Unwanted Attention

As a Filipina with Chinese ethnicity, I may look a bit different to some people in my home town. I do get unwanted attention from strangers. Sometimes, the comments I get are somewhere between positive to neutral. Other times, the comments are racist and downright rude (read about my racist experience in a grocery store). In any case, these comments make me incredibly uncomfortable. Like when a fast food staff in a food court asked me questions about my ethnicity. Our conversation went on something like this:

Staff (after seeing my mom's Senior Citizen card): "Is she your mom?"

Me: "Yes."

Staff: "Are you a Chinese?"

Me: "Yes."

Staff: "Is your mom a pure Chinese?"

Me: "Yes."

Staff: "It's amazing that she can still speak Tagalog. But she does have an accent. How bout your dad? Is he a pure Chinese too?"

Me: "No."

Staff: "Oh, so you're not a pure Chinese... But you look so Chinese. Does your dad look Chinese too?"
Me: "Not so much. Where's my burger?"

I quickly left the counter and asked my sister to wait for my order. When I got my order from another fast food outlet and my sister got my burger, I learned that she was also asked the exact same questions. From our table, I caught the guy looking at my family as if we're Martians who had just arrived on earth. It was not a negative experience, but it was awkward. Even the guy looked kind of awkward. I just wanted my darn burger.

It's Not Right to be Rude to Customers

This staff from a certain fashion store was really rude. I went to this store to look for a dress for a wedding party. If you have read my post about skinny jeans, you know that shopping for clothes is not exactly an enjoyable activity for me. The store was on clearance sale, so I hoped to find my dress there. My mom and sister found something they wanted. We went to the fitting room together. 

As always, my mom wanted me to go with her inside the cubicle. Before I could go with her, the staff blocked my way and told me to wait outside. My mom told her she needed my assistance. The staff didn't relent and frowned at us. I couldn't do anything, so I waited at the entrance. There were a handful of ladies waiting in line. Some customers got confused and thought I was falling in line too. After a few minutes, my mom poked her head out of the cubicle and asked me to help her. The staff frowned as I walked to my mom's cubicle.

After that, I left the fitting room to continue my search for a dress. I found a red one. I tried it on, but I needed my sister's nod of approval. I peeked outside but she wasn't in the fitting room. I changed back to my clothes. I handed the dress back to staff so she could put it on the rack behind her. She didn't reach out. Instead, she bossily pointed to the rack, which means I had to hang the dress myself. I obeyed her and immediately regretted not fighting back. I thought to myself, "Wait a minute. It wasn't right! She was being rude to me!" But, if I made a scene, who knows if someone would videotape my screaming and hair-pulling and post it on Youtube?

I went out feeling terrible. My sister was waiting for me on the couch. She noticed something was wrong. I told her what happened, which got her very furious. I learned that the staff had been rude to my mom and my sister too when they tried on more clothes. She and my mom marched to the fitting room. My sister asked the staff for her name, which made her nervous. She refused to give her name and immediately defended her actions even if my sister hadn't said anything yet. "Your name," my sister insisted. She said her name as softly as she could. They asked for the manager but h/she wasn't there. They promised they'd come back.

My sister is like a man. She is quiet and wants to avoid conflict as much as she can even if she's been wronged. So what she did for me is really awesome. It felt good! We left the store and had our lunch. I decided that I wanted that dress after all. We went back and I was glad the dress was still there! We pretended to look for the manager to give the staff a scare lol. The truth is, we didn't care anymore. We had confronted her and that is all I wanted.

I think the staff was simply following the rules. I have no problems with that AS LONG as she did it nicely and respectfully. But frowning at customers, stopping a daughter from assisting her mom to zip her dress, and being bossy to a customer is downright rude. It's not right.

The Three Missing Ohio Women are Alive

Early this month, three unrelated women who had been missing for a decade had been found in the house of Ariel Castro in Seymour Avenue, Cleveland. The women are Amanda Berry (27), Gina DeJesus (23), and Michelle Knight (32) who were kidnapped in 2003, 2004, and 2002, respectively. The police also found a six-year-old girl who is the daughter of Berry and believed to be fathered by the suspect. 

While Castro was not home, Berry managed to escape and asked for help behind the locked front door. Charles Ramsey came from McDonald's when he heard someone screaming for help. He ran to Castro's house and with the help of Angel Cordero (another neighbor), he kicked the door open. Ramsey and Berry immediately called 911. When the police arrived, they found the two other victims tied with chains and ropes and a little girl.

Help Yourself First Before Helping Others

I'll tell you a story of a typical Filipino. Let's call her Greta. Greta is in her early 20's. She got married and works at a call center in Makati. In the Philippines, call center agents don't get as much pay as in other countries. Nonetheless, their salary is still considered decent in Filipino standard. So Greta is earning enough money. However, most of her salary goes to her brothers' tuition fees. She has four brothers by the way. She shoulders even her brothers' rent for dorm. Nothing much is left for herself. Despite that, she is happy to be of help to her family and she doesn't expect anything in return.

