Many thoughts have gone through my head this weekend and today as I spend my first patriotic holiday away from the country of my birth. Probably not many of those thoughts have been particularly profound; just a simple impression of missing American soil, lighting sparklers and watching my father or brother light Roman candles or fountain-type fireworks, shooting at the range with my dad, enjoying my mom's cooking (even if it's simple picnic fare some years), spending time with family, and hearing the distant boom of fireworks over the treeline at my parents' house. Darn, and here I had managed not to cry about it yet...! Okay, in all fairness, re-reading the Declaration of Independence a few minutes ago is what put me over the edge. :)
Reading the Facebook posts about the Fourth as they begin to emerge from the awakening Western hemisphere has made me a little more homesick. But I managed to wear red, white, and blue clothing along with a little flag pin, and a neighbor from South Africa was kind enough to get some coffee after school with me so I wouldn't have to spend the whole day alone. I was happy to get to affirm where I am from when the building maintenance man/manager asked me this evening.
While I didn't get the day off today, of course, I did manage to be very productive at work. If you've got to work on your nation's birthday, you may as well go all out with effort and quality. I should put forth that sort of effort and energy every day, I realize. Still, it was a blessing to feel useful and like I had accomplished something. Staying busy made the time pass a little more quickly as well. That's good since no lunch was served and students were taking exams (meaning I had nothing to do but sit at my desk all day long).
Keeping with long-standing family tradition, I DID manage to watch Roland Emmerich's Independence Day this weekend. I had planned ahead several months when I packed to come to Korea, and had brought the DVD with me, knowing this day would be a little hard. It was nice to have a little tradition I could still observe. :) Plus, I brought the super ultra extended edition, which seemed to have new scenes I wasn't familiar with. That was sort of an odd feeling! I'm sure there were celebrations at the various US military bases around the country, but I didn't feel particularly drawn to those areas.
News from back home feels a little detached though, whether I'm getting letters from home or reading Yahoo! News articles. It's sort of strange to read about congressional budget gridlocks and deadlines, election 2012 gearing up, and wildfires from this far away. I don't think it has set in yet that my brother is getting married in 3 months, either, or that I have a ticket to fly home to be in attendance.
Even though I didn't get to have lunch at work, one of the parents had bought giant "rice cakes," rolled in crushed red bean, for us to enjoy at the office. It was sort of nice to be invited over to the little lounge area by my desk neighbors and be able to share in a snack time with them. So I didn't get to go to a BBQ/cookout, but I did get to sit around companionably with people and enjoy eating as a group. This country is definitely good about that. Oh, I also had some delicious pork "BBQ" at a restaurant after church yesterday with some other North Americans. The Canadians were celebrating a belated Canada Day, and the Americans were celebrating the fourth. We went for Baskin Robbins afterwards, and I chose a "shooting stars" flavor that was red, white, and blue plus blue pop rocks. It's the little things that cheer you up!
Happy birthday, America, land that I love! May God continue to be merciful, and may our leaders there act with wisdom, integrity, and good responsibility. Happy 4th to my fellow US expats, and to the friends and family back home just beginning to celebrate this day. Thank you, any and all who either served in the military or who had/have family who have done so. I am grateful for the freedoms that have been secured for our nation, and thankful to those Americans who continue to serve here in THIS country, so I can feel a little safer working here, even given the neighbors a few degrees of latitude farther up.
I'm trying to adjust here, and it'll come by degrees certainly, but I do love my country, and today I'm very proud to be an American, even though far from her shores. God bless America!
I'm sorry that you are missing home so much- but I think you're doing fine. I've lived outside the US for 4 full years now- most of the time in places where the climate did NOT match the holidays as i remember them. In a weird way, that actually helped me not miss being back in familiar surroundings...i guess because the sites, and smells and feels were not right to stimulate my memories... But the longer your away, the more you get used to missing the holidays...christmas is of course rough, but you can just remember you won't be in Korea forever (I HOPE!!!), and being away really does help you appreciate family, friends etc all the more. I think there's a cliche about that...
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