Red, White, and Blue!

Well it looks like someone’s birthday is today.  Someone who has allowed me to meet some incredible people.  Someone who has provided me with a wealth of resources.  Someone who has blessed me with a great family, network of friends, and luxuries that many around the world will never come to know.  Someone who has given me endless opportunities… Including Peace Corps. 

The United States.

Here’s to a happy and healthy 237^th year!

In order to properly celebrate here in Uganda, I met up with some fellow Volunteers and made enough American food to feed the country.  We also shared our American love with some of the locals. 

The menu?  Semi-cold beer.  Hamburgers with cheese, caramelized onions, and bacon, cheese bites with marinara sauce, green salad with romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, and broccoli, and potato croquettes flavored with fresh cilantro and cheese.  And pickles, which the Ugandans were not a fan of. 

While grilling and grubbing out, we shared with the Ugandans some of the traditions we have in America to celebrate our Independence Day.  I told them all about the parade with military vehicles that drive down the street and how no, they do not fire artillery into the crowd, and about the marshmallow races in Inverness.

Then they asked us to sing our National Anthem. 

We kindly declined as none of us could hit the high notes.

Instead we came up with our own anthem to the tune of Uganda’s. 

We spent the remainder of the evening listening to our iTunes “We Love America” playlist, consisting of Creedence Clearwater, Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Journey, and Lynyrd Skynyrd.  This resulted in us demonstrating some classic American dance moves.  You know… The sprinkler and the shopping cart. 

I think I can sufficiently say that goal two of the Peace Corps was met today: “Help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.”