Guide To Life

Everlida Klinhormhual, Philippines

Interviewed by Marc Patricio

 

 "It made me realize that I have come a long way and now I'm successful"



 

 (Everlida is the second person to your left in the picture)

 

      Are you in a big family with a lot of siblings? Well I was brought up in a big family with three sisters and three brothers. I am the second to the youngest in my family. I liked living with them because being the youngest I was always taken care of. During my childhood I was a quiet but active girl. I remember every night my dad would come home from work and wake up my siblings and me to eat because he would always bring us food after work. Everyday when I came home from school my mom would always be cooking for me. My parents are very hard working. My mom was a teacher and my dad was a mechanical engineer. Even though we are seven children all together my parents took really good care of us and loved us; from there we all grew up with an attitude of wanting to give back and help them when they got older.

 

           My sister came to America as a real estate agent. In the Philippines I already graduated from college, so I decided to come with her to America. Coming into a new country wasn’t hard for me; the only hard thing about it was being away from my family and friends. The Philippines being a third world country didn’t have all the opportunities like America has. Over here in America you can do whatever you want as long as you focus yourself into doing something. The Philippines was very limited in job opportunities so I was very fortunate in coming to America. I knew coming to America and especially San Francisco, the climate was very different; it’s always cold and foggy most of the time. America has a lot of modern things like nice houses and tall buildings. They didn’t have a lot of poor people and I was surprised in the different cultures that they have, like Asians, African America, and Mexican people. There were a lot of good memories when I came to America until now.

 

         One of my memories that stood out to me was when my daughter graduated from middle school and she was the valedictorian of her class. When she gave her speech in front of everybody I felt proud and I felt like I was on cloud nine. That was the point of my life where I felt like I have a successful career during that time. I was the office manager of Levi Strauss and having a good husband with great children is even better. I also have some other memories but it’s very embarrassing. It was during a seminar and I was called on to talk about something and I wanted to say something but I couldn’t say anything. I was living in a very good environment.

 

          My neighborhood in the Philippines was an environment that was very calm and their wasn’t a whole lot going on. Where I used to live in the Philippines and here in Daly City where I live now is very similar but some differences. Everything is close by which is very convenient. In the Philippines everybody knows everybody but here in Daly City everyone is a stranger and people don’t talk too much. One thing I will always remember when I lived in the Philippines will be my house and studying back in Manila. I’m always happy when I go back home and talk to my neighbors, clean the house and other things.  It made me realize that I have come a long way and now I’m successful.

 

        I have accomplished a lot of things from when I was a child until now. I have a house, a car, my family, and a happy life. I raised good children, give them lots of love, and make sure they have the best education they can have. Theirs still more things that I would like to accomplish like pay off my houses and be a part of the one percent who are millionaires. Setting goals I think is a good thing because you have something to work on. You have some big goals and small goals but each goal you have to do step by step. Setting goals are important because it's your guide into life and it makes who you are today.