“Life as an expatriate is difficult. Despite the perks of life in the first world, it still does not take away the pains of moving away from the safety net of family and friends.

When I first moved, I remember longing for the familiar and looking for people who could make me feel like I belong. And when I couldn’t find those locally, I sought and found solace in the world wide web. Not only did the internet make it easier to keep in touch with the people I have left behind, it also gave me the company I sought and needed. I found people who could empathize and sympathize with me – fellow homesick Filipino expatriates.

Through PINOYexpats, I would like to offer homesick Filipinos, a virtual place where they could feel like they belong and where the familiar can be found. A source of support from those who have been there and have done that. A proof that, eventually, it does get better.”

It has been a year since that editorial was published online. And tomorrow, marks the biggest milestone for us… PINOYexpats‘ first anniversary issue will be launched!

The plan for an ezine was hatched in February 2004. Even without anything tangible to show, Ruth and Pia immediately offered their support by committing their “services” to the ezine. Junnie, during a ym conversation, gave valuable advices which helped shape the idea. Elen’s nod completed the inital team.

Finally, in July 2004, the domain pinoyexpats.org was registered. Armed with a kick-ass masthead from dear Cyn, we had our soft launch early October. Thank God, Kala saw that the ezine needed help design-wise and offered her (and Julien’s) help. Those two re-designed the whole site in less than a week; complimenting our kick-ass masthead with an equally impressive layout design (check the new ad she made on my sidebar!)

Pia’s celebrity connections got us our first pinoyexpat of the month.

We’ve expanded by inviting Lara to join us from Belgium. We saw the potential in Charl during her visit to our forums. She was then invited to join the team, as well.

With our readership growing, we conducted a survey to know what we needed to improve. Along with emails we have received from our readers, the survey showed that we needed to expand outside of Europe. So, we did. 2 months ago, Tintin was invited to join and help Pia cover North America. Christine and Kat applied to cover Asia and the Pacific. Raquel, another expat in Germany who was expat of the month (August), was later invited to join the team.

We have covered (real interviews and not second-hand articles) celebrities from various fields. We have a few more who have agreed to grace our future issues. We have modified our format (thanks to our resident designer and programmers - Kala and Julian) to fit our readers’ demands. Our family is getting bigger and we hope to serve you better for more years to come.

Happy Birthday to PINOYexpats!

TAGALOG OF THE DAY
“PINOY” - Filipino
in German, “Philippinisch”