I grew up with my grandmother (may she rest in peace) in the mountainous place of Benguet. According to her, our place is often visited by Americans before as a result of gold mining. The Americans were the first one to develop the mining industry and they hired native people to mine. Mining eventually became their source of income. Settlers were used to speaking in English as a result of their often contact with the white people. They therefore taught their children to speak the same language to maintain their relationship with the Americans. Ever since I started to talk, I used the English language to communicate with the whole household who speaks the same language and with other people until the time came that my mother had to get me to live under their roof. I started to go to school where I was amazed to find out that my classmates use different language from what I am using.
