Interesting post… I think what I find surprising is how people react to me (as an Asian) in different parts of the country. I grew up in Hawaii so being Asian of any descent (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, etc) was not unusual. Plus being around a lot of other ethnicities (Hawaiian, Caucasian, African-American, Portuguese, etc) was the norm. I now live in the Carolinas near Charlotte and feel so out of place. I notice how people don’t seem to know how to react to me. It’s getting better but still I notice the stares, the uncomfortableness, the unknown… sometimes I think people seem surprised how talkative I am. I’ve been mistaken for being Hispanic and, if you can believe this, when I was in the ER at a hospital in Athens, GA, the nurse kept asking me repeatedly if I spoke another language even after I spoke to her in clear English with no accent. She specifically asked me several times if I spoke Spanish. I finally had to tell her I was born in Hawaii. The nurses assistant in the room clearly looked uncomfortable for me and even told this nurse her ex-boyfriend was from Hawaii in an effort to help me out! Sorry, this story still gets me. My FIL, who is one of the most educated men in the world, still uses the word Oriental because that’s what he grew up with. I don’t take it personally because this man loves me like his own daughter. I understand. Just like I understood why my dad had his own prejudices being a Japanese-American enlisted in the Army during the end of WWII and the Korean War. Thank goodness for independence!

I get mistaken for Jewish all the time, too. (To be fair, I’ve had a few Jewish boyfriends and have Orthodox Jewish friends, plus a big passion for Israel.) As a friend of mine says, “I’m saving up to be Jewish.” (All of my Jewish friends have loved that line, but apologies to anyone who is offended by acknowledging a cultural stereotype.)

Around here I’m either ‘gringo’ or ‘damn yankee’ Oh wait now I’m just OLD.

On a kind of related note, I live in Hawaii (my husband is in the Navy) and it seems that the people who come here from the East Coast/South have the hardest time adjusting to the cultural diversity here. On the other hand, the West Coast transplants have much less problems adjusting and seem to transition much better.

Frankly, I’m glad that my daughter has had the opportunity to live here and learn about all the different cultures before we pack it in and move to Minnesota, land of the white people. I think that so much of it comes down to basic human respect, but it also helps to recognize the basic differences between someone from Vietnam and someone from Corea, you know?

“I’ve been mistaken for being Hispanic and, if you can believe this, when I was in the ER at a hospital in Athens, GA, the nurse kept asking me repeatedly if I spoke another language even after I spoke to her in clear English with no accent. She specifically asked me several times if I spoke Spanish. I finally had to tell her I was born in Hawaii. The nurses assistant in the room clearly looked uncomfortable for me and even told this nurse her ex-boyfriend was from Hawaii in an effort to help me out!”

joy, people have as much trouble understanding each other when they are both white as they do non-white English-speakers. Only they don’t feel as free to ask each other what they hell they mean, because of the perceived greater-access to the community they’re familiar with (maybe they don’t want their neighbors to see them as their parents see them). On the plus side, while people of the same ethnicity are less free to ask each other what the hell they mean, they can bond with each other over how no matter how strict your practice of their language, you ain’t ever gonna talk it right.

To be fair, I get annoyed when people think I’m English or Australian :p

The thing I noticed within the first two weeks I was in Corea was how many Coreans looked like people from the state of Maine! The longer I lived here, the more I realized that the connection is genetic. Most Mainers are part “American Indian,” although most of them don’t know it or won’t admit it. The languages of the Abenaki tribes in Maine have a grammar just like Hangukmal. [That last info comes from a Mic-Mac of the Mars Hill Band who was stationed in Corea and Japan when he was in the army.] They also believe in Tokebi and the mountain grandfathers, although they call them by different names.

Sil, I’m not sure I can see a genetic connection between Maine/Native Americans and Coreans.

Chelseaorange, I know that’s not the only place.

Cindy, I knew you were Blasian.