July 4

July 4, 2009

Days events: American Recreation Association, BBQ, tribal dancers, fireworks, Tickles and Giggles Karaoke Bar, dancing on stage, home by midnight

I really wanted to get a lot done today because I knew we had made plans for the evening and so I needed to make up for it. I woke up around ten and started right in. I worked nonstop until time to get ready to leave for the picnic. We took a mini-bus taxi to town, walked for a while, then found some botas to take us the rest of the way. The American Recreation Association (ARA) is on the outskirts of town as is the U.S. Embassy. Immediately when we arrived it felt very American again. One had to present a passport to verify U.S. residency, then sigh in with a U.S. address, then have your bags searched, then empty your pockets and pass through a metal detector, then pay for entrance. Just like back home. The ARA was a very nice place. A very American-type country club complete with restaurant, pool, gym, hotel rooms, tennis courts, and play ground. We bad to walk through all of this to the huge “grassy knoll” in the back of the complex. There were red, white, and blue balloons and streamers everywhere. They had also set up some tables and chairs and then three food lines, buffet style. We had hamburgers (or veggie burgers0, hot dogs, potato salad, baked beans, coleslaw, and wings. It was actually pretty good, and refreshing. Then there was also the bar. It was a cash bar so I refrained myself, only one for me. We waited around and talked to people waiting for the fireworks to start. I met a couple that was from Knoxville which was really cool. They have been here for a year but had spent the last 20 years in Knoxville. They just had their first kid and were really cool to talk to. The fireworks were beyond my expectations. Granted the timing was off a bit, but overall they were really good.
Everyone quickly scattered after the fireworks were over and Ginger and I were headed to Tickles and Giggles, a karaoke bar. It was still really early in terms of karaoke but we had plans to meet people there at 9. Andrew and his friend Simon were already there when we got there and Joan was still on her way. Ginger was in a really bad mood and needed cheering up, Joan had also had a bad night at work, and all of this led me to make our group go up on stage and dance in hopes of getting everyone to cheer up. And it worked. I was pretty embarrassed to be honest, hadn’t drank enough to not care so I got a little red. Oh yeah, and karaoke here means lip-sinking and dancing to the music. This being the case, when I got on stage to coax my friends to dance I got 6,000 Ug.Shs. tip. Not to self: If I need beer money, go do “karaoke.” We hung around for a little while and then called it a night early. We walked down the street a bit to see a lot of the bars we had heard about and then hoped on a bota to get home. It was a good 4th and we were home by midnight.