I am NOT Mchina!!!

Yesterday on my way to the supermarket, two Tanzanian youngsters walking a few steps behind me tried get my attention by talking "Chinese" or what they think passes off or sounds Chinese. I paid them no heed, then one said "must be Japanese" and went on to say "Sista, sista, are you Japanesi?" For a while I considered telling them that I am Filipino but decided against it because it would surely lengthen the discussion. This is true even in Malawi where kids in the village would run after me saying "Mchina, Mchina!" To the knowing eye, I would be the last Filipino to be mistaken a Chinese. I am not fair-skinned (actually more brown than the typical Filipina) and though my eyes are quite small, I would not describe them as slanted. But in Africa, the face of Asia are the Chinese. For them since I don't look Indian but have Asian features then I must be Chinese. 

It is funny how friends asking for directions to my house would use the question "Where does the Mchina live?" and get correct directions each time. But it sometimes become annoying especially when you are not in the best of moods and the dala-dala (a public transport used here, usually a dilapidated van)  conductor make Kung-Fu moves to get your attention, complete with the invented Chinese words, thinking it is cute. It happened once and I  glared at the conductor and said in a stern voice: "I am not Chinese." In Malawi, one even asked me if I know Bruce Lee! On days when I have the time and energy to correct people about my origins, I explain that I am Filipino, and that I am from the Philippines. More often than not when they hear Philippines, the women mostly, their eyes would gleam and say "Oh, Philippine! You have nice movies!" of course they refer to the telenovelas exported to African households by ABS-CBN or GMA, i.e. "The Promise/Pangako Sa Iyo" or "Marimar." One even found it crazy that I have not watched these movies! A side note about Marimar, North's nanny suggested that I use banana leaves as plates for a luncheon I was hosting for friends because she saw it in Marimar! 

With the tension between China and the Philippines over the Spratlys Island I tell my workmates I would be greatly offended to be called Mchina. But my workmate said, no, let people believe you are Chinese for security purposes. Chinese means Kung-Fu with most of the locals here so they would think twice about bothering me because they think I know Kung-Fu. I said I still don't relish being tagged Mchina, and I am sure the Chinese would also frown on that.