Like let’s say Jed Madela being accused gay. He was my bandmate before and he wasn’t famous yet but he really has an amazing voice. We were all just struggling artists but I left the band bec. I was busy w/ college & I wanted to graduate, my band rehearsal schedule was conflicting w/ my time in university. So anyway, Jed was a precious family member of his relatives in Manila because as far as I remember, he’s from Iloilo. So when we rehearse, he’s always accompanied by some of his family members on the rehearsal studio. Being Ilonggo myself, I am familiar with the Ilonggo attitude of being “malambing”.

Then when I read about the success of Yam Laranas’ movie “The Echo” I am so proud of him. I wanted Direk Yam to direct my first ever music video for my record label because my husband and I loved the visuals we saw on Joyce Jimenez’s “Balahibong Pusa” that I personally requested Boss Vincent of Viva to let Yam direct my music video & he agreed. But since I got stuck here in the US, I guess my dreams will just remain dreams for now. But who knows what the future holds.