Editor’s note: This is part of our continuing series, appearing Tuesdays, on Filipinos settling abroad. If you’re a Pinoy expat (or have lived overseas), we’d love to hear where the diaspora has led you. E-mail us at editorial@pinoycentric.com.

Filipina expat Anabelle Co-Martinent certainly isn’t a desperate housewife in Malaysia, which she and her French husband Jerome have called home for less than a year.

Aside from brushing up on her French and dabbling in abstract painting, keeping house is another thing that keeps Anabelle busy in this Southeast Asian peninsula.

“Running the household was a new thing to me simply because we had a maid in Manila, and living with my mom then meant she took care of everything!” Anabelle says.

In Malaysia, a Filipina helper visits regularly to clean up, but Anabelle takes care of the laundry, cooking, washing the dishes, and everything else in between, although she confesses to being hopeless in ironing. The obsessive-compulsive housewife likes her towels soft, fluffy, and good smelling, and even did some research to achieve it.

Something’s cooking
Another skill she had to learn was cooking. “Now that I have my own place and a husband who’s an excellent cook, I’ve come to love cooking,” she shares. The menu in the Martinent home is usually a toss between French and Asian.

An oven was her husband’s basic requirements when they were looking for an apartment. “He uses the oven a lot. Back in Manila, to me an oven was only meant to toast bread!”

If it is any indication, Anabelle will be spending more time in the kitchen with the new set of Tefal nonstick pans that she won during the Mother’s Day raffle at the Hotel Nikko.

Stronger, better
Living in a foreign country where she doesn’t know the language means she has to be alert at all times.

“Some of the signs are in Bahasa Malaysia, so my husband and I had to familiarize ourselves with important words.”

There are Malay words that are similar in meaning in Filipino, Anabelle discovers. “For examples, they call a plate pinggan, and sakit in their language has the same meaning in ours.”

The experience of living in a different country has been eye-opening. “All this moving certainly made me a stronger and better person,” Anabelle reflects.

“Prior to moving out of Manila, I would always wonder how people survive in countries without any household help and how I will be when I move out. I worried so much. But now that I am well-settled, I can laugh about my anxieties and worries. Life is what you make it. People learn how to survive and get by. I don’t even miss Manila life, except for family and friends. This is my new home. Malaysia has been good to us.”

Anabelle Co-Martinent writes about what’s keeping her busy in KL in her blog.

Top right: Wedding photo in Singapore
Middle left: Anabelle’s design philosophy is “simple and coordinated.”