Mimi has five relatives in the St James area. She would not have immigrated here if she didn't have two cousins and a sister living here already. Initially she felt out of place, but because she works with family members and other Filipino immigrants, she gets to socialize and speak her native language. "Now it's kind of the same to me," Mimi says. "We eat rice, fish and cook Filipino food." 

In the Philippines, Mimi earned the equivalent of $100 a month working at a department store as a salesperson. Now she works at Tacony Manufacturing in St. James Mo. assembling vacuum cleaners and earns about $18,000 a year. The Philippines is "kind of full, too many people," Mimi says with a smile. She had to learn how to drive when she came to the United States. "It's easy to make money," Mimi says. "It's a better life." As far as the weather is concerned, she likes snow but doesn't like the cold.