Someone I met today is Filipino. I went to eat bagels with my friends and the woman who took my order is Filipino.

This normally wouldn't stand out very much. There are plenty of Filipino people who work here, with food, have accents due to their mother tongue. What I've come to appreciate in my feeble attempts in learning Tagalog is that the language unites Filipinos everywhere.

I've been with my parents to shops and places where there are Filipino workers and there's a strong sense of camaraderie among strangers. I was at Liliha Bakery the night before, and I spoke to the woman just like me parents would have and read received warmly. Yeah, it was probably because I was being nice, but still.

The Philippines has a large amount of overseas (Filipino) workers. OFWs for short. The communities in the places they choose to work is very strong. What's stop admirable to me is the fact that these people make the choice to leave their home country for somewhere they may not know anybody just to support their families at home.

When watching the Filipino channel, you can see how many apps address dedicated to just sending money to the Philippines. It's a common plot in many teleseryes. Anthony Bourdain visited a woman who spent over 20 years away from her family to put them through school and college.

The kinship is necessary, to make new friends and acquaintances, and find a way to survive and support. If learning my parents' language gives me the same fellowship, then cool. It's so nice to see how people can connect even though they're so many miles away from home.