I'm really sad that I don't get to be in America right now. I was afraid I'd miss all of the inauguration pomp & ceremony... what with my less than stellar internet connection and lack of any English language TV stations around here. But I got together with Bunny and Bobby for some ice cream after dinner and we decided to try to find it on TV anyway. To our surprise the inauguration was showing on a Thai news station, and we were able to follow most of it between the Thai commentary and translations. It was funny to hear a long string of Thai interspersed with "Kuhn Baraaack Obamaaa" (Kuhn is like "Mr.") and "My Country Tis of Thee kaa" (kaa is the polite participle).
It still kind of amazes me how much people in other countries follow American politics & current events. I was so isolated living in the States, you know, I knew virtually nothing about what was going on in Thail
and or even Europe at any given moment. But here, they devoted several hours of the newscast tonight to covering the inauguration. Could you imagine NBC covering the inauguration of another country's president? CNN maybe... but this was just the local Bangkok station.
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Apple Pie I'm still kind of homesick and the whole not being a part of history-in-the-making is making me very sad.
8 comments:
It's ok. I ushered it in by being milked by the offspring. Less than patriotic or glamourous. Besides, someone made the good point--EVERY President is history making. In four years we'll be doing it again.
Kuhn means "Mr." huh? I went to school with a family of Kuhns.
Eh, just 'cause you were in the United States didn't mean you were waving flags on Pennsylvania Avenue. I spent the day at work.
Sorry you missed being here, I spent the day glued to the TV and it was awesome! I'm so glad you found a station showing the inauguration. They said this event was watched by more people around the world than anything else in history.
Bezzie... there's Grover Cleavland history and then there's Abraham Lincoln history... and then of course there's Richard Nixon history. I think this is going to be one of those things that kids in the future will actually remember from elementary school.
M5K - yes, but if I were in the states I could have thrown an 'inauguration ball' and might have actually gotten more than 2 people to attend.
jovial - yeah, a surprising number of people here were aware of it, and a few of my students watched at least part of it.
I'm glad I was in Japan. I heard way too much about the inauguration, but wasnt as over saturated with it as the people back home.
The Chicago Tribune has been printing an entire "Obama" section daily for several weeks. On Monday they did a feature story on Michelle Obama's eyebrows and how her makeup artist softened them over time. Saturation? Yes. But I still watched it all yesterday. Doesn't the Lincoln Memorial look fantastic?
I seem to remember that we do a lot of media coverage over here for British Royal Weddings. Other political ceremonies, not so much...
In Canada, everyone is so amazing at how long and drawn out the American election process is. In Canada the elections last something like 33 days. The parliament is dismantled, the campaign starts, the Prime Minister is chosen, and then he shows up to work maybe a week later. Voilà!
*amazed. I always seem to change the structure of my sentences mid-way, and forget to make sure i changed the previously written stuff..
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