June 12th was my first Philippines Independence Day outside Canada. My Filipino friends invited me to join a mini-celebration and flag raising ceremony at the Philippines Consulate in Sinamangal.

I initially showed up at their house wearing shorts and a trekking shirt (big mistake) and shortly after, I was sent home to change into more appropriate attire and borrowed barong shirt.

When we arrived at the consulate among the 100 or so attendees, I could not tell who was actually Filipino and who were Nepali (we all look so a like). And of course, everybody thought I was either Nepli, Chinese or Japanese (not even Filipino, sheesh!).

It was definitely a fun morning. The flag raising was kind of clumsy (they had trouble getting it up), the food was good (free and good till lunch) and entertainment was spectacular (Bugz said an inspiring speech along with a traditional candle dance with Rachel and Sousmita’s solo singing performance was mesmerizing).