Celebrating the Homeland from the Motherland

Today is my first Fourth of July away from America, but that's not stopping me from celebrating my beloved country. Patrick and I implored our hosts to break out the grill today so that we could give them a taste of how we celebrate our national birthday back home. So in the back of the house (much like an American is prone to do on the Fourth of July on the back patio/porch) we fired up the grill's wood coals (which made the food delicious), and we grilled up some kebabs with beef, chicken, green bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Check out the picture above to see the scrumptiousness (it was good), complete with improvised skewers made out of old clothes hangers.

Here's a couple shots of Patrick and I acting like real men at the grill (even though Willeminah's daughter Faith told me that I'm "soft"):

I donned my Obama "Vote for Change" shirt to commemorate the day. I love that man, Barack Obama. Even though he's done some stuff that has not pleased me (namely, escalating the war in Afghanistan, opening our coast lines to oil drilling, and most recently, doing a poor job responding to the BP oil spill and failing to swiftly seize it as an opportunity to push clean energy legislation), one has to admit that an Obama USA is much better than a Bush USA - and these last five weeks in Kenya has made me realize it even more.

When the food was ready to be served, Patrick and I turned the table a little bit and served the females at the house who usually serve us (we have tried to change this, but it just isn't happening). Since we were the hosts tonight - welcoming them to celebrate our American holiday alongside us - Patrick poured the water for them to wash their hands. In the picture below, you can see that he's pouring water for Faith, while Juliette, the housemaid who usually is in the position of cooking and pouring the water over our hands looks on with amusement.

It was a really fun time, and a unique way of celebrating America. They loved the food.

To round it out, since we didn't have any fireworks, Ben, Patrick, and I took this photo using the next best thing: our cell phones.