Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Since there was a crew of people at our house (roommates, friends, friends of friends), it took a little longer than expected to get out of the house, but we were on the move toward the mall at about 8:00am. The only organization of the whole crowd were some scattered signs that stated orange line, blue line, or silver line to direct the ticket holders to their appropriate line. Unfortunately we got mixed up somewhere in the masses of the orange and blue ticket lines and I felt like we would never get out. The crowds were so massive that you would just walk where you would see some sense of movement and not take notice until a few minutes later of where you were really headed. Somehow as we were doing that, I think we almost ended up on 395 S?!!?? I swore by the end of it that we would in fact be in Virginia and watching inauguration from there. Finally after an hour and a half and ventures through 3 quadrants of the city (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest), we finally made it to a spot of hope by the Washington Monument. This must have been the destination of choice because I talked to about 5 other people afterward that ended up there as well. Needless to say, I did not spot them in the crowd of millions. Again though, the uplifting thing about this insane walk and wait was that everyone somehow remained in a good mood and I felt a real sense of community with my fellow Americans.
It was about another 1 1/2 hours of watching tiny glimpses of a jumbo tron of who all was arriving before the actual swearing in began. During this time, the cold and standing at times felt unbearable (ok, maybe slight exaggeration) but then I would look at this family in front of me with two young boys and realize that it was truly a historical event to be at and that if they could do it, then I could to. As soon as the ceremony began, the millions of people were silent in awe. I am wondering how I could get some type of technique like this to work in my classroom???? Even though I was probably a mile away and watching in on a big screen, I felt like I was truly a part of this event as I joined in with the cheers and excitement of the crowd. At times I thought I might cry or hug my neighbor, but instead I just cheered along with fascination. After the excitement ended, it was back to another 2 hour trek to try to get home. Keep in mind that in normal circumstances this walk should only take 30-40 minutes. Once inside my house, we all warmed up by fire and stayed glued to the parade until late in the evening.
The next day in school I was again excited to discuss this experience with my students. They were all equally excited to talk about it and surprised me with just how much they knew about the day's events and about Barack Obama. One student even knew that one of the upcoming changes would be that Hillary Clinton would be the new Secretary of State. Not so bad for a level one English learner! I give credit to the other ESOL teachers who have also been doing lessons on Obama and inauguration so that students are informed of the history they are living through. I did have several students who also went to the inauguration and they were also energetic to share their experiences with the class.