Rah! Rah! U-S-A!

Happy Independence Day!

Oh wait, it is not Independence Day. Nor is it July 4th. It is the 28th of June. But today is the day that Americans in Latvia celebrated the 4th of July.

July 4th is the yearly Latvian Commemoration Day of Victims of Genocide Against Jewish People. It was on this day that a large number of Latvian Jews were hounded up by their Nazi occupiers, locked inside one of their synagogues, and burnt alive as the building went up in flames. In order to be sensitive to this somber day of remembrance, the U.S. Embassy in Latvia throws an annual Independence Day celebration on the Saturday prior to July 4th.

The celebration warmly resembled that of an American picnic. It was held at a nice park. There were booths set up, each offering different food and drinks. There were inflatable bouncy house toys and face painting for the kids. American tunes were also blaring from a speaker system.

It was a fun time. Funny enough though, it just didn't quite feel like the 4th. Here's why:

A) Today was not the 4th of July. There is just something distinctive in the air - like a tasteless, odorless gas - on July 4th that we all breathe the second we wake up. Somehow, there is a noticeably different feeling to the day; you know what I'm talking about. Not being July 4th, that 4th of July feeling was absent.

B) Today was overcast. I cannot ever recall a 4th of July in my life that was not sunny and clear. Being cloudy, it just didn't feel like the 4th.

C) I was a minority at my own Independence Day celebration. Although there must have been 300-400 people at the party, I was not surrounded by Americans talking about the baseball season or the elections like I expected, but Latvians speaking their unintelligible (to me) language. I would guess that 95% of everyone there was not American, but Latvian who also happened to have American citizenship.

D) There was no root beer or ice cream. Celebrating the American summer-time celebration without root beer or ice cream (preferably homemade) is equivalent to an Oktoberfest without beer: it just doesn't happen.

E) I was still alone. Normally the 4th is a time that families and friends get together to barbecue and to play. It was just me and my camera.

And finally, did I mention that today was the 28th of June?

But it was still fun. I was proud to be an American, even if it was on a cloudy 28th of June, without any root beer, and all by myself. I wandered around, eating, drinking Coke (it was either that or Kvass, which is absolutely gross), and trying to meet the few people who were actually from the States.

Today's best moment occurred as I was standing in line for a piece of pizza. Without any pre-meditation or thought, I instinctively began singing along to the Cougar fight song. After singing a line or two, I realized what it was that I was singing and thought, "wait a minute...?" I stopped singing and listened. Lo and behold, the Cougar fight song, with its very American marching band feel, somehow made it onto the music playlist (not the words of course, just the tune). I quietly, but proudly, sang along (I even pumped my arm discreetly in the "rah-rah-rah" fashion at the end; I couldn't help it).

So on this 28th of June, I wish a grand hurrah for my two alma maters: BYU and America!