Wear Cropped Tops to Cover Up Your "Big" Tummy

boxy shirt

I hear a lot of females complain about having huge tummies. I would tell them, "I don't think it's that big." or "It doesn't look as big as you say." It's true. Unless the person is really chubby, girls who complain about their tummies don't really have big ones. Their figure still looks proportional to me. And a great figure is all about proportions. Girls would tell me, "You're so lucky you're thin!" While I don't deny that, I think there are disadvantages to being thin. Aside from being weak and easily pushed around by people in crowded places, thin people like myself grow disproportionately large tummies whenever we gain a bit of weight or when we're full. Sure, I can wear tight-fitting shirts without those "ugly" flabs that heavier girls complain about, but after having my lunch, my tummy would bulge out. It's a rather unpleasant sight. I look like 3 months pregnant! It makes me extremely conscious and I would cover my tummy with whatever I could find.

The Most Expensive Dog in the World

Source: http://www.petsadviser.com/

Say hello to the most expensive dog in the world as of this date: the great and cuddly Tibetan Mastiff! As much as I'd like to hug a Tibetan Mastiff if I happen to come across one, I'd rather just admire it from afar. Despite the breed's gentle appearance, with its thick fur and bear-like features, it is said to be fierce to people (and perhaps to animals too) that are stranger to it. Granted, it acts as a sweet cuddly bear to its owners and is even gentle with children.

I Love Milk Tea

When I went to Taiwan a few years ago, I remember our tour guides recommending us to try their milk tea. They said that milk tea, especially pearl milk tea, is the best drink in Taiwan. I didn't try it though. I wasn't much of a foodie. So I went home kind of regretting not trying it and wondering how it tastes like.

Buying Tea in Hong Kong

During our trips to Hong Kong, we would drink tea instead of water or juice during our meals. Most of the time, teas were served for free in Hong Kong restaurants. As a child, I hated its taste. Despite that, I couldn't deny that a warm, aromatic cup of tea is very soothing to my body, especially during the cold weather in Hong Kong. Though I've never become a fan, I learned to appreciate tea. 

My sister is a die-hard fan of teas. She especially likes green tea and she prefers to drink it in its purest form - right from the tea leaves. Sadly, it's quite hard to find green tea leaves in Manila. We always find green tea in the form of tea bags or powder sold in the local market.

Hotel Ghost Story

Wikimedia Commons

I want to share a hotel ghost story I heard on TV. This is a true story and had been all over the news in Taiwan years ago.

A working student from Taipei was sent to another city by his company. He was given money for lodging. Thinking that it was a waste to rent a nice hotel room, he chose to stay in a cheap hostel. 

He went to the hostel. There was no one except for a man behind the counter. He didn't see any housekeeper or any guest. Heck, he was probably the only guest in the hostel. After check-in, he went to his room. It smelled really bad. There were mice and cockroaches. He thought to himself, you get what you paid for. The room was dead cheap. What could you expect?

What to Do About PayPal Fraud

Anyone can experience a Paypal fraud or PayPal scam. Some days ago, I just received a fake PayPal email. 

I have the habit of looking through my mail account's Spam folder before hitting the trash can button. I would browse through the mails to check if an important message has been trapped in the spam filter. 

I came across an email from PayPal. It says that I have successfully sent a payment of $149.49 USD to a certain Dave Klein. The problem is, I haven't made such purchase at all. Like in the official emails of PayPal, this one has the company logo and a link to "PayPal's website" for me to see the transaction. 

Let's Date: A Dating Game Show

Source: Loke Yek Mang | Dreamstime.com

I was watching a Chinese dating game show (我們約會吧/Let's Date!). I don't know all the rules of the matchmaking process. I just know that each guy gets to pick a woman out of the many female participants on the show. The woman he picks can either accept or refuse to date him. If the woman agrees to date the guy, they will leave the stage together. Otherwise, the guy will leave alone and the girl will stay on stage. The next guy will appear again and the whole process repeats. I keep seeing the same girls every time I watch the show. I'm not sure, but I think it has the same female participants for every season. 

I'm My Sister's Guinea Pig

That's me!
Source: Wikimedia Commons

My sister is currently watching City Hunter after I recommended the K drama to her. She would always comment about Lee Min Ho's beautiful glowing skin. He is the male lead of City Hunter by the way. My sister is very particular about her skin so she admires people with great-looking skin.

Both of us had moderate acne during our teens. My acne was worse than hers, and because of that, I had issues with my self-esteem.

After years of suffering from acne, we finally went to a dermatologist. My sister went first. Every visit, the dermatologist would prick her pimples with his special tools. She went to him twice a week. She would also buy all the skin care products from him, which were packaged in unlabeled containers.

The Pressure of Being a Single Chinese Woman

I just read an article on BBC about China's "leftover women". Nine out of 10 guys think that women over 27 is too old to become a potential wife. These women are labled as leftovers or sheng nu. Chinese women are offended by the term sheng nu, though it's still wildly used.

Read the full article about China's "leftover women" on BBC.

In other countries, men aren't that obsessed with age as much as Chinese men do. What the Chinese consider as old is quite young to other nationalities. I guess their high regard for age can be rooted from their culture.

Chinese gives importance to bearing offsprings (especially male offsprings). It is the children's duty to light the incense of their ancestors. If they have no offprings, no one will do these stuff and the ancestors' souls will get lost. So yes, it's quite scary to be childless for Chinese couples.

January Blues

Hello everyone! I haven't been here for a while and I missed being cheerfulnuts.:) Since I got back from Christmas vacation, I've been feeling blue. Probably because of the sudden change of the atmosphere. December had been a really great month and I was kind of in denial that it was over. I thought my sadness would quickly go away, but it lingered on for the entire month. Sometimes, I would get so blue that I would burst into tears (of course I'd do this when no one is around).