4th of July

Today was the 4th of July. Emily (a fellow American) and I planned a party to celebrate. We bought fizzy drinks, ice cream, and cookies for all the volunteers--even the non Americans-- and lit candles. We made homemade flameless fireworks. I had an idea to stuff confetti (also homemade) into balloons and pop them mid air. She and I spent yesterday and this morning tearing up colored paper, stuffing balloons, and preparing everything.

The party was fun, only 5 Americans in a group of about 30, but people indulged us and enjoyed the ice cream and snacks we bought. The "fireworks" went just about as well as could be expected. We affixed needles to the end of sticks to pop them, and the confetti and flour poofing out of them was fun. Our coordinator here, in all her awesomeness, arranged a special lunch of french fries and hot dogs. Overall a nice, if slightly low key, celebration. I miss DC today, though, the 4th of July is always such a big deal there.

Last night we had a very exuberant party with some members of Sri Lankan Parliament. One of them, an older (40?) Sri Lankan man who I had actually met before, heard about our party planning and told me that he would send me some firecrackers. Emily and I had a nice laugh about that this morning, given that we're not sure he was in a state to remember any bold promises he made. She and I set off our much lamer confetti fireworks contentedly.

You can imagne our surprise when a tuk-tuk pulled up after dinner and the men inside said "where is Elizabeth? We are looking for Elizabeth. We have something for her from Chula."

The next thing I know, I'm holding a bag of 2 long strings of firecrackers and about 20...something. Rockets? We all gathered at about 9:30 and I lit one of the lines. The was loud popping and bright flashes. For a brief moment I was thrilled and a feeling of being home with real fireworks and celebrations filled me. Then it was just horror. They were so loud and they just kept going. There are elephants trying to sleep a quarter mile away, and the woman who runs the foundation is up at the house probably panicking, wondering what these noises are...remarkably like gunshots. I (and everyone else with me) was completely unprepared for the volume and duration. But I did have that brief moment of pure bliss.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

*update as of the next morning: I apologized to the woman at the house and was told it was not a big deal at all. A huge weight off.