Della in Jogja: My Unusual and Unforgettable Fourth of July

So to be honest, I woke up this morning feeling pretty homesick. It's hard for me to be so far from the US on the Fourth of July when I know all my friends and family will be celebrating together. Luckily, my initial bad mood was lifted throughout the day as my fellow AUA volunteers, co-workers, and my buddy were all wishing me a happy Independence Day. Everyone was so genuinely interested in learning more about American customs and traditions on the Fourth.

Then tonight the four American AUA volunteers cooked for our Indonesian friends (the other two volunteers are from Japan and Canada). We tried our best to find American ingredients and make a typical Fourth of July dinner, but once we scanned all the aisles of the grocery store we realized this would be a serious challenge. Not being able to find even the most basic of ingredients made me understand what a truly foreign country this is. Our menu was grilled cheese, salad, Pringles, watermelon, s'mores, and Oreos with peanut butter. But even this simple menu was hard to execute. For example, the marshmallows were cut from a long multi-colored rope, the chocolate was not Hershey's but a 5 cent alternative, and there were no graham crackers so we just used cookies. While eating dinner we listened to an American soundtrack and sang along. Even though it wasn't perfect, dinner was a total success and it was so fun to share American food with our Indonesian friends!

Then we made our own version of a fireworks show with sparklers. Running around in the front yard was a blast! And we even sang the national anthem. Ironically, this may have been my most patriotic Fourth of July to date, despite being halfway across the world.

Happy Independence Day to everyone back home!!

Me and Katarina making the grilled cheeses. It was certainly not easy given the kitchen conditions. There are no pans so our options were a wok or a pot. We chose a pot, which was definitely challenging. Also, the "stove" is actually just a hot plate outside the house in a small room. The heat was unbearable!