No really, she does say that a lot. I will keep count this weekend and report back to you guys without her knowing...this should be funny. But anyways...
It's been really interesting comparing my experiences from living in Australia (06-07) while Bush was in office to living in Ireland now, with the historic change in government with Obama. (So new in fact that the spell checker in this blogg doesn't even recognize the name 'Obama'). Granted it was a hard being a democrat living down under in a country that was more than willing to spew out their (anti) feelings about your current government and you really couldn't even give them a good answer as to WHY he was still the President. Nothing you said in effort to defend your situation sounded good, so in essence you just gave up and bought the next round of pints. (Note: yes Bush, I did try and back you up sometimes....OK while maybe once or twice just because I'm stubborn, but still) But now I find it so different to walk down the streets of France and see an Obama shirt on non-Americans or an Obama face painted on a stone wall in Dublin. It's like I no longer feel the instant need to agree with any local who mistakes me for being Canadian..."Oh yes, I'm from Toronto," as I was known to say and then change the subject quickly.
It's like we are no longer an "image" of freedom, democracy or an ideal that anything is possible. We have taken that step to show that yes, anything is possible and we as Americans do want change in the current state of our country and nation. While it was frustrating not being able to get information right away during Inauguration week, I almost feel like I was more informed of what was going on in the States while I was over here. Even til now, the news, radio stations and talk shows are replaying everything and talking about Obama's plans, structure and the direction of American government.
In fact I felt SO connected having had my co-workers surprise me with an Irish Obama cake right before watching the Inauguration. (It streamed live from CNN at 4 pm our time so we were still at work). Now, I doubt that would have happened back home :)
During that whole week everyone kept asking and checking up on me to see if I was homesick or really sad for not being able to be home in the States for this historic event. And while I was VERY jealous of my parents for being on Capital Hill for it all, I hadn't really thought about it like that, or felt like I was missing out. What they don't realize is that living abroad now and traveling during this time I've been able to listen to foreigners talk about America and how inspirational it is now. I get to actually witness opinions and negative judgments upon my country turn into hope with international support that I didn't really experience before. And to me, that's historic.
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