My 3rd 4th

On May 24^th of this year, I was spending what would begin to be my 3^rd year out of America.  Meaning that the last time I spent July 7^th in America was in 2011.

Months after I graduated college all the while I was getting picked and probed for Peace Corps medical clearance.

Upon receiving my invitation to Uganda, I quickly calculated how many holidays I would be missing and the only one that came up three times would be America’s birthday, July 4^th. 

Year 1: Since I was in Pre-Service Training, us Trainees celebrated at the Peace Corps office in Kampala with barbequed burgers, hot dogs, salads, and cold sodas.  It was our first taste of what we had been missing.

Year 2: I traveled to Fort Portal to hike and hang out with the other Volunteers all while a local man we hired roasted delicious, marinated pork.

Year 3: Kitgum welcomed a small handful of Volunteers who decided to merge different cultures by preparing some traditional Ecuadorian dishes alongside some American ones, all followed by a day at the pool listening to American musicians.

Pool day!

I get a strange feeling when I think about my last 4^th of July so instead of reminiscing on that memory; let me share with you this year’s celebration.

Gisel, a close friend and Volunteer, came over to my house early to help purchase ingredients and prepare the dishes.  20 tomatoes, 24 onions, 10 peppers, 4 garlic bulbs, 8 cassavas, 3 bananas, 30 lemons, 3 avocados, 2 kilos of ground beef, 1-1/2 kilos of cheese, and a myriad of spices we had 9 dishes to serve up to the 5 attending Volunteers, one Dutch expat, and one of our favorite Ugandan friends from town. 

The beginning...

...the end!

We finished preparing just in time for showers, to dress in red, white, and blue, make an all-American playlist on iTunes, and do one final clean sweep through the house. 

As AC/DC sounded through the speakers, we toasted to America by sharing what we are most excited to return to, what we miss the most, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, reinventing the national anthem to the tune of Uganda’s, played what most American’s consider a prime childhood game, UNO, and watched The Patriot as we let our food digest. 

As evening came, we hiked it up the hill to watch the sun set behind the vast plains.  We thought of another 4^th of July that came and went in the UG and how that this time next year, a vast of majority of us will be spending it back in the good ole’ U.S.A.

Happy Birthday America!