Pizza Pockets are better than pickles . . . (12 photos)

A Filipino antipathy toward pickles was just some of the cultural information being exchanged at the Moose Lodge last night.

On Sunday, around 100 members of the Filipino-Canadian Community of Sault Ste. Marie got together for their fifth annual group Christmas party.

Filipino dishes like lumpia spring rolls, pork sisig, pandisal, pork adobo, and biko rice cake were served, along with traditional Canadian Christmas dishes like turkey.

The group, formed as a way to socialize, preserve Filipino culture in Canada, and raise funds for charity, is made up a diverse membership ranging from Philippine-born Canadians and their families that have been in Canada since the 70s, to others that just got here this year.

Here's a few of their stories.

---

The Rivera Family

Robert Rivera was working as a bartender on a cruise ship when he met Pam, a passenger, who happened to be from Sault Ste. Marie.

Staff weren’t supposed to closely fraternize with the guests, but the two secretly became involved romantically.

After a two-year long distance relationship and a complicated journey to Canada that had him staying in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan for six months, Rivera finally settled in Canada with Pam and they started their family together.

Eleven years later, they have two Canadian born children, Duncan, 10, and Danika, 7 and last year Robert’s Filipino sister and retired parents moved in with him and Pam as well.

The crowded household is not without its challenges.

Aside from just being cramped, his parents don’t speak English very well, which can be hard for Pam.

Then there is basic stuff, like eating food.

“I don’t like pickles and I won't even eat cucumbers,” said his sister Manilyne Rivera, in her twenties, and who’s been here less than a year.

Manilyne speaks English fluently so she was able to get a job as a hotel receptionist pretty quickly however her parents, being retired in their 60s, spend most of their days looking after the home and taking care of their grandchildren.

The two don’t speak English well and although they like Canada, at their age, leaving a country they've spent their whole lives in is difficult.

“My mom says she likes it here, but she wishes all her daughters could be here as well. I have six sisters, I’m an only boy, and she misses them,“ said Robert Rivera, translating for his mother.

Robert said his mom and dad may return to Philippines to be with the rest of their family in a few years, but nothing is for sure yet, and right now they are just enjoying being able to spend time with him and their Canadian grandchildren.

He said he also does not like pickles.

---

Mona & Lilly

Mona Martinsen, 22, was born in the Philippines but came to Canada when she was only one-year-old after her mom met a Canadian man and they settled in Sarnia.

She went to kindergarten and elementary school in Canada but at 12, when her dad retired, she moved with her family to the Philippines for high school and to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy.

When she came to Canada last year she had Lilly just a couple months later.

She made the move to Canada for the quality of life and to make sure Lilly had a brighter future.

“The quality of life in Canada is much better. I think my daughter would have a better chance at a good life here compared to the Philippines. A lot of things are better here, for example education and healthcare. In the Philippines the government provides a portion of that but it’s close to nothing,” said Martinsen. “Also, the margin between the rich and poor (in the Philippines) is very large and I don’t want my daughter growing up in that kind of society.”

Martinsen’s next big challenge is getting her Pharmacy education recognized in Canada.

She needs to take a costly bridging course, four exams, and the overall process will take about two years, but she’s ready for the challenge.

---

Karl Carinan

Karl Carinan, 15, grew up in the Philippines but came here last year to live with his mother and Sault-born step-dad Bruce Wurdemann.

Carinan’s now in Grade 10 at St. Mary’s College and looking forward to, but also nervous for, his first full-on Canadian winter.

“The Philippines is just so much warmer. When I came here last year in February, I asked ‘Is this winter?’ My dad said, ‘It’s just the tail of it, and we’ve had a mild one’,” said Carinan, talking about coming here last year.

Carinan said the hardest part about coming to Canada was leaving his grandparents — who raised him for the first 14 years of his life — and his friends.

He’s fluent in English because his grandparents spoke English to him at home in the Philippines and it is taught in schools there.

He can handle most Canadian cuisine, but like Manilyn Rivera, also just can’t get into pickles.

“It’s hard to describe why I don’t like them — they’re disgusting. In the Philippines I eat rice and fish everyday but I’m trying lots of new things here everyday,” said Carinan.

Of the Canadian food he really likes are Pizza Pockets and poutine, which they serve at his school’s cafeteria.

“Mmmm, the gravy and cheese — I love poutine!” he said with a big grin thinking about it.