MLK/Snow day(s)

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

You really feel like a foreigner when certain holidays come around. I’m aware of Martin Luther King day (it’s not celebrated in Barbados) but since I’ve been living here I haven’t really had the chance to really get a grasp of how it’s celebrated. Shame on me for not taking the time to understand it but at the same time, I feel like I’ll know when it’s time for me to really know and understand these things. This is where I’m coming from – I moved to another country after spending my whole life in another, and I feel weird jumping into another culture while I’m not able to fully celebrate the special days of my own. I’m not being petty and saying if I can’t celebrate my culture here I won’t celebrate yours, I’m saying I’d feel like a sell-out. I’m not in a part of the US that has an established Caribbean community, I feel so far removed that if not for the presence of the local news on social media I wouldn’t have a clue (besides my parents) of what’s going on there. I make it a point to know what’s going on in my country, sometimes I even know stuff before they (my family) do because of the time difference. If something happened at 2am (that’s 10pm my time) and it’s posted to Facebook or Twitter I know before they even wake up what’s going on and I’m following the story.

I still feel weird about Thanksgiving, it’s such a huge holiday here and I just feel lost celebrating it, especially when my country’s independence day is November 30th and I want to do something special for that because it’s what I know. I guess here is where you have people from different cultures celebrating the holiday but with their national dishes etc which is fine but it’s not something I grew up doing and even though it’s a great holiday, I’m yet to experience it in all it’s glory to fully grasp it. I’m sorry but that menu is not for me… I know the story so please don’t feel the need to educate me. There are people out there soooo eager to learn and understand different cultures (believe it or not, I’m one) but I like to observe and understand before I jump in clueless as to what I’m celebrating or whatever.

With that said, so far today, I’ve only seen people posting quotes from MLK but what else is done? Are there parades going on somewhere? Memorial services? If so, it’s definitely not in my town (hence why I’m still a little clueless, you can’t observe if there isn’t anything to observe). I’m pretty sure we’ll be here for years to come so if they aren’t doing anything really, how am I to really understand what’s going on? Turning on the t.v. isn’t much for me to participate in, I do that every day.

But today, I’m not heading out. I have a 3 day old headache that got worst today, I’m a bit congested and somewhat snowed in. We’re expecting snow every day until Wednesday (it started Saturday) and I won’t be driving in it so I hope my husband is up for driving Ms. Daisy :P.

This is the scene outside of my apartment yesterday and it’s snowing again right now. I’m out of water for my water cooler and I’d love some cupcakes to get me out of this funk. Hopefully we’ll be up for the challenge later.