Comments on: Watching Obama’s Inauguration with the Expats

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:29:24 +0000

Yeah… everyone was so stoked about Obama’s election down there. Me and my friend ran into a bunch of locals down in the armenian part of town that night. (I think it was in Palermo somewhere…) They were more fired up about the election than we were! One man drunkenly kept trying to find out who we voted for… All around midnight in front of a boliche; the wide mosaic-like sidewalk being the only border between us and the insane drivers on the road. Thanks for the memory No place like Buenos Aires!

By: Paul Sullivan

Paul Sullivan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 08:31:08 +0000

Tom Gates – telling it like it is. Props hombre.

By: Abbie

Abbie — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 20:12:25 +0000

I was at home in my living room crying because I was so excited lol.

By: Reeti

Reeti — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:09:55 +0000

I understand when people critique the country after really being up-to-date with what is going on (via the media, blogs and television) and better still, visiting once in a while and seeing for themselves. What disturbs me is a fixed mindset where a person tends to think the country is as it was when he/ she left it. I love Matador because its editors and contributors give the readers a rational and balanced argument for everything and don’t launch into illogical polemics just to grab attention.

Thanks again, Tom

By: Reeti

Reeti — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:00:15 +0000

“romantic visions that existed for the purpose of justifying his geographic displacement.”

I absolutely love this line. Wonderful post, Tom! I’ve often found expats talking about India (where I live) the same way. There seems to be this undying urge to justify why they are expats.

By: Tom Gates

Tom Gates — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:25:51 +0000

Barbara is going to be so pleased! I have had things like you say happen to, where current events trump TV time for world events. That’s a crazy story.

By: Hal Amen

Hal Amen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:52:23 +0000

Very thoughtful commentary, Tom.

The inauguration was playing on TV when I first stepped in the door of the volunteer house in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It felt strange to be leaving America for a year when this potentially exciting new chapter was just starting. But actually I’d picked up a rather nasty stomach bug the previous day in La Paz, so I spent the day in the bathroom, not in front of the TV.

More memorable was election night last year, which I watched at a Democrats Abroad meetup in Mexico City. It was a surreal experience–not least because while we were there a Cessna carrying the country’s interior minister crashed in the middle of the city’s busiest street just a mile away. So the bar owner kept trying to change the channel to local news and all the Americans kept shouting at him to change it back to the election. But anyway, I think that night was more emotional–more symbolic–where as the inauguration was the inevitable return of reality–the fact that in the end we’re still talking about politics.

Oh, and tell Barbara they sell Newman’s Own in Chinatown.