While a lot of Filipinos strive to achieve the so-called ‘American Dream’, there’s this American family that loves the Philippines so much that they have come here to stay – and has been living for 9 years already!
Meet the Folkman family, an American family who considers themselves Fil-Ams because they totally love the Philippines and their kids only know life in this country as they were raised here.
Amber Folkman was raised in a small town in Northern California, a place in a valley of two mountains where malls are about an hour away. She met her husband in Hawaii and the two later lived in Seattle for a few years; however, her husband’s job brought them to Manila where they had been living since 2009.
Photo credit: Lianne Bacorro / Amber Folkman – Smart Parenting
Life in Manila is the exact opposite of the life in Amber’s hometown but, surprisingly, she and the family loved it. The three Folkman boys have grown up in the Filipino culture – and they even prefer Filipino food!
Amber joyfully reveals that her sons’ favorite food is crispy fried galunggong that they eat with a heaping pile of rice – and using their hands, just like what Filipinos do! But that’s not the only thing that makes them Filipinos by heart.
The kids are so deeply ingrained in the Filipino culture that they automatically call older people as ‘kuya’ or ‘ate’, have many ‘titos’ and ‘titas’, and actually know how to speak Filipino.
“Besides having an endless summer, the best mangoes in the world and the most fun modes of transportation, the Philippines is where my boys have learned valuable life lessons that I hope will guide them through the rest of their lives. We predominantly have an American culture in our home, but outside we embrace everything that is Filipino,” she wrote.
What do you think of this family?