July has quite a few national days or constitutional days, or other such patriotic celebrations.  Us Americans seem to think we’re the only party in town, but there’s a whole world out there.  A whole world.

July 1 is Canada Day, which is apparently the day back in 1867 when everyone agreed to continue putting Queen Elizabeth on their currency.  July 1 is also the day of both Burundi‘s and Rwanda‘s independence from Belgium.

Belarus has two significant days in July.  On July 3, 1944 the capital city of Minsk was freed from German occupation by the Soviets.  After years of one of the Soviet Republics, Belarus declared its sovereignty on July 27, 1990, after the collapse of the USSR.

In celebration of America’s Independence Day I went to a party, drank a lot, and then passed out before I saw any fireworks.  There’s a great view from my building’s roof, but San Francisco’s fog often prevents actually seeing the official fireworks, which are set off near Fisherman’s Wharf – several miles from the Mission.  The Mission, however, is home to many Latinos who have a penchant for fireworks.  Other than those set off officially, fireworks are illegal in San Francisco County, so all the fireworks that are let off by my lovely neighbors, though pretty, are not kosher.

Along with the fireworks being illegal, they scare the shit out of poor Isis.  The Vet told me to give her Dramamine, which I did, but still every time she heard a boom she shook and cowered.  The Viking took her out twice but she was too scared to go to the bathroom as soon as anything went boom.  Poor girl had an accident in the house, which is extremely unusual.

The Venezuelan Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 5, 1811.  Venezuela, by the way, was the first of the Spanish American Colonies to tell Spain to fuck off.  France no longer ruled Algeria after July 5, 1962.  Cape Verde became independent from Portugal on July 5, 1975.  Cape Verde is an island nation off the west coast of Africa.

Malawi declared independence and named itself on July 6, 1964.

July 7 is the day the Solomon Islands became an independent nation.

Argentine Independence was declared on July 9, 1816.  I would love to go back to Buenos Aires some day; it has great markets, good food, and beautiful architecture.

The Bahamas gained full independence from the United Kingdom on July 10, 1973.

On July 12, 1979 Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom.  Never heard of Kiribati?  Yeah, neither had I.  It’s an island nation in the Pacific.  Also on July 12, São Tomé and Príncipe declared  independence from Portugal.  That’s also an island nation, but it’s off the southwest coast of Africa.

Bastille Day is July 14.  That’s France’s National Celebration when there are fireworks and spontaneous expressions of patriotism.  Sound familiar?

Though it was still part of Czechoslovakia, on July 17, 1992 Slovakia declared it’s independence.  It wasn’t until January 1993 when Czechoslovakia was peacefully resolved into the independent nations of the Czech Republic and and Slovakia.

July 21 may or may not be Belgium‘s independence day.  That date in 1831 is when independence from the Netherlands occurred and when Leopold I was made the new nation’s first king.

On July 26, 1965 Maldives became independent from the United Kingdom.  Also on July 26, but many years before, in 1847, Liberia became an independent nation settled by colonists who were freed US slaves and captured potential slaves for whom there was no longer a market in the United States.

Peru became independent from Spain on July 28, 1821.

There may be some more, but this is enough education for y’all for now.  Learning new stuff is fun and sexy, isn’t it?

I swear.  True story.

Tags: foreign love, sexy?, SF love

Categories: True Story.

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