Crispy's Corner

So I’m back in Toronto, got in from Hawaii last night. I came back with a mighty fine tan! Browning lotion does wonders.

The man sitting next to me on the plane fell asleep. His arm slipped and landed on me with a smack. I moved his arm off of me, but he was in such a deep sleep his arm was like a dead weight. I thought he had DIED or something.

I had to connect in Chicago on my way down so from Chicago to Hawaii is 9hrs. Damn airlines don’t give ANY food. For a 9 hour flight. Not even some pretzels. I had to buy a salad for $5. Either that or this Snack Pack thing but in 9hrs I wanted something that resembled food. Not a bunch of chips and crackers.

I was staying in a tourist-y area in the Waikiki area so most of the stores were Prada, Christina Dior, Louis Vuitton, etc. Those places were just a tad bit out of my price range. But I found this great store called The Stupid Factory and bought some stuff from there. The website has more stuff that I didn’t see in the store. I want this shirt.

eheheh.

I get harrassed almost on a daily basis about one thing…. “Are you Filipino???”

Sometimes people will just ask me “What are you?” as if I’m some strange creature they’ve never seen before, but most of the time they decide to default on Filipino.

It’s not that I mind being mistaken for the wrong ethnicity; hell, half the time I can’t tell myself. But the reason why it bothers me is because I don’t understand WHY people have this BURNING DESIRE to pinpoint my exact ethnicity so much. I have been verbally assaulted in a dollar store, clubs (most often), bus stops, church, Chinese restaurant, airports, BBQs, by co-workers, even during a VAGINAL ULTRASOUND! As if being naked from the waist down with a cold object in my lady parts isn’t uncomfortable enough. I clearly look Asian. So what’s the big deal??

And the thing is EVERYBODY asks me; men, women, all ages, all colors.

For example, last weekend, I was at the bus stop and this Indian guy sits next to me and I see him peeping at me from the corner of my eye but I continue listening to my IPod on high volume which is supposed to signal that I don’t want to talk. Dude asks me about some bus route. I’m pretty sure he knew were he was going, but was just looking for an excuse to say something. I always make a big production out of taking my earphones out and saying “HUH???” really loudly to signal that they are bothering me and my Ipod time. I tell him I only know where my bus is going and put my earphones back on. Moments later he’s asking me THE question. “Excuse me, are you from the PhilliPINES?” He put a new twist on the age old question by pronoucing it like “PINE” tree. Honey, ain’t nobody from the PhiliPINES!!! I just said NO, and got up from my seat.

Then I went to a club and I was walking past a group of Black dudes and one guy thought it was nessessary to point out: “Yo! There’s a Filopina girl right there!!!” as if he just spotted a leprechaun or unicorn or something.

Then I went to this Chinese take out place and when I went up to the counter to make my order, I kind of butted in front of this middle-aged White guy by accident. So when he asked me how I was doing, I thought that he was just trying to let me know that he was in line first. But moments later, I got the question AGAIN. “Soooooo….are you Filipino?”

WHAT THE HELL?? Is it too much to ask for an exoticizing-free weekend???

And it’s not just the men. Women ask me too, even debate about what I look like after I tell them what I am. A few of my Asian co-workers cornered me one day by the coffee nook and asked me “Are you Filipino?” and since I worked with them, I figured I’d be cordial. When I told them I was Vietnamese, they had a debate amongst themselves.

“See…I told you she wasn’t”
“But she doesn’t look Vietnamese…maybe Chinese.”
“No! Not Chinese, maybe a little Korean…”

HELLLOOOOO!!! I’m still standing here….

It annoys the hell outta me. It’s not that I’m ashamed of of who I am, I just don’t understand the fixation and why people just ask me for no reason at all. I can understand if it’s within the context of a conversation but if I’m scratching my ass at a local Walmart buying a disposable camera….WHY would some stranger feel the need to come up to me and say “ARE YOU FILIPINO??!!!” “What’s your background?” “Where are you from?” “What are you?” I’m one irate woman who is sick and tired of answering all your intrusive questions and no I don’t want to hear about your Malaysian ex-girlfriend, or your buddy who went to Vietnam and found a wife or your Asian friend that dates Black guys too! or your Chinese neighbors that cooks all these interesting food….etc etc etc. *sigh*

I need to elaborate on this further and why I think it’s problematic but this rant is getting a bit long. Be on the lookout for part 2.

I’m thinking of making a t-shirt that says “Don’t ask.”

Caribana weekend is over and now I’m up to my ears in homework and assignments. This is the last two weeks of school and I am swamped. I think this is the longest I’ve gone without posting.

My weekend was pretty uneventful, I actually don’t have any bloggable stories to tell. I went out to the clubs, BBQ, and that’s about it. Since I have no stories, here’s a video of one of my tunes this Caribana.

Alison Hinds – Roll It