Cantonese lessons and my ethnicity

I love my Cantonese tutor :). I think she's a natural teacher and genuinely enjoys helping people.

Learning Cantonese is a lot more fun than learning Mandarin. Though I must admit, it's a lot harder. Phonetically, it's a difficult language to catch on to and the tones are pretty hard to distinguish. Cantonese is such a conversational language, it's nearly impossible to learn it and learn it well in a classroom. In comparison to Mandarin, it's a lot less formal and less organized. And surprisingly, lazy language is acceptable in Cantonese. I've been told that locals generally don't adhere to the normal use of many tones and pronunciations. You know how Americans like to say "wanna," "gonna," or say things really fast that sound like "Calforna? Cantonese has equivalents. I guess that's what also makes it a hard language to learn. Listening is going to be a bit hard for me but with a bit of practice, I guess I'll be able to get by?

Oh, one observation I want to make here is... it's amazing how much money people in Hong Kong invest in education. I've been searching for tutoring opportunities left and right to stabilize my life here, and wow, the great lengths parents will go to just to give their kids an advantage. I mean, having a tutor in America meant you were struggling in school... but a tutor here is essentially a teacher hired because a parent or the student herself believes they don't have a competitive edge in their subject.

I've come across a subtle problem, however. My ethnicity. I'm not ashamed to be Filipino. But I suppose the general attitude towards Filipinos (Filipino women, to be precise) in Hong Kong is very much related to its rather large population of Filipina domestic helpers. I mean, I guess my status as a US citizen and my experience can make up for it on some levels, especially on my resume, but on a personal level when we finally meet, I sense a subtle drop in respect. Maybe it's just the trepidation talking, I don't know. Maybe I'm just paranoid. But my Indonesian friend also experiences the same things. What is it about caucasians that make them so much of a better hire? Meh... I still have confidence in my CV/Resume. So there!