Emmy in the Rice Paddy: 4th of July!!!

What's an American living abroad to do to adequately represent the best holiday ever: The 4th of July?!

1. Dress up in an obnoxious red, white, and blue outfit (it's not the 4th unless you look stupid right?)
2. Bring watermelons to school to have a watermelon party.
3. Show students a powerpoint you created with key words: parade, picnic, barbecue, hamburger, hot dog, watermelon, fireworks...and key facts: 236 years old, independence, big war, England, country who won?! FREEDOM! Celebrate, party. 13 very old states, 50 states today. Quick overview of the American flag/ what stars and stripes represent.
4. Listen to Star Spangled Banner.
5. Practice singing Star Spangled Banner
6. Lose dignity when trying to sing high part of "Star Spangled Banner" for class.
7. Watch video of Star Spangled Banner being sung at 2010 World Cup, followed by Beyonce singing it at the Superbowl. (Remind students about American football and that really big men play it).
8. Watch video of Aretha Franklin singing "My Country Tis of Thee" at President Obama's inauguration (so "real life" right? I thought that was a good idea :))
9. Watch video from Washington DC 4th of July Parade: see spectators wearing red, white, and blue, Uncle Sam on stilts, marching band, and unicycle riders.
10. Stuff faces with watermelon.

This was pretty much the extent of my 4th of July, and let's just say it was awesome. I think that because students and teachers alike take wearing their uniforms so seriously, when crazy-farang Emily showed up to school looking pretty silly it was VERY exciting. I wore my cat in the hat American flag print hat, along with an American bandana pinned onto my "I heart NY" shirt like a cape. Students couldn't stop pointing and laughing at my face (which I'm used to by now anyways, so whatever) and teachers were so excited too! Everyone wanted to take a picture with me (celeb status). On the drive to school I stopped on the road to buy a 4 watermelons. When I got to school, I didn't know how to cut them. So, some of my favorite M.1/2 girls whipped out some machetes from the school kitchen and got to work. Emily's to do list: Bring in treats for these girls! They are the best.

Every one of my classes showed up early or on time this week. Also, the students who I don't teach were way jealous, I know :)

All of my classes went excellently this week. It was so fun teaching my students about the 4th of July, how Americans celebrate (minus the getting drunk part- although I was tempted to add a picture of "Sam Adams" beer to my ppt), and a bit of history about the United States. Little know fact: It is extremely fun to make ppts. about American culture because Google Image has some pretty hilarious images pop up when you search. In one search for "America," an image of a huge tattooed beer belly in an open leather vest showed up. Yes, this is very "America" I'm afraid, but no, I did not think that it was school appropriate. During class, very few students knew that America used to be a colony of England. (However, they did guess France, Spain, and Vietnam...) Not a single student could tell me how many states there were in the US, and once I told them 50 and asked if they could "name one state," there was at least one person in each of my 9 grades that yelled out "Russia!" I don't get it. Hence, 9 different times Kruu Emily had to march to the large map hanging on our wall and teach students that Russia is not a state in the US, but a very large country where people eat beet soup.

In one of the classes I'm closest with, 3rd grade, some of my boys wanted to wear my cool hat. I was reluctant to give it to them because I looked so good, but I let them play with it. They had TOO much fun with it. I have some great pictures of this that I will always remember.

Fun fact about my cool hat: I bought it at a rummage sale for $1 in America, and I usually use it during class when we play games to draw names out of a hat. It's very hard for students to cheat because the hat is so tall, and it's also very difficult for things to fall out of it. Excellent.

For 4th of July dinner I rounded up the troops (okay- my 70-something year old ex pat neighbor and two Thai friends) for a fun dinner at the closest restaurant I could find to a hamburger place: a pizza place.

It's a great day to be a US Cultural Ambassador indeed!!!

OH OH OH! I forgot to mention that it monsooned in the afternoon of the 4th. My open air classroom has a tendency to flood. I was sitting at my desk, minding my own business when a CRAB scuttles over my feet. I was so scared...I thought it was a scorpion! So far in my classroom this year: I've almost stepped on a really scary poisonous centipede in front of 34 students, found the same live black beetle walking across my floor that was served for lunch (I'm positive), and had a crab scuttle over my feet. Living on the edge.

Off to Phuket for a long weekend tomorrow :)