A South African 4th of July

I actually forgot about the 4th of July this year (American Independence Day). I only remembered because I received an email from our organisation saying the U.S. office would be closed on Monday 5 July because of the holiday.

I thought it might be fun to host a braai for the other Americans we know here. We made traditional American picnic food (even though it's winter here) - hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, pork and beans, deviled eggs, and carrot and celery sticks. We even made homemade ice cream for root beer floats, except that you can't get root beer in South Africa, so we made Coke and Granadilla Twist floats. The only thing missing was the watermelon, but as I said, it's winter here and there is no watermelon to be found.

The guys kicked a soccer ball around outside and then came in to sing a rousing rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, complete with vuvuzelas:
The fact that we called it a braai and not a barbeque, and the fact that vuvuzelas made their way into our national anthem tells me that we are becoming a fun mix of both cultures. And I have to say, it was the most fun 4th of July I've ever celebrated.