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After a while and then you got your first job there for $4 an hour, you said? Yes. Yes. But I was a staff nurse at, at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. Yeah, we were paid like $4 an hour. But remember at this,

00:00:19.620 - 00:00:38.840

at this time the eggs, the, I, I sold, I remember the IO I sold the Morton Salt was one cent. That whole can was one cent, a dozen of eggs was 10 cents. A gallon of milk was like 15 cents. So everything was slow too. And

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our, the apartment that we were in Philadelphia, the apartment that we were leaving, actually, there were four of us staying there. We paid like $50. I remember giving, we were paying like, um, for the whole apartment every, every month, we pay like, um, $50. So it's

00:01:04.800 - 00:01:23.230

very cheap. And, and, um, when I went to New York, the first apartment that I lived in the hospital was subsidizing part of it. They paid for part of the apartment. I think we were paying like 100 and 50 a month for the apartment. So it's

00:01:23.239 - 00:01:47.379

very cheap. So you got married in 74. Yes. I went back to, I, I got married in Philadelphia. Although we were living in New York City already, my husband and I, we're already living because, uh, he was already in, in New York when I went to

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New York. So, but we got back, we went to Philadelphia to get married because most of our friends were there and his parents were there and I didn't have any family here per se. So I said, ok, we'll get married in Philadelphia. So we went to

00:02:03.440 - 00:02:19.320

Philadelphia, but we, we, we just got there to get married. We didn't live there. We still stayed in New York City. And does any of your family from the Philippines? Did they ever visit you or did you go back to visit the Philippines? I have not

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gone back to the Philippines until 1996 26 years later, long time. Um At that time when at the uh the, when you become a permanent resident, once you apply for it, you cannot leave the country until you get your permanent residence. So it took a while

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to get that. So I cannot leave anyway. Uh and then I got married, then I have kids. So I decided to stay put. I was already, I was, yeah, I was already here in Houston when I went back to the Philippines in 1996. How long does

00:03:03.190 - 00:03:32.690

it take to get your permanent residence? Ah, where did I get it? Finally? I applied in 1972. I finally got it around nine, I think 1975 already. I can't remember. But it's, it's around that time, took a while. And, um, actually, because I got married in

00:03:32.699 - 00:03:51.729

1974 I think it, it made it faster because my husband, um, my, my husband became, uh, he was, he was also a permanent resident but because he knew when he knew that if, if he became a citizen and applied, applied for me, it's faster. He became

00:03:51.740 - 00:04:16.959

a United States citizen because of me. And then he would change, change my status as, as um they call it um priority one like uh United States citizen spouse. So my, my papers was hasten. So I got my green card in 1975. Um I don't know

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if you answered this already, but you moved to New York to find a better job or what was the reason to? It's because the, the exchange visitor program expired already. And I have two cousins who lived in New York City and, and at this time I

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was already um seeing my, I was, I already have uh Jimmy as my boyfriend and he was working in New York. That's two reasons. What did your husband do? He was working for um he was a photographer technician. He was working for American Photography Corporation at

00:04:54.940 - 00:05:19.630

that time. So what was your first house like that you had with your husband. We live in an apartment, we never had a house in our own. We live in an apartment. It's, it's a one bedroom apartment subsidized by the hospital. So we lived there, I

00:05:19.640 - 00:05:35.839

guess even we, I, when I, when I first started in New York, I was living with two roommates by myself, like two bedrooms. It's also subsidized but a hospital. But, and, and then when I got married, I moved with my husband to, uh, this time it's

00:05:35.850 - 00:05:55.089

a one bedroom apartment with him until we have our baby. My, my oldest son was born in New York City in 1975. Um, did you find that it was harder to work because you had a baby now at home that need to take care of? Yes,

00:05:55.190 - 00:06:13.890

it was, it was. We didn't want to leave the baby anywhere with babysitters because we don't know a lot of people that would babysit at that time. So what we did like, I work, I work 3 to 11 shift in the evening. My husband work during

00:06:13.899 - 00:06:29.929

the day and then, uh, sometimes, sometimes we would meet in the doorway of the apartment to give the baby and then he comes in and then I go to work and because my, my, my job is just a block away from work. I would come during

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break time for dinner and I went to visit the baby and my husband. So that's how we, we tried to raise our kid, uh, in New York City they give you an hour for, for lunch. I, that's when I came to Houston, they give you 30

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minutes for lunch. So I said, oh, there's a difference. I would not have been able to do that, come home and visit if I had 30 minutes. But they gave us an hour and I live so close to the hospital. So you lived in New York

00:07:08.609 - 00:07:30.720

until, um, you said that melody and pet Vers salad convinced you to move to Houston. No, no melody and be, no, they were here already. I met them here. I, they, they didn't convince me. It was, I have a friend who, um, my roommate, Larry Fonda,

00:07:32.250 - 00:07:50.390

she, she was my roommate in Philadelphia. We came as exchange visitors together and then we moved to New York together also. She was my roommate and then she got married also. She got married, uh, before me and just six months before me, she got married. So

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we, we were very close and then, um, they moved to Houston in 1976. And at that time after, after a while, you know, when you have kids, everybody was saying you cannot raise kids here in New York City. It's too much. So, some people were, some

