 I have become molded and shaped so rapidly these past few years it’s hard to place it.  I am married to a Filipino.  Because of this I do not consider myself as a “missionary” because living in the Philippines is not my mission; it is my home.  I started my acculturation when I was fourteen on a mission’s trip as stated above, again in 2002 on a college mission’s trip, an eight month stay as an intern in 2003, and indefinitely when I moved to the Philippines in 2004.  
I consider myself set apart from other American missionaries that move to the Philippines because their acculturation is different than mine.  Because I am married into the culture my acculturation is deep and unwavering.  I live with another culture everyday and I allow the undergrowth of my “iceberg” to forever adapt and change so that I can live and maintain peacefully in this culture.  My husband does the same for me.  Acculturated is defined as, “when a person moves out of the culture in which he or she was enculturated and learns (becomes “at home” in) another culture.”  It is also the same meaning as biculture.
Some missionaries might have an acculturation table that might look like this: 
	But my acculturation table would look something like this:
Because the new culture of which I married into stays with me no matter where I am my culture of origin and my new culture have also been married together and they cannot be removed or faded over time.  I will forever be a mixture of American and Filipino culture; and I love it!
	According to the subtitle above you, the reader, would expect me to talk about American people and how I interact with them.  But that is not what I meant by ‘My Own People.”  My ‘people’ are now both American and Filipinos and therefore my interaction with both often merge and mix.  When I am in the Philippines I adapt as much as I can; transforming as deeply as possible while maintaining who I am as God made me.  When I am in the United States I also must adapt as much as possible to make the transition of social interaction as smooth as it can be.  But I might not treat Americans as fairly because while staying here I don’t want to lose my identity with Philippines culture.  
	When I interact with people of other cultures I also try and understand and adapt to their culture as much as possible.  I guess I am a bit of a chameleon. I can remember in 2003 when I stayed in Baguio, I lived with a Korean though I was living in the Philippines.  Some of my best friends were from Myanmar and so my interaction at that time was very mixed.  I was American taking on the cultures of three at a time; though I must say that in the end the Korean culture stayed with me the most.
