Yep! It was my first ever Fourth of July weekend. On Saturday, we went to see the fireworks at Montville Highschool with my Mom's friends. It was sooo American (duh! Am I not in the US of A? haha!). It had one of those mini fairs complete with food stalls and win-a-prize games. The place was packed with a bajillion people. It's my second time to see an all-American fair though. We went to this Sacramento City Fair once waaay back in 2001. That was quite funny! They had contests for the Best Animals & Best Fruits & Veggies. You know those blue ribbon prizes that you see on TV???? Those kinds. There were lemonade stands served in HUGE football shaped containers, hotdogs, frankfurters, chilli, bbq etc... etc... Anyway, back to the Montville thingy. We got there just in time. The fireworks lasted a good 30 minutes or so. It was pretty good. Boy, do they have money to burn. If this were back in the Phils. It would have been this MAJOR event in Ayala or Luneta. This was just in one high school.
The following day, there was a celebration scheduled in the high school along our street. This time, we only had to walk out of the house to see it. There was a live band playing very American songs (country, oldies etc...). come 9:15 the fireworks started to the tune of these American songs such as "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free... & God Bless Amercia, my home sweet home....lalalalala". It lasted a good 30-45 minutes too. As usual there were hoards of people.
On the day itself, we opted out of going to Manhattan. Sayang! It looked so great on TV (which I still don't know how to operate as of now. Darn those bajillion buttons on multiple remotes!!). Macy's sure is generous for sponsoring the fireworks. Imagine five or six simultaneous fireworks displays going off at the same time. And synchronized at that. We vow to watch it live next year. You just have to be really early to get a yummy spot.
So how did I feel? This being my first 4th? Yeah! I'm a natural born US Citzen and everything but I felt well uhm... almost nothing. You see... That's the thing of having a mixed or chopsuey heritage. Can you blame me for not being overly patriotic? I was born in the US but raised as a tsinoy in the Phils. I don't fit in the pure Filipino, pure Chinese or the American mold at all. That's my mold, the chopsuey one. Hehe! It makes me think that I maybe in the best position to understand the race mix because I sort of embody them right? Anyway, better luck next year maybe? I'd probably feel a teeny bit of the jitters by then.
In a few weeks, it'll be my first Fall... we'll see... we'll see!
P.S. Because NYC lost their bid to London for the 2012 Summer Olympics, now what am I going to do with "Watch the Olympics" in my 43things?! Drat!! It was SO close! Hmm... London doesn't seem soo far from here is it?? hehe =)
