Yes We Can!

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Today in America millions of people watched the Presidential Innauguration, I'm assuming. I know for sure that Seth and Coley were indeed in DC and I'm hoping Katie M also had the chance to see history unfold in the flesh. I had been keenly aware that we would be out of the country and was excited to have it unfold here in Thailand for their reaction. As it drew nearer, I started to frantically search the internet for when it would be shown here, GMT +7. (Or 15 hours ahead than our friends in Oregon) Since we don't have television here at the villa, (well, we opted not to buy the subscription as it was explained to us) we had silently agreed to go find a pub that would show it on air. Ok, we narrowed it down that it would be airing at 11:30pm on the 21st. Around 10pm we had verbalized with each other that nah, we won't venture out now and try and find a spot (see night driving suggestion of "Don't") we can just watch it on the internet, right? Like msn.com or at the very least 'youtube' the next day, right? We get set up (in a very uncomfortable desk of sorts that we have here, I'll take a pic) and just before it's supposed to air live, we log on and tune in and there's the little hour glass indictating our computer is hard at work and then...nothing! Oh my god there's nothing happening!! (oh Shaun said he was getting annoyed that I was spelling "god" like "Gawd" and I explained to him it helps with my dramatics. He insisted I don't need to spell god like that to be dramatic and I say "but, but" and he says, "babe." With yet another of his looks of one eye flinching, head tilted to the other side and a little click from his mouth meaning..."don't be annoying babe." So I guess I'll give it a try for awhile, the god stuff. Spelling it, not believing it.)
So, Poupe comes bounding up the stairs and says "Hayda, what you doing?" I say, "I'm trying to watch our new president give a speech and be sworn in, this is big stuff Poupe, very important." She responds "No, Hayda, you can't. You don't have that service with them." (them being the internet company/government that we paid $60 for the month of internet, I'm assuming.) I tell her "I don't understand and it's very important to watch this, we're making history, don't you realize this is the first time in history to have a black president, and I thought we paid what we were supposed to, and why isn't it working?!" I am then informed we needed to pay an additional $50-60 bucks to be able to stream live feedings. Aaaarrrrrgggghhhhh!!! Dang it, I spend the next hour trying and trying and trying to no avail.
Throughout my attempts Poupe keeps me company and starts firing away with questions. "Why does everyone want to move to America?" I had never tried to explain this to someone who (a) does not know the English term Oppurtunity, b) has admitted to me she does not like Foreigners (I took this a bit out of context, she said she would never marry a foreigner, "I don't like foreigners, they different, Thai people same same." Ok, that's fair to some extent, culturally speaking, I guess) and (c) has never dreamed of any other life outside of Thailand. All my catch phrases were getting the dazed and confused look. I'm pretty sure she never really got a good answer out of me before she moves on. Then she asks do I like Barack? "Very much, yes, indeed, this is the first time I really feel that this is 'my' president !!" She points to her skin/arm and says "I don't like his color." I had to let out a little laugh at this and tell her, that "you are the same color Poupe, actually your darker." We go round and round with this settling on "yes, Hayda he is brown, and well yes, I am brown" and I say, "Poupe, I am brown too, really." She responds with, "Do you like his religion? I don't like his religion, he's Muslim." I say, "yes, I like his religion, and that in America, we are free to have our own religions without prejudice and that even if I didn't, we practice tolerance and acceptance with being patient and understanding." (we had been in a taxi down by the pier one day and our driver made a point to mention that we were in a "muslim neighborhood", this of course made me think "why would he point that out if he didn't care?" So, clearly there is a riff I need to research a bit more between Buddists and Muslims) This spiraled a whole new conversation on what "free" meant. Honestly, all those years that "they" said to avoid talks of religion and politics...I should have been having more of them, because this was hard. I was not only finding it difficult to find the right words that she would understand, I was actually having a hard time articulating why America is such a great country and what it meant to have "rights" and "dreams" and "wow, had I really taken all that for granted that I'm rendered stupified when asked?" And "why can't I find the right words, damn it?" Go figure, me without enough words!? It just doesn't happen enough as Shaun would say. As I lay in bed, I just kept smiling and my heart was filled with hope. (Yes, even my jaded cynical heart saw a glimmer of sunshine at the possibilities of the future and that maybe I didn't want to be "put down" when I broke a hip or something in my golden years) And I thought how far we have come in America to elect this great man that the majority of the people are realizing that yes, he has more similarities than differences.

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Photos

Thai Flag
Only pic of a flag I had to post here.

Us
Shaun trying to be cute.

My little work station
yup, that's a Chang beer w/lime