This Time for Africa (July 4)

• Happy 4th of July! One of my favorite sights of the day was seeing some people apply Off Deep Woods bug spray for their picnic in Fort Greene Park (which is about 1/25 the size of Central Park). Perspective is amazing :)
• Instead of the normal fireworks/sparklers/picnic/cookout/etc., we went to the last day of the International African Arts Festival in Brooklyn. It was like a big art fair, but all the booths had African or African-themed/inspired items for sale and everyone seemed to know each other. It was also HUGE. There were at least 4 different sections that were each the size of the art fairs I'd been to before in Pentwater and Ludington. I'm not sure how many of the vendors actually made their items (so I was a little hesitant to make purchases...I wanted something "real" if I was going to get something) but there were a lot of beautiful things for sale. I bought some earrings from Kenya and a wrap dress. There were a few other dresses that I saw that I really wanted but they were $50, $75 and $150...too much :( The woman who wanted to sell me the $50 one said that I was the first one to inquire about it that day who would actually have fit in it (hehe). I'm excited to wear the one I bought, maybe even at camp...I definitely don't want it to sit in my closet, unworn, for most of its life. We saw a lot of women dressed in traditional African dress, and they looked amazing (a lot of the outfits looked like those that Carlee and Krystle brought back from Senegal, Mali and Ghana). One of the best parts about their outfits was that the women who were larger still looked fantastic, because their clothes were fitted to them, and they weren't trying to squeeze into jeans or too-tight tank tops. Another fun part of the afternoon was that a guy with a camera interviewed me about why I was here and then also asked me about my hair. He asked me what I thought about the hair styles of the women (and men) who were at the festival (weaves, braids, twists, etc.) and how they compared to mine. I honestly don't think I would have noticed the hair if he hadn't mentioned it - but then I started looking and saw the amazing styles! Beads, braids, colors, twists into shapes, styles that looked like crowns, long and short. Very cool.
• The best part about the festival was the different perspective it gave me. We were the minority for sure (I think I saw 8 other people with light skin and I'm pretty sure they all lived in the area) but we were accepted anyway (mostly). It was nervous-making at first, to be immersed in the African culture so fully, without having had a similar experience before. But overall, I really enjoyed it and I'm really glad this is how I spent my 4th of July this year :)
• After the festival, we came back to the house, played Bananagrams, made brownies and searched for Lake Louise Serenading songs.