Eur·a·sian
ˌyo͝orˈāZH(ə)n/
adjective
- 1.of mixed European (or European-American) and Asian parentage.
- 2.of or relating to Eurasia.
noun
- 1.a person of mixed European (or European-American) and Asian parentage.
I took a quiz on BuzzFeed called "23 Problems Only Eurasian People Actually Understand" posted by Sarah Fung and oh my word, I can relate to all of those problems. I don't think I'm a Eurasian though, I still think that I am an Asian because I live in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and I can speak Bahasa Malaysia and I eat all those Malaysian and Asian food, so that makes me think that I am way more of an Asian than all of you Eurasian people. Well thing is, out of 23 problems, I can relate to most of problems there are in that quiz, especially...
3. You’re tired of people saying, “Where are you from? Yeah, but where are you really from?”
Heck yes. Not just tired of when people ask me, it even got more tiring to answer and explain it in great details because I can't just answer with a short, concise word for having parents who are not originally from this country (I should say?) and mixed of here and there parentage. My ex-classmates and even my lecturers and supervisors were all curious and ask
5. And you never know which box to tick when you fill out surveys with questions about race.
So I ended up just tick "Malay" because my name sounds like a Malay name, my face looks like a Malay face and my friends are majority Malays. Lewlz.
9. You’re tired of the myth that Eurasians make for successful models.
Umm, have you look me in the face? Well, exactly.
11. Shopping for skin care products and makeup is hella confusing.
Umm, yes. Every single time especially for makeup products like foundations and compact powder. They just couldn't find the right skin tone for my face *cry out loud*
12. When you go on holiday in Asia or South America, everyone speaks to you like you’re from there.
Ahh this. Yes. I went to Paris last February and I was wandering around in front of the Notré-dame Cathedral with my sister, then this group of South American I reckon, they came to me and asked, "Are you from Brazil? De donde es usted?" and I told them, no I'm not Brazilian, you must be mistaken. Then they were like, "Really? Dios mio. I thought you're from Brazil. We are from Brazil. You really look like one!" Well, there you go.
13. But at the same time, everyone in your home city thinks you’re a tourist.
I did my degree year in one of private institutions in Malaysia, that consists of so many nationalities, its like the Earth populations in one campus (not literally, my campus isn't that big but enough to fit all nationalities there. LOL!). We were all unite in a campus and my friends from Kazakhstan once asked me my nationalities and my ethnicity. They thought I'm not local and a foreigner like them too! Same goes to my local friends (Malay, Chinese, Indian), they also thought that I'm not Malaysian. They got this crazy idea of calling me "anywhere but here" girl. Hahah!
16. Or that you’re “not really Asian”.
Yes, I get that a lot too. I can't help but to wonder (still) what my exact race is. Racially mixed parentage left you confused, well, most of the time. My father is half Persian and half Chinese. My other is half Chinese and half Malay. That means, I am half Chinese, one quarter Persian and one quarter Malay. No? It's easy to just say that I am 100% Malay due to my looks, my name, where I live, what I eat, what language I speak and I speak Bahasa Malaysia fluently (I think), my accent, where most of my relatives are currently at, where my friends are (most of them are Malaysians). But whatever it is, I am one of a kind. I am one in 7,404,976,783 people of the world.
Malina, x
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