The 4th Abroad

Today, I turned Africa into America 2.0... in my mind. To be frank, the 4th of July is, past all others, my favorite holiday. And given I wasn't actually IN my country to celebrate its birthday, I think I still did well honoring it. Salone celebrated their nation's 50th anniversary just this last April, so it was exceedingly easy to get people excited about my own independence day. Instead of langauage classes and cross-cultural lessons, we put ourselves to work for hours and hours eating hotdogs (I was forgetting they existed), watching traditional Sierra Leonean dances, and to finish off the day, we played a game of football against the staff here.
Let me rephrase that- us PCT's played a game against our African training staff on one of the fields that FIFA installed in Sierra Leone in front of 450 natives that turned out spontaneously to watch our game. The final score? Unbelieveably, it was USA- 5, Salone-3. Earlier in the day one of our fastest, fittest looking trainers came up to me and said, "Jayreed! I think... in the game today... you will lose." Victory was sweet. I was happy to punch one of the goals in, but happier still to get the kids chanting YOO-ESS-AYE before the game. This country is too much fun. Overall, one of the best, strangest holidays I could imagine.
Completely unrelated- I've observed something. Some (most) of the citizens of Sierra Leone look like The David. Genetics? Lack of calories? A hidden gym in Makeni that is mandatory to spend sixty hours a week in? I remember thinking the other day that my science students will learn the muscular system easily... my teaching aid will be a mirror for them instead of a textbook. A trip to the carpenter the other day solved the 'mystery' for me though. Some of these people just work extremely hard all the live long day. And at the end of that day, they're lean and mean (looking).
Through the help of some sign language a friend in Oklahoma City taught me, I introduced myself to Dennis, a deaf and dumb carpenter that works on Teko road that junctions with Upper Bannana. He let me know I could watch, but after five minutes I was using a tool- something that started with a 'k'- to plow grooves in the lenght of a stack of roughcut boards. Or at least I was trying to in short bursts. He slapped his arms and pointed at me, intimating I am, like this old woman told me last week, Jumbo Size. After a deluge of sweat and much needed micro-coaching, I looked, like a proud parent, at a board with a half inch groove cut down its six-ish foot length. My bliss was rudely josteld when I saw the stack of boards lying in wait behind me. After a few blisters and a few more boards, I politely made my exit. I wasn't gone for long though. 15 minutes later I went back to give Dennis a Guinness I bought down the road. It was supposed to be a thank you for teaching me, but really anyone that works that hard on a Sunday afternoon could use a drink.
I hope all of you had a safe and fun holiday. I had one of these vivid dreams that our malaria medication gives us last night, and I dreampt I had quit the peace corps and was in America again. Don't take this the wrong way, but I felt so depressed. It was the happiest I've been to be sleeping in a sweat-soaked bed when I woke up and was still in Makeni. It'll be so great returning home in a few years, but I'm loving the work I'm about to start doing here. Wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. Take care and be safe.