By Brooke Ruhl
The Graffis Family moved to Northern Nevada in 2009, bringing along their interesting story and heritage. Annie, 21, describes her perspective of Filipino culture, as well as how she grew up with the culture in her life.
Annie Graffis was in the 7th grade when her family moved to Nevada from Bogota, Colombia when her father retired from the navy.
Annie says to fully understand her Filipino heritage, we had to start from the beginning of her family's story.
Annie's grandma immigrated to the United States from the Philippines, after falling in love with her Grandfather, a Navy-man. Her grandma left behind her previous husband and two children, only bringing along her youngest child.
Her new life began in Lemoore, California, where she maintained a job canning food for Del Monte stores.
Earning her citizenship through marriage, she had two more children, one of which would become Annie's mother.
Annie's mother told her there was a lack of Filipino culture in their day to day life, regardless of the fact that her mother was entirely Filipino.
"My grandma never talked in Tagalog. She was worried that my mom and her siblings would be judged for having an accent. She made sure their exposure to Filipino traditions was limited."
Annie's mom had an interesting upbringing into her Filipino heritage. Most of the Filipino culture in their house revolved around food.
"My exposure to Filipino tradition was through food. That was the main tradition she passed down to my mom because it was the culture of the Philippines, but it wasn't overly 'Filipino'"
This made an imprint on Annie's mom, and it would become the basis on which she incorporated Filipino culture into her children's lives.
Annie moved from Bogota, Colombia to Incline Village, Nevada when she was in the 7th grade. For anyone else, a international move could be quite a culture shock. But Annie's experiences and family life helped her to react differently.
Annie came to Northern Nevada with much more 'culture,' than most of the other 12 year old's in her grade. Not only did she speak two languages, Spanish & English, she also had her Filipino background.
Annie, like her mom, was made aware of her Filipino traditions through food. She explains how things were different because of her Filipino background.
"In school potlucks or parties, where everyone else's parents brought pizza or burgers, my mom and I would make Lumpia, my favorite Filipino dish."
Lumpia is a dish similar to egg rolls or spring rolls in other cultures, and is a very popular item on Filipino menus.
"We made it all the time, especially when we had guests over. My friends would request it!"
Food isn't the only aspect of Filipino culture Annie has experienced. She explained how being Filipino has benefitted her, in more ways than just being culturally diverse.
Annie explains she knew she had a much higher chance of getting into her favorite University's because she applied as a Filipino, or Asian-American. She explained that the schools she applied to were very hard to get into, and there were many applicants. But luckily for Annie, her Filipino heritage made her a highly desired applicant for schools trying to increase their diversity.
Annie didn't stop there. Since starting college, she is now a junior and has travelled the world, experiencing many new cultures. Most recently, Annie lived in Spain for 6 months. In her time living there, she travelled the surrounding countries, including Italy, where she is pictured below.
Annie plans to continue exploring new cultures, and vows to make Lumpia many times along the way.
Follow Annie's travels on Instagram: @anniegraffis
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