SnObama Day!

Tuesday was a day of many "firsts" here in the exotic state of North Carolina. It was the day of the Presidential Inauguration of the first black African American President of the United States, and the first time in years that our state received more than four inches of snow during the winter. In order to celebrate both exciting events in one clever title, North Carolinians have dubbed the historical day "SnObama Day".


It might has well have been an arctic blizzard out there, for the response from the Chapel Hill community. I woke up, got ready and caught the bus into school for my class, which was attended by a whopping six students. There was barely a car on the road. It was absolutely fabulous: quiet and snowy, and beautiful. Our class was intimate, engaging and short, as we were dismissed early to head to the auditorium to watch the Inauguration ceremonies. Marcos met me at my building so that we could watch the event together, and I sat sandwiched between my Brazilian husband and my friend Darshan, who is a Rotary World Peace Fellow from India, and his Rotary-World-Peace Fellow-friend Paulo, who is from Italy. Me and the UN on one row.


If my experience with the UN there on the bench was anything like the party world-over, then it was one heck of a day! Darshan nearly cried at the swearing in of the President, and kept yelling, "I love you Obama!" every time he came on the screen. Although the entire auditorium was hollering, there was nobody louder than my friends from India and Italy, who are princes of peace in their own right, and more than ready for a change...