Halloween...back then

[Susan]

>>dismemberment, much blood and gore, hands grabbing from the darkness, scared hell out me so much that I still remember it 25 years later! Good times.<<

Don't you think tv, news and our culture in general has really instilled fear in our lives? Don't drink the water, you'll die, black mold, your kids will get shot and high school, french fries cause cancer...I mean they take isolated incidents for the most part and try to incite mass panic. Not to mention malls can draw in customers and churches can too...when they open their doors as "safe havens" for halloween kids. First of all halloween is supposed to be scary, secondly everyone has been brainwashed into thinking the boogyman is really out to get them on that nite. It's too bad the same adults that loved being scared as a kid grew up to be the adults who let fear and commercialism drive their decisions.

Funny military life, people don't understand as a brat you can timeline your entire life. I also have vivid memories of being 2 in Germany and can remember almost everything about living in the philippines. If anything we grow up survivors, nothing scares me...well except for the suv soccar mom cult..heh

[Scott]

Susan and Deej this may sound strange, but I was born in Landstuhl, Germany on the military base hospital and we lived in Kaiserslaughter, but I was to young to remember it. The only thing I remember are the photos and postcards in a photo album. As a citizen born abroad I have two birth certificates and duel citizenship from what I know. My fathers side of the family spoke fluent German and come from the Bremen Haven area along the Weser River.

Susan my wife is from the Philippines and I've been there twice in the 80's.

[Susan]

Scott, that is strange. But then of all those i've met who have been stationed overseas it always seems like they spent time in germany, the philippines or korea. We lived in weselberg (later at clark afb in the philippines)I still remember a little tagolog even tho i have no use for it much less remember what it means. (magandang gabi sa iyo? oo, hindi, salamat, halika dito..)

Recently I had an interest in learning german on my own, i attribute it to the fact that my earliest impressions were of the german language since we lived in a german town where nobody spoke any english. Guess it seeped into my subconcious. That's pretty awsome to have duel citizenship. If it had been just a couple of months later I would have also been born in germany, but I am a native of sacramento..to which I have never seen the likes of.

I think by the 80's things had changed in the phillipenes. When exactly did our presence pull out? We were there during marcos in the late 70's. I loved the people, it was a beautiful place albiet poor. We found someone who went recently to revisit the same streets we lived and took photo's. I spotted my house in the shot, nothing but walls and overgrown vines all over it...like some ancient remnant of civilization amidts the jungle. Even my school and the base just..nothing left.So opposite from how I rememberd when the immaculately manicured lawns and lush greenery and freshly painted house. Ahhh..i can still hear the sound of the local city bus backfiring up the road and the bugman coming to spray. The brown-outs and neighborhood get-to-gethers with the culdesacks littered with children, party lines, but an overwhelming sense of love for that place. Being able to just eat guava off the tree and have pinapple bushes in the yard.   That is sad to know i'll never be able to revisit that part of my childhood..not  as it would be nothing but overgrown vegitation and the faint echos of a handful of military brats who became the fastest of friends listening to Queen on the radio and riding their bikes to the nearest offbeaten path with daylight chasing them. Always knowing it wouldn't be long before you never saw that friend again. It only exists in my memories.  
R.I.P 40th place



Post Edited (10-25-03 19:33)

[Scott]

I hear what your saying Susan. Though I was born in Germany I grew up in Elmira, NY area and that is were my best memories of life are. Elmira NY will always be my real home. Those days will never come back.

My wife grew up in the Philippines and came to the states with a work visa. She rarely speaks her native language except when speaking with friends from the Philippines and my daughter only learned as much as I have and that is not much. The words that you typed are:

magandang = It's a form of the word good. Used as in like good morning. "Magandang Umaga" I really don't know much of the language.

oo = yes

hindi = no

salamat = thank you

The people of the Philippines really love life and family. Life is family. Food is important to them. Almost a religious feel to it. They are generally a very beautiful and happy people to be around. They are an intelligent people and they also love America and Americans for the most part (they have their protesters, the educated, believe it or not). They are one of our best allies in the world. During the war against Japan their heroics are well known. I wish they could have become a state like Hawaii did, but it was never in the picture on either side. It was a U.S. territory for 50 years after 300 years of Spanish rule and we promised them their independence and they received it just after WWII. Their goverment is modeled after ours with the 3 branches of goverment, legislative, judicial, executive.

Clark AFB and Subic Naval Base close about 1990 after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo. They were leaving anyway, but the eruption just speeded up the process.

In my wifes neiborhood in Metro Manila most homes have one coconut or bannana tree on their property. I seen alot of Mango trees and pinapple groves along the country mountain sides. It's a beautiful country.

For transportation we used everything. Jeepney, Motorcycle, Bus, Taxi.

The street isn't paved were my wife lives. No hot water. Brown Outs are frequent, flooding occasionally, heat, traffic, air pollution (no catalytic converter and everyone wears a mask or cloth around over the mouth at night when everyone comes out.), sqatters, beggers. Other hazards are earthquakes, typhoons, goverment coup attempts, terrorist, kidnapping, etc. The Peso in the 80's was 25 pesos to 1 U.S. dollar, but now it's 50 pesos to 1 U.S. dollar. If you go to a public place or business that has air conditioning you will see armed guards with shotguns near the doors to keep undesirables from entering. It's different and quite the experience. Check out my profile and I have a few photos up from the Philippines.

We have always fantasied about buy a large home and retiring there, but it's really a dangerous place to live. My wife isn't really that interested in staying there.

My daughter has all her cousins (8) and aunts and uncles (4) over there, but the only way she can see any of them is if she goes over there to visit. They are not aloud to visit here because you must get a visa and that is impossible. Giving money hasn't been a solution, but we have helped set up business for them over there. We'd like to do more, but they are just so far away. The flight itself is 24 hours long.