I had been been building up anxiety about the elections so much that by Nov 4, all I could do was join a huge group of Americans at an Irish pub downtown and drink beer and watch CNN even though the results wouldn't be out Spain time until early morning. With somewhat relaxed nerves I left the bar at 1:30am only because I had to get up for work in the morning. Obama had been winning in Indiana, a normally Republican state. Could all the hype be true? Could he really be winning? I dared to hope.
My eyes burst open that morning at 8am and I reached to turn on my computer. "Obama wins!" reads the headline. I stared for a minute in disbelief, then read the whole article even though I had the information that I wanted. Then I had to get ready for school. Upon my arrival, one of the teachers that I work with presented me with flowers and told me "OBAMA! Felicidades! Congratulations!!!" I replied that I hadn't actually won anything, so I didn't deserve the flowers, but that I greatly appreciated the gesture. In the halls that day from other Spaniards I got big smiles and thumbs-up. "The Obama has win eh?? Que bien!"
Later that day in my Uni class I got similar responses, and had to explain a little about the American voting system, how the points work etc. (All in Spanish, of course. "Electoral college" in not yet in my Spanish vocabulary.) But needless to say, everyone was very supportive and very pleased.
On Nov. 5th 2008, I was not ashamed to admit I was an American in Europe. On the contrary, I was proud.
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2 comments:
"On Nov. 5th 2008, I was not ashamed to admit I was an American in Europe. On the contrary, I was proud."
deep mary, very deep.
my goodness, a very well-written narrative i must say!
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