okay!!! people hear "i grew up alone on an island" and assume i was completely cut off from culture, which is not really true i had computers, books, movies, music, the internet, and WAY too much free time to fall into whatever rabbit hole caught my attention. so yes!!! i knew a bit about filipino culture growing up, even if it was in a very scattered sort of way. obviously that is very different from actually growing up immersed in it, but i still picked up bits of language, food, folklore, history, music, and festivals. i picked up even more post-mortem! this is in spite of being filipina! AND MASSKARA STARTS OCTOBER FIRST!!!! the masks! the dancing! the COLORS!!! then lanzones festival is later in october, which is basically everyone collectively agreeing that a fruit deserves an entire celebration and i support that completely. and then higantes in november has GIANT PAPIER-MÂCHÉ PEOPLE! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D