Filipina Soul

Recently it has become my habit to “drag” my three year old son to my office on Saturdays. He always is appreciative of a “day out” even if his mom is cheating him out of it by working in her office computer. Anyway, we usually stop by the cafeteria to get breakfast before heading on to my office building, which is still about some 500 meters away.
My son has always been mistaken with any nationality from Korean to Japanese and the question that is always thrown at me is if he’s a son of one (Korean or Japanese), at a tone that I am unmistakenly so Filipina, but perhaps I am married to either a Korean or a Japanese. While I have no problem with those two nationalities, even if I am not married to either one, and do not have the habit of correcting people (much less strangers) that I am not married at all, I am just not so comfortable by the underlying connotation: mail order bride (yes, Koreans come here too for MOBs!) or Japayuki (Filipina entertainer in Japan).

Last Saturday, while my son and I are having breakfast at that cafeteria, a Filipino family of four was seated and dining on the next table. I was busy feeding my son while he kept on blaberring “no sugar, no sugar” in his imitation of the new Pepsi TV Ad line (Don’t Worry, No Sugar). My son knows and understands a lot of English words but we talk to each other in Tagalog, the Filipino dialect. I guess the mommy in the nearby table couldn’t help wondering anymore about how an odd couple we are and asked me (in english): How old is he?

Instead of answering the lady directly, I threw the same question at my son, (still in english) and he quipped merrily, “three!” while showing three fingers at the lady. To which I beamed, “very good!”. I think the lady wasn’t satisfied yet and asked me again: “Are you Japanese?” I laughed out loud and started speaking in Tagalog right away. I have been mistaken for Thai but never Japanese. I guess there’s always a first time and I wasn’t offended at all.

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