Which of these choices is incorrect:

I went to the gym and _______.

1) worked out because I’m finally starting to lose weight.

2) heard a body combat class punching and kicking to the Hairspray soundtrack

3) saw a white person in the gym.

The correct answer is, of course, Number 1. ( I mean honestly, I eat fried meat and halo-halo on a regular basis. Let’s get real.)

As I was finishing my work out, humming Hairspray as I wiped the sweat from my brow, I did a double-take of something that seemed strangely familiar but somehow out of the ordinary. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was a Caucasian male. A male wearing a pink polo and doing crunches. It took all my effort not to stop in my tracks and stare…very long.

Which brings me to my point. Why would someone work out in a pink polo? Jokes lang.

As young college Americans travel and study abroad, they are immersed in new sights and sounds. Common phrases include, “They don’t have ____ in America” or “Why don’t Americans drink ____ ?(usually a delicious yet inexpensive alcohol)” Other than the food, the culture and the traditions, America students are amazed by the homogenous body that makes up a number of countries in the world. India, China, Japan, Guatemala, Denmark. The streets and coffee shops are seas of similar stature, hair color, and facial structure. The Philippines is no exception. Anyone Caucasian, African, or blond for that matter stands out like a sore thumb.

And that is one thing that makes me so proud of America. We have racism, sexism, and the other kinds of bad -isms out there. However, we are the definition of a cultural melting pot–comprised of every language, religion and skin color. This is something special, something unique to our country and I believe our multi-cultural exposure can be an advantage if we let it. You look different from me? So what. Americans are lucky to grow up in a jambalaya of ethnicities and we should embrace the opportunity to accept one another on the basis of humanity.

You knew you could gain so much intellectual insight from a polo-wearing Caucasian sweating under the glare of his fit Filipino trainer?