I was born and raised a Filipino. To be honest, I’ve never set foot in any of the countries whose cultures I learned to love but I do love the cultures anyway and because of this, it was inevitable for people to question my love for my own country.

In an English class in my university, we were tasked to write a reflective paper with a common theme among our own groups. My group decided to have “The Filipino Identity” as our binding theme. How ironic. I am one whose “Filipino Identity” could not be seen by people who think I’ve forgotten all about it due to my very obvious liking for the Korean and Japanese culture. My fascination for other cultures clouded my “Filipino Identity.”

I think it’s time to clear things up.

My reflective paper: I Do Not Smell Like Raw Fish

NIHONGO TANGO:

韓国 (kankoku)

n – (South) Korea.

* “Raw fish” is a rough translation of malansang isda or putrid fish in English. It came from the Filipino proverb: Ang hindi marunong magmahal sa sariling wika, daig pa ang hayop at malansang isda. (He who does not love his native language is worse than a beast or a putrid fish.)

* The post header shows my name in Alibata ( Tagalog script which isn’t used anymore, by the way), Hangul (Korean alphabet), and of course, Katakana.