A Fantastic Fourth

Ah yes, the fourth of July! Personally, one of my favorite holidays-and a great one to celebrate with new foreign friends who are crazy about all things Ah'Murrican!

For the fourth, the school faculty asked the American scholars to visit the classroom of the Grade 9 students to share with them more about the holiday. We spent part of our morning class time learning phrases and vocabulary that corresponded with our traditional celebrations, and then were sent to classes to present in the evening. 40 minutes were allotted for these presntations, and the 18 of us were divided according to which classes our host sibling was in. I was the only presenter for my class-talking with 50 Chinese 14 year old students.

And it was an absolute blast.

I began to sing the Star Spangled Banner-solo, and I hadn't even finished the first verse when my voice cracked and they all applauded in what I perceived as a plea to end the tourture...They then shared about their Chinese National day and sang their National Song! Even though actually explaining and taking questions about the fourth of July only took 15 minutes, (and my attempts at speaking Chinese were laughed at quite a bit...) I ended up running over time by about 10 minutes! When I opened the floor for questions, I would never have dreamed of some of the things that would be discussed. What was supposed to be about the fourth of July turned into a "Grill the American" session on:

-Mount Rushmore: What presidents are on it and why?.....Question avoided by telling them how much I like Abraham Lincoln. They responded by asking WHY someone would want to shoot him...I'm trying to explain that some people were not OK with ending slavery...

-Father Christmas: Do I believe in Santa Claus? The girl who asked said she was positive that he didn't exist because she had never received gifts from him. But when I explained about the American tradition of leaving cookies and milk for Santa, I could see her, and the rest of the class start to wonder-if the plate was empty in the morning...who DID eat them?

-Sports: They were SO disappointed that I don't know much about the NBA (and Gossip Girl for that matter-I think they were surprised when I said I don't watch much TV...) Only two students had ever seen American football (NFL) and so I tried to explain the premise by chalk board illustrations...But that wasn't enough for me when it came to baseball. They all knew the term, but didn't know the game. So in my newly improved charade style, I acted out a play-as the pitcher, the batter, the shortstop, throwing the ball to first, then the runner trying to beat the ball, the first baseman catching the ball, the runner sliding, and the ump calling him SAFE! They all applauded and laughed SO hard. And I felt that I had done my duty as an American, spreading the love of baseball.

-School: The girls in my classroom thought that a same-sex school sounded fabulous. They felt excited that I also wear and uniform and asked about all my classes. One boy asked where I want to go to University, and I started to tell them about Georgetown, as everyone had, of course, heard of Washington D.C. When I mentioned that it costs nearly $60,000-they gasped. Higher education is not so expensive here in China-even at the very elite schools.

-Pop Culture: Harry Potter-check, Taylor Swift-check, Twilight-check, Mumford and Sons? Try again. The kids were essentially crazy about nearly every pre-teen fad that American pre-teens would be (and all things that I barely know about...). Yet, when they asked my favorite band-and to sing one of their songs, they were stumped about this 'folk'/ 'indie' music!

The classroom time was followed by a pizza party in true American fashion. We ordered Papa Johns to share with our host siblings, and even though the pizzas came decked out with some funky toppings like shrimp and wasabi peas, we enjoyed a little slice of home. Pizza is expensive here, and a big symbol of the West. KFC was actually the first fast-food franchise to come to China, and that is what is most closely associated with America. However, when I asked one of my Chinese friends if she knew what KFC stood for, she looked at me strangely. When I explained 'Kentucky Fried Chicken' and who the man was on the outside of the KFC box she was eating from, she was thoroughly fascinated. She said that she had always thought the Colonel looked like their former Prime Minister... But that doesn't surprise me-KFC serves burgers and fries here too-a strange, strange, world...

After our lovely dinner, we headed outside for sparklers and fireworks-a great way to cap of a lovely day. It was a beautiful sight to see the red, white and blue clad Americans, sparklers in hand, right alongside Chinese classmates celebrating democracy and freedom.

You know, its quite strange. I saw a tree today in a park that Baba explained is over 500 years old. It blows my mind to think that that one plant alone is far older than our nation! The young people here really love English speaking countries and Europe too. My friends took me to a stationary store and there were hundreds of items decked out with the American, Canadian, and British flags. Paris, Italy, etc. were also popular. Journals, paper, stickers, bookbags- our flag EVERYWHERE! Such an obsession...I asked them to help me find a notebook with a Chinese flag, but after searching, no such luck-they said it is because the American flag is more beautiful So since my camera is down and I didn't get any shots of our celebration, enjoy this photo of our beautiful flag!

I hope you all at home enjoyed your Independence Day! I continue to pray for the land of the free and the home of the brave, and specifically for those who lost their lives or were injured in the crash of the Boeing 777 in San Fran today. God bless the USA!