A view of Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

A view of - Essay Example It turns out that the country is geographically located in the Western Pacific Ocean and is a sovereign state of South East Asia. Its closest neighboring countries are China, Borneo, and Indonesia. I asked Tine how she has been enjoying her stay in her new home so far. She mentioned to me that although she loves the cold climate in the country, it sometimes make her long for the tropical weather in the Philippines. It seems that they have only 3 types of weather in the country hot, wet, and cold. The hot weather is felt almost the whole year round except during the so called Ber months when the cold winter air from China blows down to their area. While we partook of the Filipino snack, I could not help but mention to her that she did not look like a typical Filipino to me. Tine is relatively light skin toned with Latina features. She giggled a bit and thanked me for the compliment. She explained that the dark skinned Filipino is a myth perpetrated by their colonizers centuries ago. The Spaniards who were the first to colonize the country referred to them as Indios meaning â€Å"dark skinned† and the image seems to have stuck. I asked Tine to describe a typical Filipino to me then. She said that was next to impossible because of the diluted blood of the Filipinos. Tine herself has a mix of Filipino-Spanish-Chinese blood in her. While Don, her husband is of American-Filipino descent. She told me that there are no pure blooded Filipinos anymore. They have inter married with other nationalities so many times that one would be hard pressed to describe a typical Filipino look. It is because of their colonization by the Spaniards, Americans, and Japanese that their customs and traditions have also become a hybrid of two or three various cultures that create a totally unique Filipino culture and customs. She used the Maskara Festival in one of their provinces as an example of the hybrid custom and tradition in the country. Their culture and