I won a ticket to attend the U.S. Embassy’s official Fourth of July celebration this year.

Happy birthday!

There are plenty of reasons to want to go to the Embassy. There’s drinking fountains and nice (my vote for the nicest in country!) bathrooms at the Embassy, and there was finger food and drinks for this special occasion. There were also homemade brownies!

The ambassador gave a great speech about powerful women and the king’s representative mentioned the Peace Corps.

I also realized I’ve learned a few things about siSwati and was able to tell that the liSwati who sang the Swati national anthem sang it in isiZulu. I was able to confirm this with Peace Corps staff, who noted that she could be from southern eSwatini where isiZulu is much more common, or perhaps she learned the words from a grandfather from the time when school here was taught in isiZulu. But I digress.

It was wonderful to go to a party where I didn’t cook the food, yet I still look forward to the Peace Corps celebration next week!