Happy 3rd of July!

In Zambia,
independence day falls on a hot day in late October, and a random July date in
the middle of Zambia's southern-hemispheric winter doesn't have much meaning or
significance here, so I think the Zambian people can be excused for
accidentally celebrating America's independence on the wrong day. And to be
more fair, it wasn't even America's independence we were celebrating-- it was a
festival for Zambian commercial farmers, complete with booths and tractors and
cricket games, but there were burgers and fries and cotton candy and fireworks,
so in the name of self-centered American patriotism we Peace Corps Volunteers
just assumed the party was for us and our home across the sea. So happy 3rd of July, everyone! I guess Zambia
was so excited about America's independence, they just had to celebrate a day early-- understandable.

The fireworks were
not the most incredible I've ever seen, but they were certainly the most
exciting: several of them went sideways instead of up, and we were very lucky
the field didn't catch fire. We all had to stay alert, just in case. It was a
chilly night-- like I said, it's winter here in July, not frostbite-cold but
certainly uncomfortable, especially in a world of uninsulated houses with grass
roofs and ill-fitted doors, where 40 degrees can feel extremely unpleasant--
but the sun set at 6pm so we were done with the fireworks by 8 and able to
retreat to our sleeping bags. It was a nice party-- good food, sports to watch,
people to talk with, etc. It was nice to get out of the village for a little
while-- in Peace Corps we get the 4th, Thanksgiving, and all Zambian holidays
off, and since the 4th and 5th are both Zambian holidays I get to have a nice
long weekend, meet with Peace Corps friends, eat good food, etc.

I'll head back to the
village tomorrow-- I have a program each Wednesday at the school working with
the students during their "farming period" to teach them organic
gardening (and hypothetically I'm also working with the school's enivironmental
education and HIV/AIDS clubs, though in 2 terms the school clubs have yet to
have a single meeting), and then Thursday I'm making compost with a farmer on
the other side of my village. I feel like getting in and out of my village gets
easier the longer I'm here-- not just because I'm a better bike rider and in
better shape, but because I’m much more integrated in my community now. A year or even 6 months ago I’d leave my
village for a day and come back feeling like I’d missed something important,
like I was out of the loop again, a visitor in a strange land; now I know my
village well enough that I can go away for a week and I’ll still be a part of
the community when I get back. I’ll have
programs and projects and meetings, and time spent outside my village is not
the interruption it once was. Life in
the village is hard for a lot of reasons, but it gets progressively easier.

I’d like to wish you
all a very happy anniversary of our nation’s independence. If it weren’t for the US I wouldn’t be here,
in this amazing place having this life-changing experience. Thank you Peace Corps, and thank you USA.

Whatever your plans
for this holiday, I hope you’ll comment and share them with me—I love hearing
from all of you, in letters or online or however you prefer, and just because I’m
far away doesn’t mean I’m not thinking of my loved ones back home. I recently (thanks dad!) got a new laptop
with skyping abilities, so if you’re interested in chatting face-to-face my
brand new skype name is elise.j.simons and I’d love to catch up with you. I hope you had a memorable 4^th of
July, and 3^rd and 5^th and all the rest.

And I hope your
fireworks didn’t set anything on fire.