Happy Fourth of July everyone! Today was fantastic, one of the best Independence Days I’ve had in years. The Taos Ski Valley put on quite the parade, and I’m proud to say that die Deutsche Sommerschule got best in show! We spent the better part of last night and all morning decorating two pickup trucks (our “floats”), hats, flags, and then of course face painting. It was wonderful, and very German-American. Nearly everyone wore an American and a German flag, and the hats often had many different colors. Both trucks had signs that said “Freiheit!” (Freedom!) on the front and stars all along the side–very patriotic. [singlepic id=85 w=320 h=240 float=] We even printed out pictures of Washington, Jefferson, Franklin, etc. and put them on the cars. All of our universities were also represented; I made a very nice sign for St. Edward’s and despite being the only student from St. Ed’s there, it was featured prominently on the driver’s side door. For the parade, we were arranged by the color of our T-shirts (red, blue, green, or black) and got to wave at the crowd all the way. It was quite the crowd, and I guess they must be used to the German summerschule by now because instead of acting very confused at all the German flags, they waved and said things like “Sehr Gut!” and “Ja! Die Deutsche Sommerschule!” Little things, you know, but just enough to show support. Of course the rule still applied all day that we could only speak German, but it wasn’t nearly as strange as I thought it would be. A lot of people during the Revolution were German-American anyway (or from German-speaking nations) so if anything it felt like we were honoring one of the many cultures that helped found America. The parade was fun, but I think the best part was decorating everything with my new friends and finding creative solutions for patriotic clothing. My roommates and I used Amanda’s eye shadow to paint German flags on our faces, even though we found out that someone else had face paint. Also, Texan friends will be glad to know that I made a very creative state of Texas for my hat, along with the American and German flags and St. Edward’s logo.
Many photos from this wonderful day have been added to the gallery under “Fourth of July Parade,” although I have no idea how good they are because I can’t see them at all. They look rather green and pixeled to me. One final note: Independence Day should be watched in English, and when one is not trying to draw or cut out American flags.
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