Robert Lim

Best

Journey to America
Angie Lim
My name is Angie Lim and I was born on August 23, 1952. The
story of my emigration to the United States starts on January 6, 1966.
That was the day that I first met my Auntie Baby and Uncle Bob from
the United States. My Uncle Bob was stationed here in Baguio City
Philippines after living in the United States for three years. He had five
children, his eldest child eleven years old. I was thirteen years old at
the time and was happy to see my aunt and uncle for the first time and
their beautiful children. I had spent my free time looking after them
and helping out around their house with their maids for it was difficult
to take care of five children and maintain a house alone. I grew to love
their children as my own siblings and they grew to love me. After one
year of living here in Baguio City my Uncle Bob was again stationed
somewhere else and his family was to move to the Clark Airbase in
Pangpangga. It broke my heart that they were leaving and I would miss
them tremendously. It made me very happy and excited when they
invited me to come and live with them at the airbase because their
children had become attached to me and I would be a great help. I had
asked my mothers permission to come with them and she agreed to let
me go.

My life with my aunties family was better for my own family was
poor. I often got homesick and cried on Christmas and other holidays
Robert Lim
Best

wishing I had been with my family. I lived with my aunties family for
one year at the airbase helping out around their house and looking
after my cousins. I did not mind doing work around their house and
looking after their children because it was the least I could do for them
and I enjoyed looking after the children. After a year living at the Clark
Airbase my uncles family was to move again back to the United
States. When my auntie told me of this my heart raced, in my mind I
was hoping and praying that they would take me with them. It was my
chance to have a better life and see America, the country so much
talked about, the land of opportunity.
My auntie said that they were leaving soon in about seven
months and she would dread to leave me behind here in the
Philippines knowing of the poverty of my family and she would like me
to come with them. My face lit with excitement, I was ready to jump up
in excitement but remained on my bed in disbelief. She said that she
had already written my mother and father a month before and that
they had already approved of it and we were going to move to Santa
Barbara, California. I was to go to the States with them as a student
and they were to be my guardians. It took about six months before I
got my student visa and we left for the United States a month later.

We left for the military airport in the morning of September 4th,

1968. When we finally arrived at the airport two men took our luggage
and
Robert Lim
Best

belongings and loaded it on the plane then we made our way to the
flight of metal stairs leading to the door of the plane. As I boarded the
plane I said a silent farewell to my family and friends that I was leaving
behind, and my country. I anticipated what it was going to be like in a
new country with new people. I wondered how they would treat me and
what our house would look like. I wondered what the weather was
going to be like and if there were any other Filipino people there. The
plane engines roared as we took off to the United States; I silently
practiced my English to pass time and soon after I fell asleep.
The flight took fifteen hours and when we arrived it was Thursday,
September 5th, 1968, that date I will never forget, the day that my new
life started in the United States, the day I landed in the land of
opportunity. We left the airport on a military jeep that took us on a
fifteen-minute drive to our new house in Santa Barbara California. The
drive there was magnificent; we had a beautiful view of the ocean and
sky, it was everything I had imagined and more. There were so many
big houses and buildings! We came to a stop at a gated neighborhood.
My uncle said we were staying in navy housing. We arrived at, what

appeared to me, a mansion. The driver of the jeep helped us carry our
luggage and belongings into the house and then he left. As soon as we
dropped our luggage all or my little cousins ran around the house in
excitement. The
Robert Lim
Best

house had six bedrooms and an indoor laundry room with washing
machines! The kitchen had a real electric oven and there was a
refrigerator. The house was complete with furniture and televisions. To
my surprise my aunt and uncle gave me my own room! I had my own
bed and dresser and everything! I was so happy. We got settled and we
were informed that we were starting school in three days.
The day that we were to start school finally came. I was to attend the
Los Pueblos High School. That day, I woke up extra early and spent a
lot of time making sure I looked like a girl out of a magazine I read on
the plane. I planned what I would do and wondered what it would be
like. I was fifteen and was going to be in my second year of high
school. When I got to school a teacher welcomed me and took me
around the campus to see where all of the restrooms were and where
my classes were located. She said that I was put in lower classes for
the meantime until they find out what level I was at. By the time she
finished introducing me to the school the first period was over and
immediately the halls were filling with many students. I was a little shy
at first but when I saw Jennifer, one of the girls from my neighborhood

that I had met the other day, I got over it. We talked for a little and
then we hurried to second period. My second period was English and it
started with the teacher, Mrs. Adams, introducing me to the class. The
people seemed real friendly and made me feel welcome. The rest of
my classes followed this routine and I felt that my first day of school
Robert Lim
Best

wasnt that bad. Jennifer introduced me to some people and I made

many new friends.
Although my first day went rather well there were a few things that
surprised me and shocked me. One thing that shocked me a lot was
that many of the kids were holding hands and kissing each other! This
was very rare at the school I went to in the Philippines. Another thing
that shocked me was physical education. We did not have physical
education in the Philippines. It made me realize how out of shape I
was. Another thing about physical education that surprised me was
how the girls were so comfortable taking showers in front of each
other! While these girls were casually taking showers I was in a corner
hiding myself! The last and most irritating thing that I had a terrible
time getting use to were all of the slang the other kids used. It took me
forever to learn all of it and get used to it. Some of this slang included
boss, bread, dynamite, far out, foxy, later, groovy, and psychedelic. I
soon learned all of the slang and everything there is to know from my
new best friend Jennifer.

When I started getting used to everything I started watching

television shows and discovered that it was very entertaining. Some of
the television shows I started watching were The Brady Bunch, Lost in
Space, Flying Nun, and Gilligans Island. I also started listening to rock
music groups like The Monkeys and The Beach boys. After a month
here in the States I was accustomed to the new environment and was
accepted by my
Robert Lim
Best

fellow peers at school. I later used my skill for taking care of children to
start babysitting neighborhood children to make extra money. I sent
this extra money to my family in the Philippines because the value of a
dollar is great in the Philippines and it would help my family a lot. I
lived the average life of a teenager of that time; going out with friends,
going to dances, sleeping over at friends houses, etc. I went through
high school achieving high grades and excelling.
After I finished high school I immediately started college in 1972 at the
Santa Barbara City College then at the Consumnes River College. It
was there that I met my husband Howard Baker, almost a year would
pass before we would get married. We got married in June of 1973, and
I became a permanent residence of the United States. A year later I
had my first child, Michele. I became a citizen of this great country in
1978, and a year later my mother came. The following years my family
worked hard so my other brothers and sisters can come here and in

1983 it became so and my three brothers Rudy, Robert, and Fred

came. A year later my father came and five years later my sister
Jocelyn came. Following me my brother Robert petitioned my sister
Susan to come and it would be almost ten years before she was to
come.
Little by little with hard work and patience my family came to this
wonderful country. I came to this country a poor girl, merely a helper for
my aunts family and with hard work and determination I am where I am
today. I
Robert Lim
Best

have a family of my own and many nieces and nephews. My siblings too
are prospering and have families of their own. The many sayings of the
United States were true and it is indeed a land of opportunity. Here you
can achieve anything with hard work. This is the story of my journey to
America; it is a story of how my family came to be here, it is a story of
what can be achieved with hard work. What I have started are but roots,
may the roots grow into a great ever growing tree.