Independence Day

Yesterday we celebrated Independence Day in Germany, American style.

I woke up early to a thunderstorm.  I love thunder and lightning, but it was too early to get out of bed and look so I just listened.  Later on when I woke up, it was still raining.  Matt and I were so excited about the rain (and the fact that it had cooled down a bit) that we went outside and played.  I in my pajamas, he in his bathing suit.  We were soaking wet and it was awesome.

It seems that the Pestheim Church (I should stop referring to it as such and find out what it's really called--Pestheim is my apartment building and it happens to be located in the field behind Pestheim) knew it was the Fourth of July--the bells were broken and ringing more often than usual.

In the afternoon everyone donned their red white and blue and headed over to COe for the party Michelle had planned.  We had a cookout (It was BYOB and BYOM(S)--Bring Your Own Beer, Bring Your Own Meat or Meat Substitute) and potluck (pasta salad, fruit salad, dessert, etc.).  Everything was delicious, I haven't had a fresh grilled hamburger in a long while.

In the spirit of a true Southern Independence Day, it continued to rain on and off all day.  That didn't stop anything, though.  People ran around in the rain in bathing suits...and clothes.  When it stopped raining, we had a game of water balloon dodgeball, a watermelon seed spitting contest, a three legged race (which was disastrous, there were many falls taken) and a crazy clothes relay.  To end the day, there were sparklers and Kevin and Robin gave a concert.  They played a Robin original and some Lady Gaga (very patriotic, I think).

Despite the weather, it was a wonderful day and I'm glad we took a minute to honor our home country (or in the case of many non-Americans that attended the party, someone else's home country).