Monday, August 22, 2005

Sorry, I'm not Chinese!

I knew I should've blogged last night and post it this morning. I almost forgot what to post today.

Anyway, here we go.

It's funny how I never had an Asian friends, aside from my own (Filipino), and now, I'm really enjoying the fact that I can call certain bloggers my friends. Like, Jase is Chinese (I think?), Wayne (Chinese) too, Jon (Japanese) and Steph (Korean). But, to me it was weird that I had to meet these fabulous Asians through blogging. In real life, I really have no Asian friends. Isn't that sad?

I use to remember when people ask me if I'm Chinese! And no offense to my Chinese cousins, but I really do get offended. I'm like "Do I look Chinese?". Or when they start mocking my language and making it sound Chinese. I usually say, Tagalog is a mixture of different languages, but it's actually very close to Spanish, so I don't know where they got the Chinese from.

It seems to me - and I could be wrong, that when people hear an Asian person speak, they automatically associate that with Chinese. It's really annoying, but I guess that's the stereotype that got carried through the years. Don't get me wrong! My father is half-Chinese, so when I do hear these thing I'm always half-offended :) JUST KIDDING!

One time, a lady asked me where I'm from. I could've said something smart and said the name of my town, but I knew what she meant, so I said "Philippines". And she said, "Is that in Asia?". So I go, "As far as I know! We're in Southeast Asia". And she had the audacity to say "You're not Asian! You don't look Chinese!". Riiiiiggght! Needless to say, I had to educate the bitch about Asia! I told her India is in Asia, half of Russia is in Asia, and if you really think about it, Israel is in the Asian continent. Though they're more referred to as Middle Easterns. And as far as I know, they don't look Chinese either!

I could've sworn they mentioned Asia in World History! I almost went and called the Gaysian army on her ass!

6 comments:

Jon said...

I make fun of Tagalog all the time- it just sounds so funny to me. But I make fun of everything, so I think it all evens out in the end and hopefully my karma isn't totally fucked ;)

A lot of people tell me that I don't look Japanese, and the amusing thing is that the people who tell me this have never been to Japan.

Unknown said...

I do not think you look Chinese, but I have never been to China or anywhere else in South America, so I really am not an expert.

TCho said...

A lot of times when other asians ask me if I'm korean, I say I'm Chinese. If they ask me if I'm Chinese, I say I'm Korean. I just am not in the mood to "asian-bond" sometimes.

Miss Marisol said...

What about your Asian blogger friends me and g8s?? :)

Yeah, that shit pisses me off. I get everything...Indonesian, Hawaiian, Thai, Vietnamese.

I don't understand why people HAVE to know. Like knowing your Filipino will change something, or help them put you into your correct race box?

I usually say, "I'm American" or "I'm a New Yorker" because that's the truth.

Wayne said...

Honey, when I was young, people usually address me as...

"Hi little girl, do you know where is XXXXX street?"

"So you are the younger sister, huh?"

"THat's wonderful. So you can wear your sister's clothes. Your mom will save a lot of money."

Yeah, I understand what you mean. But I look Chinese, they usually don't mistaken as either "Japanese" or "Korean" or "Vietnamese" or "Thai" or.....

Hrm.. that reminds me....

JaG said...

You know what? I really don't care what you are. I just like you!!