Celebrating the new president, expat-style

Posted by Jul on 21 January 2009

Oh happy day! While I decided against attending the Munich Inaugural Ball, I definitely felt the need to celebrate yesterday. So I threw a little party of my own, and soaked up the inauguration with some American and European friends. Obama’s swearing-in was at 6:00 pm our time, perfect for some champagne prosecco toasting.

We also enjoyed some American-themed foods, such as this patriotic cake made by Heza. Had I had access to an American party-supply store, I might have had fun going over the top with the decoration; as it was we made do with American flag napkins and toothpicks, and some patriotic balloons.

The party is over but my heart is still filled with joy at the direction my country is taking. As an American abroad, today I feel I can hold my head a little bit higher.

Tags: Americana, expat life

Comments (9)

• 
  Rooi_Skoene

  January 21st, 2009

  Congratulations and felicitations. And hey, no need to let your head hang low, ever.

• 
  Deborah Pipes

  January 21st, 2009

  The TV networks did a beautiful job – even the conservative FOX network managed to keep their comments down. I watched the ceremony on the tube and then listened to the speech on NPR. NPR did a fabulous job post-speech by reviewing folks – the Tuskegee airmen, a teacher who had been there for MLK 44 yrs ago….Then NPR turned it over to the BBC who did a “world” interview – so thrilling to hear such excitement…

• 
  cliff1976

  January 21st, 2009

  Here’s an email from a coworker and friend of ours I got this morning:

  Na, wie habt Ihr gestern die Amtseinführung erlebt? Hier war irgendwie Festtagsstimmung angesagt… Irgendwie strange… Aber schön… Obama ist in Deutschland mittlerweile bekannter, als unser eingener Bundespräsident *lach* Die Welt rückt ein Stück zusammen, oder?

  and my humble translation: So, how did the inauguration go? There was a festive mood around here… Kinda weird… but nice… Along the way, Obama has become more well-known than our own Bundespräsident *laff* The world is coming together, isn’t it?

  That’s nice, but I know there are some people right here in Missouri (a red state in the election!) who are not happy about the new guy. I suspect strongly that some of the people we’re visiting voted for the other guy; fortunately, political discussions still haven’t come up at all. Sarah’s immediate family (mostly) knows better than to broach such subjects with us. I’m keeping my eyes and ears open though.

• 
  Florida Girl In Sydney

  January 22nd, 2009

  Those photos are awesome, I should have had a party like that!

• 
  Jul

  January 22nd, 2009

  Thanks, Rooi.

  Deborah – I wish I could have seen all those different feeds! CNN got old after a while. I did enjoy watching a little of the German coverage, though (but they didn’t show it all day like CNN did).

  Cliff – good luck surviving the red state.

  Florida Girl – thanks. I don’t usually throw America-themed parties, but this one was a blast.

• 
  Jul

  January 22nd, 2009

  Anon – oops! Sorry for deleting. It looked like a spam comment. Link to cool inauguration photos:
  http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/01/the_inauguration_of_president.html

• 
  Mark Reynolds

  January 22nd, 2009

  Congratulations – I for one am jealous: talk to your countrymen, see if you can send a little bit of that “mature leadership” mojo north. And I agree with Rooi – there was no need to have kept your head down before – your country’s always been greater than its leadership.
  Amusingly, Obama fever’s caught on here in a big way – I’ve seen “Yes you can” (in English!) used a slogan to encourage municipal voter registration, and to sell sneakers.

• 
  Jul

  January 26th, 2009

  Mark – Patience, now… we’re still new at this ‘mature’ thing, so the mojo might take a while to start flowing…

  And I love that France is using that slogan! How funny.

• 
  Diane Mandy

  January 26th, 2009

  It looks like it was quite the party!