You Know You're Filipino if.....

You know you're Filipino if....

You're related to everyone

Your middle name is your mother's maiden name

You like sweet spaghetti

Your second piece of luggage is a balikbayan box

Goldilocks is more than a fairy-tale character to you

By now, practically every Filipino has received some version of this via email: a list of funny (and not-so-funny), endearing (but sometimes derogatory) list of quirks that uniquely identify the Filipino culture. One of the best presents I received this Christmas was this list in printed form: a book called "You know you're Filipino if...: A Pinoy Primer", compiled from the internet and edited by Neni Sta. Romana-Cruz. Anyone who is Filipino (or is married to one) should read it; I nearly peed in my pants laughing.

Leave it to Filipinos to distill all the absurdities of the Filipino culture and present it in a funny way (as the very last item in the book says, Filipinos like to laugh at themselves and others). In fact, the more items you check off, the prouder you feel. The end of the book has a "scoring" system so you can tally how many items apply to you and see how Filipino it makes you. I scored 84 out of a total 203 items; according to the book, this puts me in the "Malayo ka pa!" (You've got a long way to go) category. Sounds pathetic, I know, but in my defense, if I had been living in Manila, I could have added points for things like:

- living with my parents

- having a "Lazy Susan" (the turntable that goes round and round) on the dining table

- having a "clean kitchen" and a "dirty kitchen" (in Palo Alto, we can only afford the space for 1 kitchen, and it's never completely clean)

- any of the items pertaining to the way Filipinos drive (I'm a law-abiding minivan mom in the US, but whenever I go to Manila, my driving habits terrorize my husband)

That would have given me a score of 102, which would make me "Amoy na Amoy Ka, Pinoy!" (You smell, Pinoy!) Not that I eat bagoong (I'm actually allergic to it), but basically, I walk like a Pinoy, talk like a Pinoy, smell like a Pinoy... I must be Pinoy. Phew!

Anyway, go read the book, have a laugh, and see how you stack up -- or, as in my husband's case, see how your loved ones stack up!

Now that Northern California's highway 101 is becoming as "ma-trapik" as Edsa during rush hour, Bonggamom wishes she could give in to the urge to ignore red stoplights and create new traffic lanes whenever she pleases; since she can't, she blogs away her frustration at Finding Bonggamom.