Some light years away, in our discussion with fellow Pinays, we came
out with three most asked questions when we were talking with
Germans. We agreed on the three most asked questions:
1. How did you come to Germany?
2. What are you doing here?
3. When do you go home to your country?
The piece of paper with the written question was
from a recent inter-cultural dialogue I had with
some young German professionals.I found it quite
amusing to know that it has not changed. Maybe it
was a pure interest on the part of the participant why
a Pinay would choose to leave her country and live in
Alemanya where she has to learn new language, adapt to
the "German standard" of living and experience some not
pleasant encounters with the natives. From this simple
inquiry on how I came to Germany, our discussion went
around on the topics of feminization of migration,
OFWs,"Heiratsmigrantinnen" and just on anything about
diaspora.
This week, I got an email with an info on a recent talkshow
in German tv featuring a German man in his search
for the partner of his life. He went to Cebu and
met young Pinays hopefuls of coming to Germany through
marriage. I don't know how other Pinays reacted when
they saw the video clip but I thought it was both
"nakakahiya", shameful for both parties. Desperate men
and women looking for ways to be happy.
When I found this piece of paper again after watching
the video clip, I thought that it would be
interesting to meet up again with my Pinay friends
and talk especially to the newly arrived Pinays and ask
them how do they find their stay or living in Germany.
How could I start with the most asked question:
"How did you get to Germany?"
