Proud to be Pinoy!

It was a long day for me, and it's just today that i have felt again how to be actually busy. This morning, I took a long drive in Davie to sit on my IELTS exam (an English exam which contains 4 tests - listening, reading, writing and speaking). I left home at around 7:15 AM. The weather was great, no heavy traffic to mind. I entered the Talk International office in Nova Southeastern University at around 8:10 AM, a little too early for the exam (9 AM- scheduled start), but way better than to be late. I thought I was the earliest, but nope. And I haven't thought that I would be seeing a lot of Pinoys in there, and your guess is right.. they're all for fulfilling one of their requirements for their visascreen certificates, but if you think they're all nurses? Nah.. You're wrong. Two of them were Med tech too.

I didn't expect that this day was a chance to meet people actually. During the early registration, we began talking and asking if from where we are exactly here in US. Of course, I started conversing with a Pinay, who happened to be a Cebuano and came from Mindanao too. It was surprising to know that she is from Chicago. But why travel when in fact you have there an IELTS location? It is because the next slot for the IELTS exam in her state is going to be in September, and that's way too long for her to wait. Her companion, on the other hand, is from Georgia. That time, I really told myself that I was lucky I just drove for less than an hour, and did not spend some bucks for the plane fare from another state, plus the expense of having a hotel. There were still a lot of other Filipinos there and meeting them was entirely fascinating, because I felt at ease and it was like that the sense of being in a community was there.

There were Koreans too. I tell you, there were a lot! Hmm..nurses too! haha. I think the quantity more or less equalled with those of the Filipinos. The same thing, they came from different states. I talked with one Korean, who travelled from New Jersey and she had a flight back there at 5:10 PM after her speaking part. I didn't know if she was able to reschedule her interview though, because 4:20 was the one assigned to her. I hope she did. Anyways, the Koreans I have met there were quite nervous because they perceived that their English is poor, and they complemented us Filipinos to be really good at it. About that matter, I can just say that the Filipinos do have a good background with English, because most schools in our country, if not all, use English as the medium of instruction. I know Koreans are good too, it just depends on practice I think.

During the exam, I was seated next to an American named Brooke. She is a traveling nurse, and she needs to pass this exam for her to be able to get to work in UK. How funny is that huh? She's an American, yet she still needs to take this test. Of course, she would have no problem in the speaking part. But I was really glad that she was my seatmate because after our exam, we did had fun and I didn't get bored. We finished the first 3 parts at around 12:30 PM, and my interview was scheduled at 3:40 (which was actually delayed, I was able to enter by around 4:30). Goin back, I spent lunch with Brooke, Ate Nida (a fellow Filipina who still came from Orlando) and Vanessa. We ate in an Italian restaurant (yummy food!!! I got chicken parmigiana and their garlic rolls were really gooood!!!)

Vanessa, by the way, is from Panama, who happens to decide that she would take her IELTS here in Florida. YES! Here in FL and not in some places near her country. It is because the nearest site where she can take the test in her country (I forgot where. I think Colombia, which she doesn't want to take chances with because it's somehow dangerous in there) charges $300 for the IELTS ($140 here in US). She has then decided to visit her friends here in Miami, so it was like a double purpose travel; plus she gets a discount for a student fare. She's a 23-year old architect in Panama and she will be having her masters in UK, thus she seeks to pass this test. Both she and Brooke were a good catch today, because I have learned a lot about them; especially Vanessa who talked about the World Cup. She said that it's really like a religion there in her country, where people took some off from work so not to miss the game. There's more that she said about their culture, and I was amazed by it. She had good English too, even though she speaks Spanish back there in her country. That's why she and Brooke really were great help to practice my speaking ability before I came face to face with the British council representative. And of course, Ate Nida and I had our share of how beautiful Philippines is, relating too about the culture and the people.

So much for today. We ended the day with a smile, even though we carried the burden of waiting for the results. And as for these three girls I have had lunch with, we exchanged each others' e-mail addresses. I'll keep'n touch with them. Who knows we will meet again someday right? I may say in UK, where Vanessa and Brooke will be the ones welcoming me. Indeed it was a tiring day, yet so much learning, both from the test itself and from meeting people of varied cultures. It made me just say that I'm proud to be Pinoy!!! =)