4th of July

Our Fourth of July abroad was an odd mix of both heartwarming and horrifying experiences. John had Friday the 4th off from work so we embarked on a mini outing to go hiking in the mountains, as recommended by his co-worker (who still needs to be questioned about his experience). We found the trail, donned our rain gear and bug spray, and headed up the mountainside. Shrouded in mist, the forest was somewhat enchanting as we wove our way along the trail in search of the summit.

The happy smiles of naive hikers.

Beautiful, rainy trail.

Jennifer does not (does NOT) like bugs or snakes so she was on the lookout for such critters during the hike. "Fortunately" the only thing we encountered were inch worm-type bugs that had an affinity for our shoes and pants. Of course Jennifer was convinced that they were trying to burrow through her clothes, but good ole John was reassuring and courageously plucked them off as necessary (with his bare hands - this becomes relevant). They were a bit difficult to remove though...hmmm.

Can you spot the stowaways (dark vertical line, center of photo; near pant cuff, bottom of photo)?

It wasn't until after the increasing rain forced us back down the trail that we noticed that there were SEVERAL of these worms on our shoes, in our shoes and actually biting through our socks. This is where Jennifer lost it and couldn't even watch as John removed her shoes and socks. While Jennifer practically hyperventilated John thoroughly combed through our belongings and clothing to rid ourselves of these pesky creatures. Meanwhile, our ankles (John's in particular) were dripping with blood from these tiny bites, clearly the result of some sort of anti-coagulant in the insect's saliva. It turns out that on this mystical-turned-horrifying hiking excursion we had encountered Japanese Mountain Leeches. Let's just say we WILL NOT be hiking there again.

These bites were wiped down just before the picture was taken, which does no justice to the dripping blood or saturated Band Aids.

The evening of our patriotic holiday was much more pleasant than the morning, as we headed over to the base for festivities and fireworks. The field was awash with enthusiasm and activity as people enjoyed picnicking, playing games and listening to live music. Fortunately the fireworks were not rained out and we enjoyed a rather impressive pyrotechnic display set to patriotic songs, many of which were from the country genre so Jennifer was pretty excited :-). Celebrating an American holiday overseas is a bit odd since it is not indigenous to the host country, however it really is special and an honor to celebrate our freedom alongside hundreds of people who work to defend it on a daily basis.

Field of festivities!

Firework selfie!

Happy Fourth, everyone!