these (chinese) eyes of mine

They say our eyes are the windows to our souls. Is that why people who do no good avert their eyes when you talk to them? Like liars can't look you in the eye. Like I can't look at people straight in the eye if I don't like them. Or when they have something stuck between their teeth(ew!).

It took an old cheerful Chinese lady miles away from home to point out what to her and probably to most people I meet was seemingly obvious -my Chinese eyes and eventually my lineage.

(Mind you, it's rare to find one in HK. Cheerful Chinese, that is. Like a needle in a haystack. Smile is a precious commodity in the land of Jackie Chan. Hehe)

I was shopping along the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui after my business meetings when something caught my fancy in one of the narrow alleys, where I usually get my good buys.

I wasn't my usual jolly self that night & I was determined to be just that so I was just ignoring the lady vendor when she was talking to me in Chinese. You see, when I'm in a foreign land, I feel like I have to be extra friendly & be Ms. Congeniality as I am representing my country. I feel like I'm obliged to be an ambassador of goodwill & promote my country, culture & products etc. Haha! So normally, I'd smile my prettiest like beauty pageant candidate & say,"Hi, no Chinese. English please. Philippines," short of a curtsy. But not tonight, I didn't feel like talking or smiling. In fact, I just wanted to stroll away. But then I thought the jade pendant would look good on my plain knit top that I'm wearing the next day. Therefore, I had to talk to her. If only I could just snatch it & run away.

So I looked at her friendly eyes & before I could say anything, she asked, "are you Chinese?"

Here's how our poor English conversation went with lots of body language in between:

"No, Philippines."

"Ah, Philippine. Philippine-Chinese."

(I don't know why but Thais & Chinese no matter how many times I say "Philippines" couldn't quite get the"s" at the end & would still say "Philippine.")

"No, Philippines only."

"Sure, not Chinese?"

"Yes, sure."

"Those eyes, Chinese eyes," She said pointing at my eyes then at hers and smiled.

If you should know, I got the jade tiger pendant & got to wear it the next day & the next couple of weeks. Soon after, I got tired of it & hasn't worn since. This was in 2005.

Back in the Philippines, a year or so after, in one of our visits to Isabela, my mom's home province & my birthplace, I was telling the story to amuse my grandparents & a bunch of relatives. They were all laughing including my mom & dad, as if they were hearing it for the first time. Then they looked at me,as if seeing me for the first time & agreed that I did have chinky eyes. (Oh really??? You don't say!!!) And we started enumerating family members who are "singkit." Then my lola spoke, "you know my father, your lolo is Chinese. We used to..."

We all looked at her in disbelief as if asking, and you never mentioned this because? Then laughter as she started telling stories of the old days.

Fast forward to 2008, I am sitting in front of my first cousin Lisa, who doesn't have a hint of Chinese features in her. She's a Pinay beauty - beautiful brown skin, long black hair & her eyes are black & medium-sized.

I tell her, did you know we have Chinese blood? And she goes, what?!!! And I so narrated to her the whole story from Hong Kong to Isabela. Then I reminded her, remember Tatang Anghel, my lola's father, with his white shiny hair,short stature and the eyes! And she said, so that's why he looked different! She added, come to think of it, if you put him among old Chinese men, he belongs!

She was quite happy tofind out she's got a spit of Ming blood running in her veins. Maybe because who doesn't want to be related to Yao Ming nowadays? Now that the Chinese are one of the superpowers. Or simply because she's an OFW working in Taiwan & knowing that she has somehow that "connection" with her bosses is a good thing for her maybe.

It's just that it's probably hard for people to understand or accept her Chinese lineage because she has no visible proof. Unlike me, with my Chinese eyes.