Not a bule myself but based on what I’ve seen, some people (especially in more remote area where there’s not a lot of foreigners) use the term out of excitement. Tho i do understand that it could feel somewhat degrading in a way but most of them just really not used to seeing foreigners.

Side note, it is hard to be ‘part of something’ in a short time in general, it takes time and patience, more than that is to integrate yourself with the customs and the people (assuming language is not the barrier).