Memorial Day

I thought that I would start my blog off tonight with these lyrics:

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘ Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘ Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

I would like to take a moment from my usual blog to thank the past, present, and future military men and women who have given and will give their lives in order to keep my freedoms in tact. I do not care what your political affiliation is or where you stand on certain issues. Political feelings aside, we should always be grateful and respectful of our military. Yes our country is messed up, but at the end of the day we enjoy many freedoms that the majority of the world does not. I am free to choose how to live my life, what avenue to pursue in college, marry when I want to or not get married at all. I do not have to walk two steps behind a man, and I have the opportunity to further my education. Do you really know how many people in this world do not that those freedoms? I have the right to freedom of the press, speech, right to bare arms, religion, etc. all because brave men and women were and are willing to fight to keep them. Yes our country needs help, but we are a whole hell of a lot better off than ¾ of the world. So when you hate our country, remember what we do have instead of what we do not.

Today, I started my Memorial Day with the usual...a pancake breakfast. If I were at home, I would go to the church and celebrate with an early morning breakfast. Since I do not have the comforts of home here in India, I did the next best thing. I had a pancake breakfast at McDonald's before an early morning movie. The movies over here start a bit earlier than they do in the States. You also get assigned seats which is kind of nice. I didn't have to worry about moving down or make sure that enough seats were saved. Gwen and I did a double header today. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2 and The Hangover 2. Both were absolutely hilarious. Hangover 2 was a bit crude, but the other nice thing about watching movies in India is that they edit the movies. The nudity scenes were non-existent. I can appreciate that.

I had lunch at McDonald's as well. Other than that, today has been a bit boring in comparison to my first couple of days. The electricity keeps going off, and that is completely inconvenient because as usual it is still hotter than all get out! I feel like I need to shower at least 3 times in a day, and I don't because I feel like that's a waste of water. The streets are rather quiet tonight. It is almost as if a storm is brewing and we are heading into monsoon season a bit early. On a side note, on the way back to Sangam after the movies, the rickshaw past a herd of goats that were meandering in the street. I cannot tell you how happy I was that I was in the rickshaw and on the street. We even made him drop us off a little bit further just so I wouldn't have to worry about running into the goats again. Yes, I know crazy, but I really don't care at the moment! :) I will say that I am getting a little bit (and I mean a little bit) more comfortable walking in the middle of the road with traffic flying by me. I'm not entirely sure that I will ever get comfortable with walking in the middle of a highway to get from point A to point B.