Tuesday, January 20, 2009

inauguration in bs.as.

i went to today's inauguration of barack obama with an american friend and an argentine friend. we arrived around 2pm (11am washington d.c. time). around 2:45 the bar started to swell with americans. it was strange to hear all the english being spoken and to see americans. i can't fully explain, but it was just strange. it made me remember a dream that i just had. in my dream i moved back to the states. in the dream i was sad because i wasn't ready yet. i was happy to wake up in buenos aires this morning.
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while watching the inauguration i asked my argentine friend his thoughts. he said he was surprised that so many people were in washington d.c. and so many people filled the bar. he was also surprised that the ceremonies and speeches were a such a big deal (so long, so many formalities, speaches, prayers, songs, ect...) he said that he's never seen, in his life, so much support and pride for argentina. he was also surprised to see nearly everyone in the bar stand during the national anthem. for me, i was surprised at how many prayers were given. for a country that prides itself on separation of church and state, there sure was a lot of talk about god.

so, as i sat there, surrounded by other americans, i wondered if i'll ever be ready to move back to the states. i've been thinking about this a lot lately. i can't really explain why i don't want to live in the u.s.; it's just a feeling i have. at this point, right now, i can't ever see myself living in the states again. but if i've learned anything from my personal past, i can never say never.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

it was a really neat day. we had a cake at work.

By the way...the Eagles lost and not going to the Superbowl but the Steelers are. You probably are glad to be away from that though :)

Unknown said...

Interesting observations, "Yillabean": more about yourself than about the States or (I think) Americans in general. If you've lived abroad before, I'd guess that, with those feelings, you really may stay away. Otherwise, give it a year or two and you may find that your attitudes and feelings change -- a lot.

yillabean said...

hi. thank you both for your comments.

lynn, i was secretively watching the news about the eagles (but don't tell anyone). it would have been sort of cool (wink wink) if they made it in the superbowl. so when is the game anyway?

robert, i'm not a fan of politics so i don't like to write about them, it's not my area of specialty. i'm blogging about my journey here and my experience so... yeah, this post and the rest of the blog is more about me than anything else. yes, i lived abroad before. no doubt, i'll be 'staying away' from the u.s. for a while. like i said in my post, i don't have anything against the u.s., it's just that i don't want to live there right now. of course attitudes and feelings change, that is why i ended the blog post with the line "i can never say never".