so the philippines have had an interesting history. magellan came here when he was going around the world. if you know that story you know that his crew made it but not him. he had a bit of a snafu in the philippines that ended up with him, you know dying. that happened near here. well this started about 300 years of spanish rule. lots of other countries have had influence on the culture here. then the japanese came in and occupied the islands.
well douglas macarther came and did some stuff then left and said “i shall return”. he did return and here is where he came. to where i live. my host mom here remembers it. she was in first grade. yesterday we went to see that beach where it all happened. on the way we stopped and spoke with my host mom’s brother who was older and remembers it also. his highlights were soldiers being nice to the children and ignoring the adults. they would give chocolate to the kids. they remember that while america was occupying the philippines they celebrated the fourth of july and sang the national anthem in schools. then early in the 50s the philippines gained independence, did away with our song and now celebrate on june 12th.
and that my friends, is philippine history in my very brief nutshell version of the details i know or at least pretend to know.
June 12th is my birthday!!! WOO-HOO!!!
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