en español

There have a been a few times that I've particularly missed being in the States, and today was one of those days. With such an amazing, historical event happening today, I was a bit sad not to be present in the atmosphere of such a momentous and hopeful day. However, I did have my own uniquely South American inaugural experience, which was probably a once-in-a-lifetime deal. The television coverage here of course is not what it is in the States, but the inauguration ceremony was broadcast live on local television. A little before noon, the US and Ecuadorian teachers alike crowded around the big screen television in the club de profesores and watched a dubbed version of the ceremony and President Obama's (!) speech. While I had a tough time following the mixture of Spanish and English, and although Obama's eloquence just does not translate well to Spanish, it was exciting to see it live, and furthermore, to see the excitement and interest among my Ecuadorian co-workers. I spoke with my seventh grade students afterwards, and we discussed why it was important for the speech to have been dubbed here in Ecuador, as not everyone here understands English. I expressed how important I felt it was for the whole world to understand his message, and to know that even though we're not proud of some of the decisions we've made in the past, we're ready to change.

And now I'm going to watch the full speech in English on YouTube!