Manila beckons Fil-Am journalist

Filipino-American Ryan Songalia, a writer for RingTV.com, The Filipino Reporter newspaper, and a contributor for GMA News Online, shares his thoughts about how he grew up in the United States but fell in love with Manila when he visited it for the first time last year. Songalia's has been a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America since 2008. Since childhood, I've felt something beckoning me on the other side of the planet. Growing up as a Fil-Am in New Jersey, the son of a Filipino immigrant from Leyte and an Italian-American mother, I wasn't exposed to Filipino culture as much as I'd like to have been in retrospect. I wasn't taught a single Filipino phrase until I was 12 years old, and it's not one that I care to repeat in public. Yet I learned as much as I could from books in the library, reading stories about "People Power" and the brazen outspokenness of Jose Rizal. I watched The Great Raid in theaters during my first year of college, and rooted on the Filipino guerrillas as if I was rooting for The Knicks. When I finally made my first trip to the Philippines last Christmas Day at the age of 23, I instantly fell in love. I was there for three weeks, spending time in places such as Las Pinas, Taguig, Boracay, Cebu, Leyte. The Philippines was very different from where I'm from, but it had a charm that put me at ease, even as I sat in the back of a taxi cab weaving in and out of traffic lanes that seemed to appear and disappear at random. I loved the simple life, far removed from the stressful hustle and bustle of New York City, the place I now call home. For now. The decision for me to return on an extended basis is one that came without much hesitation; I'm only young once, and without children it is a far less complicated decision than it is for others. Yet, I can still feel New York pulling me back, like a basketball team's general manager offering a lucrative contract extension to avoid free agency. October of 2011 has been in many ways the height of my young life. It began with a push-up challenge from former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos at Seton Hall University in New Jersey that wound up making the news in the Philippines.
For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV It concluded with me accepting an award from at The Outstanding Filipino Americans of New York Awards on behalf of The Filipino Reporter newspaper on stage at Carnegie Hall, alongside theater legend Lea Salonga, New York City consul general Mario De Leon Jr., and noted Filipina philanthropist Loida Nicolas-Lewis. In between, I also got to see my favorite Broadway performer - Fil-Am T.V. Carpio of Spiderman: Turn off the Dark - rehearse for her November 7 PhilDev benefit concert, joined "The Bible of Boxing" Ring Magazine's staff and had the opportunity to follow around world bantamweight champion Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire Jr., for a week, documenting his daily life before his match at Madison Square Garden. It was as if New York was making me an offer I couldn't refuse. New York will be here when I've made up my mind to come back. But for now, I miss the warm breeze over Manila Bay, the walks through Market Market and SM Mall observing the people just as much as I observe the merchandise. I miss the warm reception of extended family members that I'd long been separated from, and I miss grabbing karaoke sessions at RedBox in Ayala Center before meeting friends for dinner. I miss making "tambay" at the sari-sari store, reading and contrasting the different newspapers to determine their American counterparts. I even miss waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of a rooster crowing, as I often rolled over in bed laughing at the absurdity of it. Most importantly, I miss the opportunity on every block and street corner to gain a firmer grasp on my identity as a Filipino-American. Before arriving in Manila at the end of the month, I will take a nine day trip out to London, further removing me from New York prior to my extended stay in the Philippines. Yet, just as New York City is The Big Apple, Manila is like my Big Orange. It's sweet in it's own way, and there is simply no comparison between the two cities. I truly feel as if I have the best of both worlds. - GMA News