Happy 4th of July!!!!

                                                    HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

When I studied in Spain during college the times I was the most homesick were over holidays and events when I knew my family and friends were all together and I was missing out days at the beach or easter brunch or family dinners. Since arriving in Guatemala almost six months ago (ahh) I decided to celebrate all the holidays from home and try to uphold all the same traditions and start some new ones here with my new family at NPH.

So today--marking the 4th of July--is a day where I would normally be watching the parade at my house with the masses of friends. Then making my way to the beach for a day at the beach with eating, drinking and relaxing in the sun. Which would then be followed by a group dinner and fireworks. I tried my best to uphold the traditions here in Guatemala and make the day as festive as possible.

I started off the day not wearing my uniform to work (rebel!!!) and dressing in red, white and blue. I then proceeded to teach all of my classes about the Fourth of July, through readings, games and activities in the classroom. We even had our own parade--which may have included candy be thrown. I was just trying to give the kids the full experience.

Later in the day I made an amazing cake decorated like the flag with strawberries and blue m&m's. There are no blueberries in Guatemala--so we had to make do with what we had--which included Erika and Molly going through many bags of m&m's to find enough blue ones. Following the cake making extraveganza we made a delicious dinner of pizza and beer---how much more american can one get.

After dinner the rest of the volunteers from the states, as well as Germany, Italy, Holland and Belgium, joined us for cake, sparklers (which we found in a box in the volunteer house) and some good old american music. I would say all in all it was quite the 4th of July!

                 New traditions with new friends---Happy Fourth from all the way in Guatemala!