00:08:11.230 - 00:08:25.799

of our friends live in the suburbs of New York or New Jersey. And then they come, come and commute to New York City to work and some people were already leaving New York City. And then, um there was a time that New York City was going

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bankrupt and, and everybody was getting out of New York. My husband actually was laid off from work in 1976. And um the company closed, his company, American photograph has been there for like 34 years in that city closed down. So a lot of people were leaving

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and my friend, lady and her husband Don went to Houston and uh they were saying instead of my husband and I bought a property in Florida, we were gonna go to Florida and then that if and her husband convinced us to go to Houston instead. So

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we moved to Houston in 1978. Um I have a six month old baby at that time, Ellen, my second baby was born in New York in 1977. So I cannot, I was pregnant at that time. So I was telling my friend that I should have the

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baby in New York first before I move because um it's, it's more convenient. Plus the, the the doctor that I was with is in New York City. So I had a baby and after six months, we moved to Houston. Did you have any expectations about Houston?

00:09:48.299 - 00:10:06.169

Um I had a, I, I went to visit here with, with, with, with Rex, my oldest son, we came here and to visit before we moved just me, my husband did not even come with me. It was just me and the baby. Um, it was different

00:10:06.179 - 00:10:29.559

and I said, but I like it because it's like a country living versus New York City. And then, um, and my, my friend already bought a house and in New York City it's too expensive to even buy your house. And then, um, the, the also in,

00:10:29.570 - 00:10:42.960

in New York, when you buy a house, at that time, they ask you for a lot of deposit, like 25% or something like that. Here, I found out when we moved here, you just put a 5% down, you can buy a house. So I said, oh,

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that's, that's, that's good. So, um, we decided to move because of that, that it's looks like a place that you could raise a family and it's more a country versus city. Um, Houston was even, was Houston as big then as it is, it is the fourth

00:11:07.559 - 00:11:26.799

largest city. But at the time, he said it seemed like being in the country, the population was less and there was less. I remember when, when the first time I went to hospital where that's my first job. There was only like maybe less than maybe about

00:11:26.809 - 00:11:52.179

10 Filipino nurses working in Herman. There's like hundreds of them now there. So even in, um, there's a lot of people still coming to Houston but the, the, the population I think is less than now and the city was growing. But I remember that when, um,

00:11:53.320 - 00:12:07.960

at night the everything is dead. I mean, you know, I came from New York City where there's a lot of nightlife. My friends who are, who are single, they said when they have to go to a club or something, they have to go to Dallas. They

00:12:07.969 - 00:12:28.039

didn't, they didn't have places here that opens later on, I think was the first, the first restaurant that opens until two o'clock in the morning. Everything closes early here before. So there was no place to hang out at night. How did you, how did you find

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the diversity, um, ethnically in Houston in Houston? Compared to New York City. It was not as diverse as New York. But then pretty soon I see people coming in different from different countries from different, but I'm used to, to diverse population because New York has, it's

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like cosmopolitan. It's like everybody from everywhere are in New York City. So, and um to people here, to me, people, I, you could see somebody in New York just eating ice cream on the streets or eating fruit. Like anywhere here, it's like every, everybody was more

00:13:12.650 - 00:13:37.390

formal was more, um, you cannot see those kinds of behaviors just on the streets itself until lately. Um The other thing that's different here, there's no public transportation. I remember you have to, to, to from the apartments where we used to live on Hillcroft Avenue took

00:13:37.400 - 00:13:56.859

about an hour. And the first house that we bought is like a half a mile away from a school from a bus station where on Hill in South Maine. So I have to literally from the bus stop to my house. Unless somebody is driving, I have

00:13:56.869 - 00:14:17.809

to literally walk that to my house. There was no transportation. Uh in New York there's bus every two minutes, there's the subway, there's, there's buses, public buses here, there is not, there's more buses now before it was very scarce. You almost, that's when I decided to

00:14:17.820 - 00:14:38.380

drive. I never drove in New York because parking itself is expensive. And um but here you almost have to, you have to drive because you cannot get anywhere without the car. It's like more of a necessity here in New York. It's not really necessary to have

00:14:38.390 - 00:15:05.109

your own private transportation. But here it, it, it is. Um you're saying how people seem more formal here. Did you notice any other differences in attitude or um perception between New York and here um The, the people in the, the, the people in New York are

00:15:05.119 - 00:15:24.130

more, are more vulgar or they, they scream at each other anywhere even in the hospital. I remember when I first started in the hospital in New York and one of the nurses aides would scream, get this thing. I said, oh my God. So I was like

00:15:24.140 - 00:15:45.960

calm down, just slow down here. People are more cautious, more polite. And, uh, that's even in, in the hospital, that's what I noticed. But people are, and on the other hand, people are more friendly in New York too. They talk to you everywhere here. Um, people

00:15:45.969 - 00:16:09.460

will, doesn't, are not as open to, to, um, but later on that changed and people are more open and talking to the people on the streets. Now, when we first moved here it looks like people would just stare at you and, and not really converse unless

00:16:09.469 - 00:16:31.320

you start the conversation. Um Diversity. I think it changed through the years. But at the beginning, there was not a lot of different people here. So can you describe how you got your first job in Houston? Uh I have friends already that work in her. So

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I just interviewed um and I guess that I put them as references.