a funny story and other faulty assumptions about foreigners

A few of us went up to one of the villages, and I already posted some pictures below. Now I just want to post a funny story before I forget it. We walked from the Kalanguya center to the street in a group of 6, I think. The others got into the first tricycle, then my husband and I got into another one a few minutes later. After we were already hiking up the mountain, one of the people in the group, a former house mate, was laughing about something the tricycle driver had said. He had asked, "Isn't that foreigner going to ride, too?"
She told him that she thinks the American will walk to where we were going.
"Oh," the driver said, "Does she know how to walk?" He obviously believed that a foreigner wouldn't have ever walked more than a few steps.
She didn't want to offend him by saying that of course the American knows how to walk, and answered, "Well, maybe her husband will teach her how to walk."

Here in the Philippines, I run into funny assumptions about foreigners from time to time. Not all Filipinos make any or all of these assumptions. Many (or most) know better. Obviously my former house mate knew better. I also learned some from a few of the Burmese students at school that I go to. Here are some other faulty assumptions about foreigners that I've run into during my time in the Philippines:

1) All foreigners are very wealthy and have an unlimited supply of money. I don't agree. I know many who barley scrape by from paycheck to paycheck, and many who were not able to go to college because they couldn't afford it. Of course, about half of the population of Manila lives in squatter communities, so on average, I think we are better off.

2) Foreigners have never had to stand up on a bus. Yes, sometimes I will be just about the center of attention when I have to stand on a bus, and people will be worried that I'm going to fall. I've had to stand up on buses at least several times before coming to the Philippines, and I think I do pretty well at it.

3) The US is built on a slap of concrete with no grass, trees, or countrysides. I inferred that from a conversation I had with a few Burmese students. They were probably thinking of things they had heard about US cities or something and forgot that there are many people who live in the countryside, too.

4) Some seem to think that there is very little crime in the US, and that it would be a safer place to live. I haven't compared statistics, but there is a lot of violent crime in the US. There may be more snatchers here, but fewer who will kill you for your wallet. And almost everyone in the Philippines has bars on every window, so robbers have a hard time getting in (but it would be hard to get out if there were a fire). Houses are often broken into in the US, though, and the fire code does not allow people to put bars on their windows. Every house on the street that I used to live on in a suburban neighborhood in the US has been broken into. Murder and rape seems to be too common in the US. And I think laptops get snatched just as much in the US as they do here.

5) People never have to work their way through school. I know one very kind older Filipina who was telling about how she had to work her way through school, and her story sounded a lot like mine and many of my friends. Then she looked at me and indicated that she thinks I've never had any hardships in my life. Humm... But I was too polite to correct her.

6) Some Filipinos assume that foreigners think that they are superior to them. Well, lowlanders seem to think that people from the villages are inferior to them (I disagree). I suppose the natural assumption, then, would be that foreigners would think that we are superior. Not only that, but they have known foreigners who seem to have had a bad attitude toward their culture. I know some older people are prejudiced based on skin color. But what I and many other middle aged and younger N. Americans have been taught and believe is that everyone is equal no matter what culture they are from. I came here thinking that way, and was surprised when people thought that they were inferior or suspected me of thinking that I'm superior when I tried to relate with some by mentioning things that I found interesting or liked about the culture or whatever.