Same conversation, over and over again

"No I'm not Japanese."

"No I'm not Korean."

"I'm from New Zealand."

"Yes I look Asian because I was born in Taiwan, but if you go to Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand right now, you'll see people from everywhere around the world."


If I get a dollar every time I have this conversation, let's say the money I got will probably be enough to cover all my meal costs for this whole trip. I was quite patient in the beginning, thinking that it's part of my responsibility to "educate" people, but man~ how many times is too many to have the same conversation? How about 8 times a day? That's my highest daily record so far.

Somehow I find that Indians have more problem accepting my answer when I said I'm from New Zealand, whereas most Europeans are ok with it. I think the reason is simple, many big cities in Europe are quite multi-cultural as I have observed when I was there, and people there are used to the idea of having people from different culture & background living in the same country. Which is not quite the case in most Indian cities. Sure you see lot's of westerners in touristy places, but they're just tourists.

Here's an interesting observation, guess people from which country make up the number 1 tourist population in India? Answer: Israelis.

The second place probably goes to the French.

As for New Zealanders, so far I've met 4.
Taiwaneses: 7.
Australians: 3.
Chinese: 0.