JULY 4TH 2010 - Happy Birthday USA!

Happy Birthday USA!

Today we spent our first July 4th in Costa Rica. It was a nostalgic day and very different compared to the last July 4th I spent in a foreign country.

The last 4th of July I spent in a foreign country was 20 years ago as a college student in Guadalajara Mexico. The highlight of our evening was singing the Star Spangled Banner at 10pm in the middle of a residential street with probably 15-20 other study abroad students under the influence of several Tecate beers, the "PBR" of Mexico (translation: the cheapest beer). It was quite a "chorus". (!)

This 4th of July was very different. There were still study abroad students. I saw and talked to many from Missouri and Kansas. But I wasn't in that group. I was in the "family with small children" group. Wore my KU t-shirt and Audrey had on her KU cheerleader outfit none the less. James had on a patriotic shirt with the US flag. Corwin proudly wore the t-shirt from his boy scout troup from KC. We still sang the Star Spangled Banner. But not at 10 pm at night, nor in a residential street. There was still beer involved via an all you can drink beer garden; just not Tecate and I had only one.

This 4th of July we spent the bulk of the day at the annual July 4th Picnic sponsored by the American Embassy and probaby 40 or 50 sponsors. This was the 50th year of the event. It was at a large outdoor private picnic park where for $5 US per person (and it was only for American citizens with US passports and immediate family), we had all the hotdogs, beer, soda, popcorn, kids games, picnic games, volleyball and bounce house time we could stand. But more importantly, we also saw the Stars and Stripes raised by a US Marine Corps color guard, recited the Pledge of Allegiance and then sang the Star Spangled Banner at the top of our lungs with a local outdoor live orchestra. The picture here is the flag as it was being raised on July 4th by the color guard. After the colors were raised high, the US Ambassador to Costa Rica addressed the crowd. Both with her own address and an excerpt from President Obama's July 4th proclamation.

It was both an incredibly wonderful event and bittersweet at the same time. Over the last month or so, the whole family has been more than a little homesick. Things which remind you of "home" can suddently and strongly trigger very intense emotions. When singing the Star Spangled Banner, it was all I could do to hold it together and not just start sobbing half way through it. We were told this would happen. I expected it in the kids. I didn't expect it in myself. It's a difficult thing to describe. It's like "the honeymoon is over". The boxes are unpacked. The car bought. The immigration process complete. The kids enrolled in school. The paths to grocery store, gas station, church, Walmart substitute and work are almost second nature. However, the language is different. The government is different. You can't buy an American flag because you can't find any. The extended family isn't a car ride away. Nothing you know like the fiber of your being is "just a car ride away" anymore. It's all a day's journey by an airplane going 700 miles per hour.

The question is how to manage this incredibly strong pull to things more familiar and comforting? How do we embrace our new home in a foreign country while still keeping our home country with us in our "back pocket" so to speak? It's something we will be working through for quite some time to come I'm sure. In the next several weeks, my in laws and my parents will be traveling south to see us. We've already sent "lists" of what we want them to bring from the States. The top of the list? The first thing which came to mind? Cheeseburger Mac Hamburger Helper and a very large US flag. :) Can't find either one of those things here at all. Why Hamburger Helper? Kids love Hamburger Helper. It's not gourmet. But it's easy to make. It's "American". It's "comfort food". The flag? When you're not in the USA, you're just American. You're not from Missouri or Kansas or New York City. You're not Republican or Democrat. You're just American. You want a big honkin' flag to put up whenever the mood to display your "Americanness" reaches pitch. As such, perhaps with a little "Hamburger Helper" once in awhile, a big honkin' US flag to put up when we feel the urge coupled with the fact I can play the Star Spangled Banner on my piano keyboard while the kids learn to sing it at the top of their lungs, we'll get just the "fix" we need once in awhile to keep the USA close at hand like that comfy sweater you know you'll always have handy when it gets really cold.

Have you ever been homesick? Ever away from "home" for long periods of time? What did you do to help ease those homesick blues? Drop me a comment. Would love to hear about it.

Next post: LUISA!

God Bless the USA!

Jaci