July 4th

One of my favorite experiences about living abroad for a year was celebrating holidays in new ways. In many ways, I may be considered a traditionalist as far as holidays go. When at home, I like to do the same things year after year, eating the same foods and celebrating with friends and family in our usual ways. But being away, celebrating in new ways, certainly has its perks and memory-making capabilities. In all honesty, it is often trying to celebrate how we do at home, but having to make local adjustments that make for the best memories.

The Thanksgiving I spent here was probably one of my favorites, despite how much I missed being with my entire family back home. The staff here at the school I was teaching at surprised me with an enormous feast and a phenomenal celebration. That evening, Gemma and her family prepared a Thanksgiving feast and a gorgeous family celebration. The following weekend, Natalie, Stephanie and I gathered at Jessica's house to have our own Thanksgiving meal. None of us had ever prepared the big meal, so figuring that out together was a hilarious adventure.

I was still teaching on the 4th of July the year I was here and the school allowed me to plan the entire day. Students wore red, white and blue clothing, learned some American history, learned line dances, played field-day games and had a blast celebrating America's birthday.

Today, we three Americans decided to make sure we celebrated our country's birthday, even though here that seems like a conflict considering, well, it is where we won our independence from. Getting dressed was a coordinated event. Jessica and I had little in the red, white and blue patriotic form, but we wanted to be appropriately dressed for the day. Natalie had a perfect red patriotic shirt, so Jessica went with a blue and white striped shirt, while I wore just a white t-shirt. I'm confident people laughed as they saw the three of us coming, but thankfully none seemed to laugh in our faces.

We caught a short train ride to the neighboring big city of Newcastle. As it is the big city around, it is a popular destination for a night out whether in celebration of a wedding or a birthday, and on the train we saw multiple large parties all dressed up. Upon arrival, there were even more groups of people celebrating: brides in sashes and grooms dressed in drag. I'm glad they had a lovely sunny day to celebrate.

Newcastle is set on the river, like so many old cities here with beautiful bridges, each one very different and unique from the last. We knew this would be a perfect place for our rebellious 4th of July act. We found a spot along the river away from the crowds and proceeded to rip open the tea bags we had brought with us. Yes, today, these American rebels threw tea into the river. No, it wasn't exactly a harbor, nor were the events of the Boston Tea Party even on the 4th, nor in this country, but hey, we had to celebrate somehow!

After our shenanigans, we found a great spot outside where we could sit and enjoy lunch in the sunshine, sort of like we would all be doing at home. Another group of Americans came by, flaunting their red, white and blue and somehow knew immediately that we, too, were Americans. It was nice getting to wish others a happy 4th, you know, without offending anyone! We noticed many people, most of which were British, flaunting American t-shirts either of a favorite city, team, or even the flag. So, even though there were no big celebrations here, it was still recognized.

We strolled through the city, admiring the facade and architecture of the beautiful buildings, finding markets to browse through and ice cream to devour before wandering back to the train station for the short ride back to Durham.

We continued our celebrations back at the house by watching Independence Day and adorning ourselves in American stick-on tattoos. I made some roasted okra for everyone to try, then we (mostly Paul) prepared burgers, French fries, and corn on the cob while listening to country music. We stacked our burgers high and quickly felt stuffed, just like we would at home. Lacking fireworks for the celebration, we went outside and watched a video of fireworks on the iPad, ooing and ahhing along with the video, just like we would do with a live show at home. S'mores were next in the celebrations, but those, too were a little different. There are not really graham crackers here, but there are type of biscuits (cookies) who's name is less than appealing, but they taste delightful: Digestives. The Digestives we bought were chocolate covered, so with a microwave and a plate, we created our very own s'mores: perfect combination of delicious and messy. 

This 4th of July, like mine two years ago, was very different from ones in the past, and yet it was, as Mary Poppins would claim: "practically perfect in every way." 

Happy Independence Day! I hope you pursued happiness today!