Happy America Day!

The Fourth of July has always been my favorite holiday, ever since I was a little girl. I'm a very patriotic person, so the holiday is the perfect chance to be really obnoxiously proud to be American. a And I've always loved having fun outside all day in the sunshine (preferably by the water), eating lots of tasty BBQ treats, and lighting off tons of fireworks. The day is usually one big party, and I just love everything about it! But I've missed the last two Fourths. Last year, I was still chaperoning my People to People trip, so we celebrated the holiday modestly with just some flags in our dessert at our hotel in Belfast. This year, I'm again away, but I was able to be more loud and proud, as I shared some of my favorite American Fourth of July traditions with my students and coworkers at La Retraite.

The day started off fabulously, as my friend Leah picked me up with our friend Anna and gave me a lift to school. Both of them wore red, white and blue and even painted their nails red (isn't that so sweet!?), and they brought me a true American breakfast--McDonald's! They are such sweet friends and really do spoil me!

As soon as I walked in the door at school, the well wishes started pouring in from staff and students alike. I heard many "Happy Fourth of July"s and "Happy Independence Day"s. But the greeting I liked most was "Happy America Day, Miss," which is what the majority of students said to me. They didn't quite know what to call the holiday, but they knew it was an important one and were eager to wish me a happy day. And since now the Fourth of July is much more about a celebration of America and freedom in general rather than a celebration of our independence from Britain, I think "America Day" is a very apt name!

Teaching on the Fourth of July was totally foreign to me, and once I got over feeling sorry for myself (ha!) I decided to put together some fun stuff for us to do. I knew I wanted to share some information with my students about what the holiday is and how we celebrate at home, so for my lessons, I put together a short PowerPoint of information about the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers, and then some fun info about traditions like parades, fireworks and food. After going through that, and answering TONS of student questions (they are beyond fascinated with all things American) we moved onto our main activity. I had the kids write a list of 10 reasons why THEIR country was great on one side of a piece of paper. Then, we made firework designs on the other side using crayons where they colored their whole paper with different colors, then covered it with black crayon and finally scrapped away some of the black. The crayons I bought from the 99 pence shop were a bit too cheap for this to work properly, but many of them turned out really cute. I also passed out some Hershey's kisses to each of the kids so they could have a little taste of America.

For the staff, I put up some fun American decorations in the staff room, and I baked up a storm of American goodies for everyone to try at lunch. I made Oreo cheesecake cupcakes, cornbread with butter and honey and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I know the PB&J doesn't sound very exciting to us Americans, but it's actually something most Brits have never tried. They don't tend to mix savory (salty or bread-like) and sweet the way we do, and for them, putting peanut butter and jam on bread was a bit foreign. Most people tried it though, and I don't think I heard anyone not enjoy it! The corn bread is another mix of savory and sweet that baffled many of the British teachers who tasted it, but again, most really enjoyed it. And the Oreo cupcakes were a huge hit--I even had to print out a bunch of copies of the recipe for them. :)

Anna and I

These were such easy little treats for me to bake, but everyone was SO appreciative and excited to try new things. It really made me feel special that they were willing to join in the fun and participate in the holiday, even though it could have potentially been a bit awkward, considering the history... But the day played out all in good fun, and many of my fabulous coworkers were more than happy to hear my stories about how we celebrate back home and learn a bit more about American culture. Some of them even carried around American flags or put little flags on their shirts or in their hair! It was so fun and so sweet.

After school, a few friends and I went out for a fun dinner out to celebrate the holiday. We sat outside and soaked up some sunshine, which was something I had been dying to do all day! I also made sure to order a burger so I could feel a bit more American. It was the perfect way to wrap up a unique, fun celebration of America with friends who have truly blessed me this year. I've never had a Fourth of July like this before, and I know I'll never get to experience it this way again. And doesn't that make this spectacular day even more special?

Happy America Day!

Donal, Leah, Anna, Cristina, Rohanna and I