Do you folks have a lot of foreign born friends?

[urbanguy]

I know i've mentioned a little of this in other threads but i swear atleast 90-95% of my friends here are from another country its so weird i know in the city limits of Honolulu the foreign born estimates are around 30% but i swear its got to be much much higher. Here are some of the countries my friends here are from and the number of them from those places.

Colombia: 4 (2 are lebanese - i didnt even know there were Lebanese in Colombia until recently thanks to them, i guess there are like around a half million there)

Peru: 4 (one is a Chinese guy its a trip hearing him talk Spanish, cause i'd never imagine knowing a Chinese guy fluent in Spanish i guess haha, yeah i'm a dork)

Brazil: 3 (one lebanese, one Japanese, one just a regular mixed Brasileiro)

Czechoslovakia: 2 (I have the hardest time trying to pronounce my pool shark buddy from Czechland's name i think its like Premva or some sh*t like that, anyway i just say Nazdar or Dobry Den "hello" when we meet up, forget trying to say his or his wifes name.) hehe

Mexico: 2

Chile: 1

Honduras: 1

France: 1

Marshall Islands: 1

India: 2 (one is originally from Bombay, well he still says Bombay but isnt it like known as Mumbai now? Anyway he's a Punjab the other a Hindi - both got me hooked on Banghra & Diwali especially house/trance mixed with those sounds)

Iran: 1

Dominican Republic: 1 (my bachata lovin friend)

Vietnam: 4 (one is a Chinese guy he speaks 5 languages/dialects: vietnamese, cantonese, mandarin, teo chew, & english - its nuts)

China: 2 (one is from Hong Kong)

Laos: 1

Philippines: Many

Botswana: 1

Jamaica: 1 (yah mon) I became friends with this mon & the Barbadian from a cousin of mine whos really in tuned with the Caribbean & East African (Eritrean, etc) communities here as he is a reggae music promoter and many show up at his venues)

Barbados: 1

Thailand: 1

Germany: 2

Palau: 1

Argentina: 1

Korea: 3

Japan: Many

Australia: 3 (Aussies are just nuts, really good people though all 3 are friends that decided to just move to Hawaii they are all surfers and live on the northshore which they rent out a house from another friend of mine...its smoke weed, surf, smoke more weed haha good on ya mates!)

Tonga: 1

New Zealand: 1

Cambodia: 1

From U.S. Territories:

Puerto Rico: 1

Guam: 2 (one is the grandson of Ferdinand/Imelda Marcos he's a total spoiled brat too)

Northern Mariana Islands: 2 (friendly neighbors that come over and drink on occasion)

American Samoa: MANY i work with and are friends with many from American Samoa and Western Samoa and yes i am totally intimidated by them, Samoans are just huge, its scary. Most are friendly though while some that have lived here for a while are kind of ghettoized as in gangsta macks.

hmmm...i think i got all of them hehe anyway i have many friends here, its so easy to make friends here cause the people are so friendly and love to party just like me its also interesting hearing about their countries, cities, etc i really love it, learning about different cultures is totally my bag.

Anyhow, do you guys/gals hang out with a lot of foreign born peeps?

[monsoon]

[urbanguy]

^Thats one thing i noticed about a lot of foreign born on the US Mainland, many tend to just hang out around their own kind rarely ever mingling outside of work etc. Over here its like the total opposite people are always curious about others and like to converse and they dont automatically assume that your of a certain ethnic group they usually ask, i swear its probably one of the few places that the people commonly ask what ethnicity or nationality you are a lot of places on the US Mainland just automatically assumed i was Mexican or Native American etc etc depending on where i went and even talk to me in those languages hehe i'm like damn, are you aware that there are many other ethnic groups in this world? and yes i am fluent in the English language so you can talk to me in English.

[Dale]

Lots and lots, including Puerto Ricans, Cubans, Indians, Africans, Chinese, Vietnamese, Africans, Czechs, Italians, Fillipinos, Brits, Jamaicans, just for starters.

[urbanguy]

^hehe well thats pretty vague i'm mainly asking about foreign born friends that you actually hang out with and what countries they are from.

[catcher_of_cats]

Croatia (2)

Poland (4)

England (2)

Italy (1)

Germany (5)

Philippines (3)

Czech Republic (1)

Ireland (1)

South Korea (1)

Columbia (1)

[Allan]

My best friend back in elementary school was a Canadian citizen, but other than that, all my other friends are Americans.

[wolverine]

I had a Canadian friend as well. He moved here when I was in high school. In college I hung out with a guy from India. That's about it.

[BrandonTO416]

In high school many years back, we had a few exchange students I got aquainted with. One was from Sweden, another from Australia. Also one from some Eastern European nation - but I forget the name. He was slavic though, maybe Czechloslavakia?

After that I met many international students at college. In Memphis I met Vietnamese, Chinese, and some tribal Africans that had come here.

Back here near my home I met a Muslim girl from the former Yugoslavia whose family left because of the wars in the 1990's. She was very sweet and really didn't care about religion, it was just her cultural background.

[yochillout]

my girlfriend is from italy!

[some_stupid_nut]

Not really but I have lots of friends who are foreign but born in the US. I am one! We got a very diverse population at my high school. Only 60% white people in the school district. And its Virginia! But Northern Virginia.

[yochillout]

i live in northern virginia too. Where in northern virginia? I live in lake ridge

[Brickell]

Canadian, Irish, Jamaican, Indian, Argentinian, Brazilian, Peruvian, Venezualan, South African, Guyanese, Trinidadian, Belizian, German, Ecuadorian and of course Cuban.

I occassionaly play basketball with a bunch of Chinese guys, but they don't speak English and I don't speak Chinese, so there's not much socializing going on.

I forgot Fillipino, Hatian and Colombian.

[josita]

It might have something to do with living in Hawaii, no?

My circles are mainly 1st generation immigrants. I am one, and a lot of my friends are also (mexican, chilean, argentinan, brazilan, philipino). We are a unique group because i often hear issues around "being too Philipino for America, and being too American for the Phillipines". I get it too, when I go to my parents country, Chile. I am the Gringa or the Americana -- a lot of talk -- but living here, I obviously do not look the typical American. I think people get surprised when I open my mouth and I speak perfect English. We are stuck in a limbo really.

However, my husband is foreign born (north Africa) and all of his friends are also

- Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco.

A comment about Lebanese in Columbia and the Chinese Peruvian -- not sure if you know, but South America has so many immigrants from all over the world. My great grandfather was Chinese and remember President Fujimori from Peru? Also Shakira is half Columbian and half Lebanese. It is very very common.