"Where Are You From?"

Living in the U.S. I would regularly be asked the questions... "What are you?" "Where are you from?"... the questioner obviously trying to find out my ethnic heritage. Usually I'd make it difficult for them and answer the question with, "I'm a student." or "I was born in Connecticut."

Hahaha! I know... I'm such a meanie!

I grew up with getting those questions constantly. I got used to and came to expect to be asked the question shortly after meeting people. Usually when I was young, people would tell me with insistence, "Oh, you're Chinese." When I'd correct them, they'd still insist because I think during those days, that was all that people were familiar with. OR, they'd give me one of my favorite responses... "Oh, well... you all look alike." (Which... in all fairness, with the diversity of people throughout Asia, it is hard to know where people are from!)

I thought that when I moved to the Asia area, that I'd stop getting asked that question. I'm finding however... I still get asked that question. :)

Today I got into an FX. The driver asked me where I was going and I replied IN TAGALOG.
We exchanged a few other sentences in Tagalog after which he asked, "Where are you from?"
I giggled. I figured it was my Tagalog that prompted that question. It usually is.
I told him that I was born and raised in the States, but that I live here now. And I told him, that I'm Filipino -- my parents were from here in the Philippines.
"Oh! I thought that maybe you're from Singapore or Taiwan."
Hmmm... so it wasn't just my Tagalog, it was my look too??
"Why? Don't I look Filipino??"
"Uh. Well... maybe," he said looking back through his rearview mirror.
I turned and looked at him in the mirror so he could see my face. At which he then said, "Ah. Yes! Ilong Pinoy."

Haha!!!
He basically told me that yes, I did look Filipino because I had the nose of a Filipino.
HAHAH!!!! Oh, my nose!!!!

You have to understand. My brother and I were the only Filipinos in our elementary school -- probably the only Asians. Our neighborhood had families of Italian, Jewish, and other European descents. There just weren't that many Asian families around. I was teased once getting off the school bus because of how I looked.

As a very sensitive young girl I just wanted to be seen as pretty and I wondered if I would ever be seen that way when I looked SOO different from everyone else. Honestly, my nose was a sore-spot for me. I remember trying to use clothes pins to make it taller, narrower. I remember being told not to make certain faces because it would make my nose bigger. While I never really would have done it, I imagined what it would be like to have a nose job. THAT is how self-conscious I was about my nose.

Ah, but today!!! Being told that I have the nose of a Filipino -- there was a sense of pride in my heart when that driver told me that. There was a feeling of belonging. There was a feeling that YES! something to identify me with my heritage!

I get asked pretty frequently what it is like being here in Manila as a Filipino American. I don't really know how to answer that question. I don't have anything to compare it with. Being a Filipino American is just who I am.

But, I do know this. I love being here. I am appreciating the opportunities I have to see how God weaves every bit of me together...my Filipino heritage, my life in America, my citizenship in Heaven ... He uses it all in the formation of who I am. And, I hope to recognize it all, appreciate it all...and glorify God with every bit of me.

So, I've been mistaken for being...
Korean, Thai, Chinese, Indonesian, ... you name it, I've probably been mistaken for it. I actually kind of like it. It kind of makes me feel like I'm "one with" wherever I go.

If you didn't know me... what would your guess be?? :)