Are you foreigner in your own country ?

hi jaiho, You don't sleep again (i think it's my fault) Oh well you know how much I love to travel it's just Mom don't allow me but I've been to some places specially beaches here I am proud of what our country had and I hope I can still get the chance to explore it in the near future . I don't feel that I am a foreigner I have enough knowledge about our country though foreigners always had the chance to explore it first. happy mylotting

i have been to the 17 regions of our country, but i have to say i haven't explored our local land still the way i like to, and i want to see more. i have seen nature's beauty, and what reality lies at the other side of the fence for our less fortunate people. thru my ngo work before, i was able to visit different areas from ilocos region to the islands of basilan and sulu. not the famous tourist spots, but the areas where economically challenged residents dwell. i have ridden in all sorts of transport vehicles, the way locals do. eaten local food except for exotic delicacies. i love visiting other countries and learn other cultures too. so far, i've only been to 7 asian lands beyond ours. and it's very interesting. no matter where i go, my heart remains with our homeland and its people. the country has been thru a lot of challenges and continues to struggle. so in our own little ways, loving our country back can be shown thru the little efforts in making a difference to the lives of the locals, its people. i guess if i say i'm a homebody...nobody would believe that i've visited so many of our local areas already. lol i really am a homebody. and i wouldn't believe it myself. that i actually did what i did when i've visited some of the areas i've been thru. but i look at them as little adventures. in the next few months i'll be visiting davao, bohol, cebu and iloilo, for about a week in each area. and i'm quite excited about it. have a great thursday!

I love the Philippines! It may not be the best place on earth, but no matter where I will be going to in the future, here is where I will always go home to. I love traveling to the different islands. This year alone, I've been exploring the country - underground river in Palawan, climbing the pristine Mt. Timbak in Benguet, rocking Camiguin-CdO-Bukidnon (best trip this year, so far), river-trekking and beachineering at the Quezon Province, beach camping at Zambales, sharing with our kulot brothers and sisters at Bamban, Tarlac and planting mahogany seedlings at Mt. Sembrano, Rizal. All I can say is that our country is beautiful and we should all help preserve it. I have a lot more exploring lined up this year, and I suggest to our fellow kababayans here, and invite all other lotters to visit our place. Happy Thursday and Last-Day-of-the-Month, too!

Interesting discussion. I was born in Boston, Massachusetts. I left home at 18 going out to Los Angeles and then north to San Francisco. By some fluke, I ended up in Central Texas in 1972. I am a yankee and I have a strong Boston accent. And it has presented real problems in Central Texas. I have heard persons refer to me as a foreigner. In 1972, I met people who refused to talk to me because of my accent. And would you believe that some of those same persons, who are still alive, still do not speak to me. When I came to Texas, I did not understand the culture and history that is Texas. I did not realize that my being a yankee with a strong yankee accent could possibly be such a problem. I have been tolerated but never accepted. I have always been an outsider looking in. If I knew back then what I now know, I would never have moved from San Francisco to Central Texas in 1972.

At some times, I really do feel like a foreigner in the state I live in. I live in South Florida and if I go to certain areas it's all hispanic people that speak Spanish and I feel like I've traveled to another country. I don't mind if people move to where I live from other countries, I just wish they would take the time to learn a little bit of the language. It gets annoying when I'm in a store and ask an employee a question and they just look at me because they only speak Spanish and not English. I mean, if you're going to work somewhere and interact with people, shouldn't you at least be able to speak the language? I'm not trying to be rude to foreign people moving to where I live, it's just something that really bothers me when they only speak Spanish and get annoyed when I ask them something in English. It's like, hello! You moved to where I live remember? We speak English here. I know the U.S. is supposed to be a melting pot but people should at least try and understand the language. lol...Sorry for the mini rant.

No.. because I really appreciate all the beautiful places that we have in my country. I'm also lovin' the culture and tradition that we have, specially the hospitality of our people. and I'm really proud to my country and for being a FILIPINA..

