4th of July

I have now experienced all major American holidays in Rwanda with the 4^th of July beating out all the rest as the most American. Halloween was nice, Thanksgiving was delicious, Christmas Eve/Day was a blur, and New Year’s Eve was memorable, but American Independence Day beat them all as truly the most American of all. Peace Corps let us go to the embassy for their celebration and boy did the U.S. Embassy do it right. Though it was more of a family event – a carnival really – it was really nice to be surrounded by a couple hundred Americans, enjoying American food, drinks, and music. At the embassy, they took our cell phones and cameras before we could go in, but if I had a camera, I would have taken pictures of the absurdly disturbing clown and telatubby (sp?); the Peace Corps Rwanda Director being dunked in the dunk tank by a fellow PCV; ice cold Budweiser; hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza, ice cream, and brownies; carnival games; the ambassador walking around and greeting everyone; the flags of all 50 states; and the overly satisfied group of PCVs who made the trip. What was funny was all the PCVs in attendance were from my group, which one of the PC doctors said was because our group is the most daring. Not quite sure what that means. I guess we like to push the limits? At the close of the embassy party, they projected fireworks up on a huge screen. Though I didn’t stay long enough to see them, I don’t think they compared to lying on the beach watching fireworks on the Cape. I certainly missed the Chatham Parade and Cookware sandwiches, but this Embassy celebration and the subsequent night of celebrating were certainly a close second.