After high school, I went to Western Mindanao State University. I decided to take up nursing, but I was too late to do the aptitude test for it, so I studied chemistry for a year. Then I studied nursing for four years, and my family also had a house in the city centre, so I was able to live there. After I graduated, I worked at a government hospital for three years, but I always knew I'd go abroad, because I wanted to go everywhere and see different places. Nobody else in my family went away, they're all still living near home, and my brother and his family still live with my mother.

I applied to work in Saudi Arabia, and stayed there for six years altogether.

The first three years were very tough, because I was in Al Qassim, which was a very strict area, where the religious police, or Muttawa, originated. We had to cover up completely by wearing the hijab or abaya outside work. The work was very heavy too, because I worked in the main surgical ward. There were 52 beds, and half of the patients were bedridden, and there were only four of us working on the ward. I weighed 64 kilos when I started working there, and I was only 42 when I left.

I met my husband, Willy Rivera, there in 1995, through a mutual friend. We couldn't have a proper relationship though, because we weren't allowed to go on dates there. If you go out as husband and wife, you have to carry your marriage certificate with you at all times to prove you are married. We talked on the phone and wrote letters. Sometimes, Willy would come over to my ward and pretend he was visiting someone, just to see me. After that, I went to work in Jeddah and then to a security forces hospital in Riyadh, which was very nice.

While it was still strict, it was not as bad.

I had lots of colleagues from Ireland there, and an agency was recruiting for nurses for Ireland, so I decided to come over here to work. Loads of us came over together, and I arrived in Dublin on 8 June, 2001, to work as a staff nurse in Tallaght Hospital.

I've been to different places in Europe, like London and Italy, but I thought Ireland was very nice, and the people were very approachable and friendly. The nursing is different in some ways, because for instance, nurses at home and in Saudi Arabia are allowed to take bloods and canulate patients, but you can't here, unless you are specially trained and have a certificate.

I applied for naturalisation when I was here five years. It takes 18 months, so I'm hoping it will be approved in a few months. Willy came over to join me two years ago. Many nurses left here, and went to work in different countries, because their husbands came here on dependant visas, and weren't allowed to work. They have changed the law now though. Willy is an interior furniture designer, but hasn't been able to get a job at that so far, so he's working in maintenance at the moment.

I bought a house in Springfield in Tallaght over two years ago, when my husband came over, because even though the mortgage is high, renting is dead money.

I don't drive and it's very handy for work, because it takes seven minutes to walk there at an Irish pace, and probably 15 minutes at a Filipino one! What I really miss from home is the food, because I love eating. Luckily, there's an Asian market in Rathfarnham, and Willy is a very good cook.

We have lots of different types of seafood at home that you can't get here, and two of my colleagues came over for our wedding, and they were saying, "Oh my God" when they saw the variety of food available in the shopping malls . . . Chinese, Japanese, Filipino etc.

The weather was too cold for me at first here, but I think I've become acclimatised to it. I work on the day ward, so when it closes for Christmas, I go home to the Philippines to see my family, and I always think it's too hot there now. Willy and I went to visit his sister in America recently, and he found the heat difficult and wanted the Irish weather back.

I have made so many friends here, both Irish and Filipino, and we meet all the time. I don't work at weekends, so sometimes they come to the house and we do video karaoke. I call home all the time, and my young nephew was delighted I was coming here because he loves Westlife. They are very popular in the Philippines. I went to a concert here a few years ago, and took pictures and sent them to him.

Willy and I got married in Zamboanga City in January, and two of my Irish colleagues from the hospital, Mary Judge and Pam Duffy, came over for it. They were involved in the ceremony, because Mary was my sponsor, and Pam lit the candle. There were over 200 people at the wedding, and it was a lovely day.

I think we will stay here long-term, and are hoping to start a family soon. My father, Amado, died in May aged 69, because he had very bad asthma and was in and out of hospital for many years.

It was very sad. I'm always inviting my mother Rosa over, but she asks me what the weather is like, because she doesn't like the cold! She's glad that I'm here though, and that I'm happy, and we'll always go back to the Philippines for holidays.