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Editor’s note: This is the first of a series on Filipinos carving a home abroad.
Newly married Kat Zuno moved from Manila to Singapore in February this year to follow her husband Reden, who has been working in the Lion City for less than a year.
Battling homesickness every day, Kat still managed to adjust seamlessly into married life.
During the four months she spent job hunting, the obsessive-compulsive housekeeper in Kat played the doting wife to the hilt, doing the ironing even as she detests the chore.
“I don’t want people to think na walang nag-aalaga kay Reden pag nakitang gusut-gusot ang damit niya,” she says.
Kat would cook adobo, sinigang, tinola, and ginataang manok for her husband. “Madali namang makakuha ng ingredients dito for Filipino dishes,” she says. Silver Swan or Datu Puti soy sauce or vinegar are easily available at Lucky Plaza.
Now that she’s working (Kat is an editorial assistant for a magazine in Singapore), the couple gets to taste homecooked meals only during the weekends.
“Home” is a small bedroom rented out by a Pinay in Geylang. Two other rooms are occupied by other OFWs. Their building is in one of the “hottest” streets in Singapore’s red-light district, Kat tells us.
“There are a couple of brothels along our street, and the prostitutes and their pimps do not even wait for the sun to set before going about their business!” she exclaims. “Tuluy-tuloy ang hada: madaling araw, umaga, tanghali, hapon, gabi.
“The area reminds us so much of Manila: May mga basurang di nakokolekta, madumi ang bangketa, madumi ang kanal. Matraffic pag gabi at madaming tao.”
Playhouse
Setting up a home was easy because the apartment came fully furnished. They only had to buy the appliances.
“One of the first things Reden acquired when he arrived was an electric kettle. He also bought a laptop to keep in touch with the family back home. When I came to Singapore, that’s when we bought a toaster oven and a small desk fan,” Kat recalls.
Some Ikea photo frames taped to the side of a cabinet add a personal touch to their little space.
The Daily Grind
“A typical workday for me starts at 7 a.m.,” Kat says. Breakfast is usually Spam, egg, and bread, or something heavier like fried rice and corned beef. She is usually at the office by 9:30.
At work, Kat’s daily chores involve sending out magazines, research, writing an advertorial, and searching for photos on Getty Images.
“I may have lunch with the editorial team at the hawker centers. Sometimes I bring baon.”
Workday ends at 6:30, and then Kat takes the train from Bradell to City Hall, where she sometimes meets Reden for dinner.
It’s a different life she lives now, Kat says, although she is quick to add that she is still the same person she was back home.
“I’m still me. But I’m trying to break out of my shell. I’m in that stage where I’m unsure of who and what I can become here, of who I am and how to fit in. Little by little I am trying to learn how to be Pinoy in a foreign land, how to keep my self in a different country,” she reveals.
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All Things Brown and Beautiful
[...] Newly married Kat Zuno moved from Manila to Singapore in February this year to follow her husband Reden, who has been working in the Lion City for less than a year. Battling homesickness every day, Kat still managed to adjust seamlessly … …more [...]
My partner and I can definitely relate. Apparently, we have moved twice within 6 months of our stay and house hunting is just one of the worse things u can encounter as a foreigner.
You have to view places, listen and try to comprehend at least 5 words from uncle agents’ mouths, walk under the hot steaming sun for hours, etc…
Haay so hard. Good luck to you. :p
I really am very disappointed with pinay prostitutes going to singapore.
marami tuloy matitinong pilipina ang nadadamay na pumupunta ng singapore para magtrabaho ng matino.
sana lang wag na kayo magkalat pa dito sa singapore, yung mga prostitutes diyan, mahiya naman kayo sa sarili ninyo.
you look ugly and old. I myself are one of the people who am anti pinay prostitutes.
sana lang magawan ng singapore gov’t na masala kung sino ang deserving mkapasok at hindi.
nakakasirang tingin sa ating mga pinoy ang ganitong trabaho ninyo.
To: anti pinay prostitute in SG
I am sad by how much selfish people like you can become. While it is true that prostitution is not something I am okay with, I do not judge people just because they use their vaginas as merchandise.
You know, you must have hailed from a well off family or a can-afford-pamilya, that’s why you can say these things easily.
Did you ask yourself questions like: gusto kaya nila mag puta?
I really doubt that they like that job but you see Philippines is an impoverished country..malay natin..yang puta na ina aliputsa mo..may nanay na may cancer and she has to earn big and fast for the chemo? diba?
Or kaya, may pina paaral…u know..kahit Jesuit school na pari ang nagpapatakbo…hindi o mahirap mo nga mapakiusapan for the delay or deferment of payment ng tution…
So u see…the way you detest things as you look at it may be wrong…
did you give this ( your comment) a second thought, anti pinay prostitute in SG?
good luck to you…swete ka lang kasi..
Thank you
Worst case is…what if the Singapore gov’t will have a filtering system…and ikaw o ang friend mo and napagkamalan at na deny? O? see? u were not kasi thinking eh..
about this anti pinay prostitute sg forum… well, we do have our own views with regards to this matter. i myself know some filipino prostitutes here in singapore and i have nothing much against them. those people i know are really desperate to earn a living, and considered mga palaos na prosti na because of their age. disappointed lang ako don sa mga prostitutes na alam kong may tinapos, those who are working sa mga pubs especially sa tanjong pagar. i understand na may mga taong kailangan lang tlga gawin un, or hawak na sa patalim but believe it or not most of them are doing it because its an easy money. i know so many of them na degree holder, because of my friends na nagpupunta din don na d ko maintindihan na pati sa singapore filipino prostitutes padin ang hanap when they can try other nationalities for fun. its very odd when someone professional can go to those places when they can have a better one for fun na di na din nila kailangan gastusan. and for guys na pinoy, dont you think its shameful na makita kayo na nandon.
i dont know how actually the business works all i know is they have to earn a certain points from the drinks na bibilhin sa knila ng customers. according to my friends na nagpupunta don the moment u stepped inside lalapitan kna agad and believe it or not sila pa ung nanghahawak ng maseselan na parts ng mga customers nila. and pag may itsura kapa, yayayain ka nila sa labas to do something more and its for free. partly, nakakadegrade and nakakdisappoint na madaming pinoy dito sa singapore na gumagawa ng ganon. if youre doing it for a reason na mabigat, i pity you that u have to do such dirty job i know na mahirap ang buhay. to those naman na tamad lang talga mag trabaho kaya un ung ginawang hanapbuhay, mahiya nman kayo sa nagpaaral sa inyo and sa magigin anak nyo.
just a question for all you guys???
would you have a girlfriend na nagtratrabaho sa pub!!!???
wow beutiful houze………….
yup in singapore in lucky plaza