I have to say I am. I lived outside this country for most of my life and have been in India only since my marriage a little more than a decade ago. Though my parents raised me as Indian, I have to say it was a mix of cultures and I am more influenced by the western culture and am not very clear on some of our own rituals. I had to learn them the hard way. Though I do know my mother tongue since my parents insisted we speak only that language at home..and we also learnt to read and write the language, I think we were also influenced by other accents of the same language. Whenever I visit my native place and speak in the language, people ask me if I studied outside the country. At the same time, my Hindi is pretty good (don't ask me how) and people say I speak Hindi very well for a south indian and I don't have the Malayali accent. As far as knowing/visiting the places go, I'm still not familiar with the city I have lived in for the past 11 years...how would I know the rest of the country? But I find it easier to travel around in my city of origin.

Hi jaiho yes I believe a lot of us Americans are also strangers in our own county. While i have traveled to other states around my Nome state South Dakota like Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada,Iowa ,Nebraska and Minnesota there are so many states I have lnot visited. o h I lived in Arizona and have visited New Mexico too. but none of the southern states although my forbears lived in Missouri and Indiana and Kentucky. I also would love to visit New York. I did get to see Chicago so I have been in Illinois. but I have not seen any of the eastern states at all ever. I have been to Bahja California but not to so many states not even Kansas either.

Well in the Philippines, many have that kind of mentality. Many desires to go abroad and see the beauty of other countries ignoring the beauty of his own and without even realizing that tourists flock to the Philippines to see those beautiful themselves while he, the citizen has not even seen the places himself and has no desire to see them because his mind is preoccupied with his desire to see other countries rather. How sad! But come to think of it. It is but a natural tendency of man. Those things around us we tend to give less attention, those things just within our reach we tend to ignore the real beauty and value. And it is a reality that Filipinos do have colonial mentality, his own products, his own talents, his own places he find inferior and of lesser value. How sad!

Hi jaiho:Nice question. Honestly the world is full of somany beautifulplaces that I will never be able to say that I knwo allmy country. I love my country but there will always a nice place to visit. A new town you have never visited and suddenly you want to explore it. I don't think you have to know all your country to visit other ones. Of course it would be amazing if you can. I love my country but I know that the world is full of beauty and I want to see all the different demonstrations of beauty that are all around the world. ALVARO

I am from philippines and a lot of scenic spots/tourists spots that every foreigners want to visit. I, as well wanted to visit these places and take a photos of them but sad to say I've never been to many beautiful places in the philippines. Actually I want to travel around philippines but got no time. Hope soon I will find time.

When in was in grade school, I had this colonial mentality. I knew their cultures better than mine. I spoke their language better than I could speak my national language and I even bought their products believing that they havethe best. And I planned to travel and explore their land and never thought of exploring mine. As I grew older I realized that I should love and patronize my own. Yes sometimes the quality is not that good, but who would trust my own country's product if I don't? I still speak English much better than I could speak my national language. That I cannot change as my tongue got used to that but I feel no shame in telling people where I'm from. There are products made here that I'm using and making me proud though there are still products that I would prefer to get from another country. I plan to explore my land before going to another country. Now I Don't feel so foreign anymore!

I can say I am a foreigner in my own country. I live in the Eastern part of my country, and I have hardly ever been to the Western part, although my country is small with about 2,3 million inhabitants. I might say the capital city is in the middle, and people from different parts of the country meet there looking for better possibilities. There are many nature sights, parks, recreation centres to visit in smaller towns as well. I have been saving money to travel abroad, I did not consider it worth saving money for going to some beautiful places in my own country I have not yet visited. Thank you.

I consider myself a foreigner in my own country. You see, I have toured and lived in the U.S. twice already. Have stayed for almost 2 weeks in Japan. A week in Hong Kong. But for the life of me, I have never even seen those parts in my beautiful Philippines that are said to be really worth seeing and visiting like Puerto Princesa, Puerto Galera, and many more. And in those times I was able to go anywhere (say Cebu, Bohol, Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Legaspi), they were all because of work. I wish my family and I can go on vacations more. Here around the country, most preferably.