Culture, for me, is how a certain group of people think, act, dress and perceive things.

It is a
common way of life and behaviour in certain communities. My family is from the most
northern part of the Philippines, in the city called Laoag.
I have a family of five. I am the eldest child among us three. In my family, education is
valued so much that we live by the saying “the most valuable thing you can pass on to your
children is education.” Hence, my parents strive so hard to send us to school that offers
good quality education. I was able to finish my studies and earned a Bachelor of Science in
Nursing. Now, I want to pursue nursing here in Canada so I decided to enroll in Centennial
College and took Practical Nursing for IENs.
I may consider myself successful on the path I took in my career life. I was a Licensed Nurse
back home. Success is achieving what your heart’s desire, the thing you have been wanting
to even if it seems so impossible to reach it. The most important thing in success is the
things you learned along the way while you were reaching that goal. That will truly define
how successful you are.
Filipinos are known to be food lovers. We have tons of indigenous foods, to name a few: we
have pinakbet (mixed vegetables with shrimp paste), longganisa (homemade sausage),
bagnet, kakanin(delicacies) for snacks, halo halo and leche flan for desserts. They are like
go-to foods.
My family is an extended type of family, we used to live with my grandparents, actually we
are living under their roof because we don’t have our own place.
Religion is an important aspect in our family. We are catholic, my parents even sent me to a
Catholic school in my primary and secondary school years. We are attending mass almost
every Sunday and on important liturgical dates like holy week, 9 dawn masses before
Christmas and feast of different prominent saints. During my stay in Catholic school, I
remember going to church and singing in the choir almost every Sunday, that is how I was
actively participate in church activities before.
The role of men and women in my family is strongly defined. Father usually the one working
and earn money for the family while mother is bound to be home to take care of kids.
Another is heavy works are assigned to men while women are encouraged only to do most
house chores. however, as the time passes by it became not much of an issue as women
now assume breadwinner responsibilities like looking for high-paid jobs or professions and
such. Now, I think there is only a little bit of gender bias in my family.
Back home, I can consider English as our second language because most of the
transactions and mode of teaching there are English. However, I am more comfortble
speaking with our own language, I only used in english in school or whenerver it is needed,
but in day to day life, I speak our own language. My children right now could speak a bit of
Ilokano(dialect) but they are more fluent in English. I am still trying to teach them our native
language because I want them to be aware of where we originated from and acknowledge
the beliefs and culture as well.
Answering back parents or elders are viewed as the most disrespectful in our culture. Elders
are given high regards in our culture.

I consider myself an individualist. I am an introvert and only focuses on myself. I don’t mind
mostly other people's business. I am not easily affected by something that does not concern
me or have a direct relationship with me.
I have no tolerance to inequalities related to power in any setting. I may not talk about the
initial action taken by the offender but when I thought that they went too far, I don't mind
creating a scene and calling out the offender’s attention. and the crowd. I don’t like being
disrespected and bullied in any way even my country’s culture is very tolerant to such
behaviour. If I think I am on the right side, I will defend it all the way even if that person I am
arguing with has a high authority or power.

My personal culture and country’s culture regarding the power distance is somewhat similar.
I used to give high regards to people older and have higher authority than me. I don’t answer
back because I was taught to respect elders and higher positions.being said that, we just
follow what is being said and don't question it as we regard it as an order rather than a
request. In connection to individualism, I am completely opposite of my country’s culture. I
am only concerned with myself and my direct family. I don’t mind other people’s life and
even community affairs. I am super into myself that I don’t have interest in other people.