i´m just going to see where this goes...

so i feel like writing, but not about anything in particular. we´ll see where this goes, ha ha :)

today i got to experience my second independence day in another country (well, not my own quite yet, but i was in paris for july 14 last summer and today was bahian independence day). yes, i did say bahian independence day, not brazilian independence day. although the holiday-loving people of bahia celebrate the normal brazilian independence day in september, they also have their own on july 2...how awesome is that? i didn´t work today, despite the fact that we didn´t work monday and tuesday of last week due to são joão holidays either - but that´s besides the point. anyway, not working allowed me to go out to campo grande, a big praça near the old part of the city, for the celebration :)

the parade had started at 3pm and was finishing in campo grande, so we figured we´d be fine arriving at 4 or so. it was fine, the parade hadn´t made it there yet, but the set-up was unlike anything i´ve ever seen in terms of an independence day celebration. there were random people with horses giving rides to little kids down the middle of the street, through the middle of the praça, etc., vendors selling everything from small brazilian/bahian flags to steak on a stick to earrings to beer to ice cream, people wandering all over the place just talking and eating, and even cars still coming by sometimes since all of the streets weren´t closed yet. it was a type of organized chaos, i suppose. then came the parade. i´ve seen a lot of parades in my life, though all of them were either in the u.s. or western europe, and they had a very different style than this one. like the u.s., this one had lots of bands, marching bands that dress in the military-style uniforms playing patriotic songs and stuff like that, and here one band even gave a pretty riveting rendition of "i believe i can fly" ha ha :) the difference here, though, was that the parade seemed completely open. people stood on the side of the streets to watch but had no problem falling in step with the people walking in the parade to make their own way down the street. there were sometimes gaps of 5 minutes in between pieces of the parade with these random people walking in between, and a couple of times the parade even changed direction halfway through! also, sometimes the bands would completely stop, turn and face the crowds on either side, and give a mini-concert with some fancy marching thrown in. it seemed more like a show than a parade, something i´ve never really seen before quite in that form. it was a good experience though :)

when you go to an event like this where people come out to support their country and celebrate their lives there, it really hits you, the way the people view the event more than the things going on in the event itself. i´ve been going to 4th of july fireworks shows, cooking out with family, and just relaxing on independence day since i was a child, i´ve loved it :) it´s the same here...families were there, the kids running around with little brazil/bahia flags and eating ice cream. take out the parade and the performances and the infrastructure of the whole event, and you have the same emotions pulsing through the crowds, the same feeling of celebration as what i had experienced all of my life as a child in the u.s. seeing the differences here brought me back a little to that feeling, which is good considering that on friday when it really is the 4th of july i´ll be the only one celebrating here, ha ha.

i really liked being a part of something that´s so important here, and even something that every country shares when it recognizes a special day just for its celebration of being. i love seeing pride in people´s eyes as they point out special songs or costumes to their children, who will grow up to hopefully be those same proud people. in the midst of the bahian celebration, i was proud to be american and happy to be bahian for the day at the same time - there is, after all, more than enough love to go around :D