BUT, after remembering, we made up for lost time by going directly to the market for meat. A traditional “hot dogs and hamburgers” 4th of July was upon us. Although we did not have the pleasure of standing around a grill, beers in hand, we used something just as American…the George Foreman Grill. Hamburgers were delicious (especially with the fat “knocked out”).

After, we joined together with hundreds of thousands of Americans, and popped in Independence Day. I still remember when I first watched this movie at the Mann’s Chinese Theater with my grandma. During the scene when they open up the alien and the outer casing suddenly opens, my grandma jumped off her seat so high, that it scared me even more. She’s got hops. Also, I couldn’t help noticing one scene. When the aliens attack and cities are being destroyed, there’s a shot of a man in a building, filing papers, where soon after he is destroyed with the building. Who is filing away papers at a time like this? Was it really that urgent to put organization before life? Dude, the whole city is evacuating and running for their lives while you’ve been in the office, trying to fit that last paper into your file cabinet. The funny thing is, when he sees the coming fireball, he’s actually surprised, LOL.

Back to my point. One thing that I gained already from living abroad in China is a deeper sense of American pride. Mike and I were discussing this today, and we both agreed that America is the greatest country in the world. Of course it’s a biased opinion, but a valid one too, and what the hell, I can say it, right? The deep contrasts in many aspects (that I won’t get into) between China and the US really helped me to appreciate life in America. The things that we take granted popped out more, and no, I’m not talking about things like, “I appreciate automatic washing machines and HDTV”, but more of the side of human ideals and rights. Then again, nonsense things all of a sudden began to bear significance to me. Never before has our flag, with its stars and stripes, been more brilliant to me, and Mike says looking at the Eagle makes him cry (okay, maybe not cry, but he probably tears up). Watching the Super Bowl early in the morning, while the rest of the country could care less, made me proud. Eating a hearty American breakfast, complete with pancakes, waffles, eggs, sausages, cinnamon buns, ALL COVERED IN MAPLE SYRUP makes me proud (perhaps gaining weight is an American past time as well). Heck, even passing by the US embassy here, in all its mundane glory, swells up feelings of patriotism.

Celebrating our Independence Day this year in China, which was almost forgotten, meant more to me than any other year in the past. There were no fireworks for us, no outdoor grill, no beach, no parades, no Sousa songs playing. It was just the few of us, in a Chinese owned apartment, eating hot dogs and hamburgers, off an electric grill… But I couldn’t have been more proud.