in terms of geography in my city, auckland is an isthmus. so for one city its the only ONE you have that everyone needs to go to from coast to coast. theres no other city nearby that can rival.
I sometimes say Im from the West.
westie is an identity that no other compass point seems to have, people from the north arent northies, neither are their easties or southies, though southerners seem to think they are special.
Another I can say is Im an Islander as everyone who lives in nz is technically one, we arent from the continent. But none of us say we are from down under to people who live in the northern hemisphere as that marks you out as an australian.
if you do say you are from auckland, to people who dont live there, they tend to judge you negatively or maybe they are just a bit envious, as Auckland has its haters. But I love my hometown.
people from out of town come and live here, Aucklanders dont go to the small towns unless its to retire. But no Aucklander would ask someone they first meet 'where are you from' cos its just obvious if you are here that you want to be here with other Aucklanders! Unlike smaller town people, we dont look on outsiders or visitors with suspicion. everybody comes here anyway, and you could meet anyone from all over the world. Since international flights go to our airport.
i had got to thinking that after meeting many people and always being asked the same question, often posed by someone who has never seen a person different from themselves cos they grew up in a small town where everybody knew each other or maybe just one family ruled the whole town 'where are you from' seems to be the parochial question that people pose cos it puts you into the position of having to explain yourself.
I do find that white people dont seem to understand that immigrants actually have children they are not just here to work and then go back to their homeland once the work is done. sometimes they cant go back, even if they wanted to.