As a Filipino growing up in South East Asia a good thirteen years before moving here, it's common knowledge to everyone from that region of the world that I am considered "Asian." Now coming here, I was told by somebody Idon'trememberwhoanymore, that I fall under the "Pacific Islander" category, because asians are only suppose to be "reserved" for the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Thai, Vietnamese, etc... My natural reaction to hearing this supposed fact was "WTF?!"

Recently at work, me and a bunch of co-workers were talking, joking around, and the subject of me as a driver came up, blah blah blah however it went I joked about "oh, is it because I'm Asian?" I got a laugh from my non-Asian co-workers, except for the one guy who happened to be Korean. Then my Korean co-worker says "Hey, you're not Asian, you're a Pacific Islander." I couldn't believe he just said that, so my immediate answer to that was "what are you brain washed by whitey? Filipinos ARE Asian." Then he goes on and asks me, "well, where is the Philippines? That's right in the Pacific Ocean!" I couldn't believe that reasoning, and then I go "oh really? Where is Taiwan, Japan, Korea, etc? That's right, the Pacific Ocean!" He gave me this blank look like I'm the one that's insane, and just shook his head and said "you're not Asian," and walked away. Seriously now, WTF?

The ethnic description "Pacific Islander" is really reserved for people who come from Polynesia, Micronesia, or the Melanesian islands of Oceania. You know like Hawaii or Tahiti. Get it right people! I swear the ironic thing is that it seems that I find more non-Asian people understanding this fact, than people from Asia themselves. Oh, it's such a pet peeve of mine.