6,175 km (3,837 miles) from the Inauguration
Thousands of miles and a couple of time zones stand between The Hague and Washington D.C. Of course I longed to be there live, but I was determined to celebrate in a special way! Luckily, with the inauguration in the morning, we got to view it in prime time(EST +6) instead of in the middle of the night, like most televised American events.In the spirit of the Obama Inauguration, I decided to pass on the stuffy event planned at a big venue, with a high ticket price and speeches by Dutch Politicians and “Dutch Experts on American Stuff”, and plan a grassroots event myself. I imagined an informal neighborhood party, like thousands taking place across America. I started planning the event only 5 days in advance!
Today was the dawn of a new era and it was a thrill to lace up my electric blue pumas this morning. Along with a rotation of T-shirts, the pumas were part of my daily Obama election uniform ( it took me several days to ween myself away from my Obama gear as office attire after the election). It was so much fun to sport my Obama gear again for the big day. Maybe it is my bizarre accumulation of Obama gear in a land where it is scarce, but people on the street always smile. We made our own buttons and you can see I had plenty! My hat is a creation by L. Rouissi (no animals were harmed in making it, but plenty of scotch tape was used) and the decorations were improvised!
The party was exactly as I hoped and imagined. I put the word out through various networks, and the place, a neighborhood bar Sherlock Holmes, was packed! We had the crowded feeling, without the cold! The Dutch and English couple that own the place also caught Obama Fever in these 5 days! An enthusiastic crowd came together from many different countries and walks of life to share this historic occassion. Of course President Obama (my first time writing that) has extremely difficult times ahead, but today was the day to revel in the magic of the moment!
Upstaged
Yesterday’s event at The Hague City Hall to celebrate the opening of an Expatriate Archive Center was well attended. Not surprisng as the Archive Center is a Shell initiative and Jeroen van der Veer, CEO of Royal Dutch Shell was speaking. Another big draw on the program was newly appointed Mayor of The Hague, Jozias van Aartsen, former Minister of Agriculture and Foreign Affairs. His term as mayor is only days old, so public interest in him is high, based on the number of photagraphers present.
The audience was receptive to both of these high profile speakers, but when a nervous, slim, casually dressed seventeen year old Anika Smit took the stage, the audience and the event were entirely hers. She spoke a truth you don’t hear from politicians or CEOs.
She stood with her knee trembling, telling about the book Taxi she wrote at thirteen. Anika has moved 13 times and lived in 18 different houses around the world. She shared the heartbreak of goodbyes and the difficulty of adjusting to life in China, where she wrote the book. It begins in a taxi on the way to dancing class and ends in Inner Mongolia, where she truly came to understand the good fortune of her lot in life and the deep sense of responsibility that goes along with it. She urged us to make the distinction between real problems and uncomfortable situations. Her wisdom, poise and grace left me feeling hopeful for the future.
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