Where am i from...Guess?

Living in one of the busiest metropolitan cities of the world, you feel like you’re rushing all the time; even if you really aren’t.  Most of the time, when i see everyone else rushing I feel like i have to too.  But amidst the hustle and bustle, I, being a true pacific islander can’t help but stop to talk to the locals who would come up to me and start a conversation, especially in the subways (trust me I wouldn’t do this in any other country). 

Most of the time they are speaking to me in Korean and I truly do not know what they are saying to me and all I am doing is nodding saying “Neh” (yes in Korean).  One of my favorite conversations begins with a question on where I am from, but the funny thing is they always try to guess even before I answer.  So I put together a list of all the nationalities I have been pinned against:

·         Canadian (surprise to me too);

·         American (a lot of Americans in Korea);

·         Filipino (my Filipino friend also told me I look Filipino, interesting);

·         Dominican Republican (fist time for me to hear);
.         South African;
·         Closest guess was Tongan (but it was from a Hawaiian who owns a bar in Korea where we had a Pacific islanders do)

Not many get Fijian, well understandably so, one cannot deny that Fiji is indeed a small island country, some people do not even know that there is a country called Fiji (take my Peruvian classmate for example, he only knew about Fiji when i introduced myself at our first student briefing, he came back to me at breakfast the next morning and said " i looked for your country on google earth, i had to zoom zoom and zoom to finally see it").  Another interesting example was when i told a student on campus that i was from Fiji and without missing a beat he quickly said, Yes thats where Wyclef Jean is from.  ( maybe he probably thought he heard me say Haiti)

But Koreans or the locals are not ignorant about Fiji, a lot of Koreans know Fiji.  As soon as they give up trying to guess my nationality and I tell them, Peejee (how Fiji is pronounced in Korean); the next words I hear from them is “beach”, honeymoon or just beautiful country.   This makes me so proud to hear.   I heard LG has to be thanked for that because they advertise Fiji on their TV screens and as well as the hardworking Ms Park of Fiji Me.

The small island country, that dot in the Pacific Ocean called Fiji is what i proudly refer to as home.