Aunt Nerizza phoned yesterday to share the good news. She’s been applying for a teaching job in the US and after a couple of months of communicating with her sister, Aunt Leticia who is also a teacher for special children in San Diego, CA, she finally got a job in a small learning center in Houston. My mother turned on her cellphone’s loudspeaker so we can all listen to her story. There was no doubt on how happy and excited she was. Just  two years ago, she went to Taiwan to teach grade school students but went home shortly after three months because the employer, unfortunately, wasn’t paying her wages right. As far as I know, her salary should be 500 dollars as per contract, but she only got 200 dollars or so. To cut the story short, she went home peniless and depressed. But now, she’s once again full of hopes and dreams. In fact, she already has a lot of plans.

First, Aunt Leticia told her that she needs to learn how to drive. Since, driving lessons are too expensive in the US, she will have to enroll in a driving class here in Manila. Apparently, there are no jeepneys and tricycles in Houston and getting a cab everyday to get to work would be very expensive. She needs a car but Aunt Leticia promised that she’ll take care of it. Second, she needs to find a nice place where she could stay, not necessarily luxury apartments in Houston but just somewhere safe and comfortable. She’ll be all by herself the moment she arrives in Houston because Aunt Leticia won’t be there to assist. But finding Houston apartments wouldn’t be that hard. There are  websites in the internet that can help, such as houstonapartmentlocator.org. Third, she needs to spend a lot of time with her son, Hans Christian. Two years without vacation leave is too long, the four year old boy would surely miss his mother.

During Aunt Nerizza’s call, we sensed that she’s not 100% happy with the opportunity. She had emphasized over and over again that if only Hans’s father didn’t passed away too soon, she wouldn’t even think of working abroad. Mothers, you know, they always think about their child/children’s future. She has a lot dreams, she wants her son to study college in America someday, Harvard if possible As of this writing, she still has one month to bond with her son and watch her favorite television programs such as CNN and National Geographic.