Reuniting with My Mother Tongue is Bittersweet

My mother taught me best what home means — teaching me Tagalog growing up in Manila.

I’ve been on a journey of being a global nomad for almost 4 years now. I have experienced changes in myself that were predictable and expected. Then, there were these changes that happened unexpectedly.

My mother tongue is Tagalog — the official language of my birth country, the Philippines. When I moved to the U.S. at the age of 13, that all changed. English replaced Tagalog as my…