Friendship Day

Here in the Philippines, June 12 is Independence Day. So our friends and neighbors have already moved on to other things. However, July 4 is Philippine-American Friendship Day. It recognizes the US liberation of the Philippines from Japanese rule and recognition of the islands as its own country.

In talking with someone interested in the political history of the area during the June 12 celebrations however, I learned that neither the Spanish nor the Japanese had much of a presence in this region. Which would explain why there was no talk of Friendship Day in this area. I understand Manila has a large celebration, but the coastal areas would have been much more affected by the liberation than the people of the mountains who may have never seen a Spanish or Japanese person during their occupations.

Anyway, enough history. We celebrated with some good American picnic foods: baked beans, potato salad, barbecue chicken, soda, and a desert of roasted marshmallows and s'mores. Of course, all of it came with a little twist because this is, after all, not America's midwest. There was no opening a can of baked beans or deli potato salad. The barbecue chicken came from the oven instead of the grill. Talking with family was done vie video-chat on the computer. And as you can see below, we had to make a little adjustment to the campfire now that we live in an apartment instead of a subdivision.

May God bless America!