4th of July on US soil

   So how does one spend the 4th of July in a foreign country?

        Recently I have celebrated several 4th of Julys in Belgium, and it is always a blast. You have Rebecca who is very patriotic and brings out all her flags and red white and blue decor and weather permitting always has a cookout at the fire pit at the bottom of the garden and Paul (Canadian) and Annie (French) who graciously join in the celebration. But this summer for me was not to be celebrated in Belgium, but rather in Macedonian which included a 4th of July picnic at the US embassy. That meant technically celebrating on US soil. According to international law embassy grounds are not the territory of the host country but of the country representing the embassy (thus why fleeing individuals often seek asylum in various embassies), so yes I was on US soil for the 4th of July!

Happy Birthday America!

        The embassy picnic was a fun event with very American music (walking towards the picnic my friend Jordan and I were both excited to hear country music!), hot dogs and hamburgers (pickles andyellow mustard that you can't easily find abroad!), and games for the kids.
                   

This is how Marta feels about her hot dog!

 Due to the relatively small size of Skopje most Americans know each other or of each other so it was fun to see and meet other Americans or American/Macedonian families. Unfortunately the event ended early due to God's fireworks/thunder storm but the previous evening they had a larger more formal 4th of July reception and a display of fireworks that we were able to see from our backyard. So I did get a dose of fireworks!

     

 The new faces of Lady Liberty?

 

         Perhaps the most significant part of celebrating the 4th of July abroad is the perspective shift. Sometimes it takes going to another country to see how much I take for granted in my country and how grateful I can be for being born in the US and being able to call the United States of America my country. God bless the USA!

In front of my state flag! OH-IO!