Looking Back to My Past

It's almost three years since I decided to live here in the United States. It was a tough decision for me when I left my family back home, just to follow my heart's beat. I had to quit my job and leave my family and friends. I used to work at Cebu Toyo Corporation, under the Japanese management. I admit that I got tired sometimes in my job as a production worker. Maybe because I was assigned to a very difficult section which wasn't for women -- just men. There were only a few other women there, and they were all musclebound and Amazonian. We operated the machines and fixed them if there were mechanical problems. We learned to use different tools, like Allen wrenches, mechanical fliers, adjustable wrenches, microscopes, interferometers, and some more gadgets. We produced high precision lenses. Sounds like fun, doesn't it? Not. And plus, we were standing for the entire 8-12 hours if there was overtime. My legs were killing me and also my back. We didn't have time to rest or even any break time because we tried to reach the daily quota or else we had to write an explanation letter, why we didn't reach the quota. Marx would have had a field day analyzing the setup. It was always a miracle if the machine didn't have trouble for the entire shift. Anyway, the only thing that I miss about being there is the people surrounding me, my co-workers. Despite difficulties, we had time to joke and smile while working and that makes any job easier, even slave labor.