An Expat 4th of July

It did seem strange waking up on the 4th of July and going to school. For the first 18 years of my life, the 4th of July was just another day for going to the pool, eating corn on the cob, and enjoying the freedoms of summer (oh yeah, and America, too). Even after I went to college and had summer jobs, I never had to work that day. So heading off to school like it was just another Monday was kind of difficult. Granted, we did our best to rally our pieces of red, white, or blue clothing, but still, the American spirit was really only to be found in our hearts. And even though Ghanaians adore Barack Obama, I don't think anyone had a clue it was our country's birthday. And why should they, really? But still, it made for a most interesting day of mixed emotions.

I arrived at school to find six new volunteers from the states. It felt strange to welcome them into the school, because they were clearly looking at me as a seasoned veteran, just the way I looked at the other volunteers my first week. I remember asking the volunteers (who have all left now), "How long have you been here?" When they said, "Three weeks," I felt like that was a lifetime, and that I would never know as much about the school as they. But when the new girls asked me, "How long have you been here?" and I said, "This is the start of my fourth week," I wanted to tell them, "No, I don't have it all figured out!" or "I know it sounds like a long time, but really, I'm still new here, too." Their arrival helped me put my time at the school into perspective, realizing that every day counts. I did tell the other volunteers not to get frustrated; "You will have good days and you will have bad days." That's what the volunteers told me when I got here, and that might be the truest statement anyone has said to me in the last month. Thankfully, I had a pretty successful music lesson with both classes, which put a good vibe on the day and week.

I needed to get some money exchanged downtown, so I went to Baobab for lunch, where I met up with two of the other Global Mamas volunteers. With fresh fruit or toast for breakfast, and Eli's creations for dinner, lunch is the hardest meal to eat here. Any day I can make it to an actual restuarant for lunch is a good day, especially one that serves garlic mushroom and avocado sandwiches.

Rather than burden Eli with trying to make an American feast, we decided to go to one of the beach resorts in Cape, Oasis, for a nice dinner. Around 5pm, I met the girls at the Global Mamas office as they were finishing up for the day, and we headed over to Oasis. When we got there, a group of four men were drumming, which I loved. Three of the men were clearly Ghanaian, and the fourth was a tall, gangly white guy. "One of these things is not like the other," I sang quietly to my end of the table. All jokes aside, the white guy knew what he was doing, and I was very impressed.

Most of the girls ordered burgers and fries. Emma, the other vegan, and I split a vegetable pizza and order of fries. Our waiter brought us a bottle of Heinz (yes, Heinz!) ketchup, which we nearly devoured between the nine of us. The full bottle was about 1/4 full when we finished. We ended up not being the only Americans to go out to celebrate; nearly every table around us was full of Obrunis eating fries and drinking beer.

We sat around a talked for a while, recalling past 4th of Julys and wondering what our friends and family were up to. When we finished dinner around 8:30, it seemed strange to think that the real fun hadn't even begun back home. We left dinner singing every patriotic song we could think of. I wonder what the Ghanaians thought as nine white girls walked through the streets singing "The Star Spangled Banner" at the top of their lungs. By the time we made it to the taxis, we had been through "America the Beautiful," Yankee Doodle," "Proud to be an American" (twice), "You're a Grand Old Flag," and the rap of the states that both Erin and I learned in 3rd grade with Mr. Bean ("I can do a rap of the map of the U.S., starting with the A's alphabetically..." yeah.)

I have never been one to describe myself as patriotic. Try as I might every year to make myself appreciate the freedoms we have that others could never imagine, I could never really wrap my head around it. It took spending Independence Day in a foreign country to really understand the depth of the freedoms and opportunities America can provide us because of one day, hundreds of years ago. And although I don't think that we will do anything special to celebrate the 4th of July next year, I do think that it will be a special day for me as I think back to the previous Independence Day that I spent in Ghana, and remember it fondly.