Budapest

After a 14 hour bus ride (due to a train workers strike in Hungary) from Sighisoara, we made it to Budapest late Tuesday night. We're staying at a great hotel, and the weather is fabulous, so Life is Good! It's hard to find time and a fast enought internet connection to do a proper posting with photos and all, so you'll have to wait until I get back to Seattle for a full report. But trust me....this has been a great trip!

Sinaia

This is the first time I've been on the computer since I left, and to be quite honest, I haven't missed it. My impressions of Romania after a few days on the ground are great! This is not the wild-dog-ridden, glue-sniffing-beggar, taxi-scamming place depicted in the guide books. Mind you, most of that stuff was written about Bucharest, and here I am in a great little resort town with lots of ski areas within easy driving distance and lots of snow. I even saw Dracula's Castle the other day! The food's great, the company is great, and all-in-all it couldn't be going much better. I don't know when I'll have a chance to post a blog complete with photos and all. That might have to wait until Budapest, or maybe even till I get home. In the meantime, I'll continue to enjoy myself!

Fired up and ready to go!

I've spent the day doing laundry, running last minute errands, buying last minute essentials, and trying to check everything off my to-do list. I think I'm just about there. To steal one of Obama's lines, "I'm fired up and ready to go!"

I am taking my laptop with me, but who knows where the next post will come from? We're not staying in Bucharest for long, and what internet access is like amongst all the bears and wolves in The Carpathians is anyone's guess. Our hotel in Budapest has wireless access, so if worse comes to worst, I'll update you all from there.

There wasn't a wet eye in the house

I'd like to report that the oath of citizenship was a very moving ceremony that didn't leave a dry eye in the house. Instead, I can report that it was the strangest bureaucratically bungled BS ceremony I've ever had to sit (and stand) through. It was as if they had never put one of these things together before.

First of all, it took forever to get through security. I'm sure that the scanning equipment was manned by guys who didn't make the grade at the airport. We were eventually herded into the auditorium where a fat, handicapped guy from Haiti (or some equivalent place) in a wheelchair was directing traffic. After a while the auditorium was filled with the tired, poor, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free. The TPHM soon started shuffling around in their seats and talking to one another in low and excited tones. After a while, and well past the supposed starting time of 2PM, the FHGfH rolled his wheelchair up the ramp, parked behind the lecturn (so no one could see him) and spoke softly in heavily accented English (so no one could understand him) without a microphone (so no one could hear him). The screen behind him lit up with some patriotic-looking scene, and then started showing pictures of immigrants through the ages, but without any sound. The FHGfH rolled down the ramp from the podium to a side room, and then called in some other guy for hurried consultations. Finally, with 90% of the video done, the patriotic and moving music came on to accompany the patriotic and moving photos.

OK, we thought, we've finally got this show on the road. The FHGfH rolled himself back up on stage and asked if we had any questions. The TPHM looked at one another with the universal "huh?" look, but remained silent. The FHGfH then said, "I've got a question for you. What's the process for filing form I130?" More universal "huh" looks. Someone finally asks, "What's form I130?" The FHGfH then launches into his mumbling, rambling, heavily accented explanation of the intricacies of the I130 application. More "huh" looks, with murmuring about whether we were really in the right room. Then some of the TPHM got into the act, and started asking the FHGfH about how best to get their 85-year-old mothers into the country. So what I thought was supposed to be an oath ceremony turned into a seminar on the complexities of immigration. Soon, most of TPHM got restless and started wandering around the auditorium, talking to their friends and relatives who had come to witness the sacred event, talking on their cell phones, and going to the bathroom. I got up and chatted with Rita and Joe, who had come to watch me on my big day. All the while, the FHGfH held forth from the podium, oblivious to the pandemonium that was surrounding him.

Then, a 40ish somewhat heavy-set and somewhat harried-looking woman came in and took charge. She introduced herself as the acting director of the Seattle office of Immigration and Citizenship Services. She apologized for the confusion, but gave no explanation of what had happened. She then tried to get everyone back to their seats and get people back from their bathroom breaks. It took a while before the crowd was reassembled and back in their seats. She gave a bit of a talk, and welcomed us all. She led us in taking the oath, we watched a video of W welcoming us, and then the FHGfH re-emerged, reading the names of the 121 new citizens, who then walked across the podium and received their papers from the acting director. Of course, no one could hear or understand the FHGfH, so people just waited expectently to hear a fragment of their name or the name of the country of origin. This all took a while. Then we all stood and did the Pledge of Allegience.

But wait, there's more! After the pledge, the acting director welcomed us as new citizens, and then hit the button to play the music video of Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American" or "God Bless the USA" or whatever that patriotic drivel is called. By then Joe couldn't take any more and left. Rita was also gone, not having planned to spend an entire afternoon at the event.

Then, mercifully, it was over.

C-Day

Today's the big day! At 2PM today, I'll participate in the oath of citizenship ceremony along with who knows how many of the world's tired and huddled masses, yearning to be free. Today's a good day to post the cartoon from the New Yorker that started it all over a year ago. Somehow it seemed as if that cartoon was written for me. Politics for me has always been a spectator sport, but after today I'll be able to get in the trenches myself.

This week will be a busy week. I've changed my travel plans, and now will leave this Friday for a week of skiing in the wilds of Romania, followed by a more civilized week of culture in Budapest and the surrounding area. Before I leave I have to buy and borrow some skiing equipment, and do the usual things like paying bills, stopping the mail, doing the laundry, and packing. But along with the mundane things, SSYC is hosting their annual Valentine's Dance tonight, and Hal's having a birthday party on Wednesday. This busy week promises to be a fun week as well!

Obamania

I was in line at 8:30 this morning to see Obama. The doors at the Key Arena opened at 11AM, and Obama was scheduled to appear by 12:30. When I first arrived, I thought that maybe I'd misjudged things, and I had more time to spare. I was one of the first two or three hundred people in line. But it didn't take long for the lines to get really long, making me thankful I'd arrived when I did. In line, I met a couple of college students from Nigeria, several high school students looking for an excuse to cut class, and more than a few old farts like me.

There were entrepeneurs selling Obama cookies They claimed that 100% of the proceeds went to Obama, and they were cute, so I believed them and bought a couple cookies for $2 apiece.


When the HAG (Hot Asian Gal in Hal's parlance) came back a couple of minutes later, most of her cookies were gone.

I didn't have to stand for hours in the rain, but it was bloody cold! The wind was blowing, so most of us in line huddled together in like musk oxen in a blizzard to stay warm. After a couple of hours, which actually passed by quite quickly, we were let into the warmer confines of the Key Arena. At first it looked like it was going to be a major security hassle to get in. There were tables set up to search bags and people, but after the first 50 or so people went through, the security people apparently gave up and let everyone in. When I passed by the entry, the only security guard I saw was frantically pushing a button on some hand-held device counting the number of people who went through the doors.

I got a great seat in the arena. If the stage was in the end zone, I was on about the 50 yard line, about 20 rows up. (This is actually a basketball/hockey venue, so you'll have to use your imagination) I could have gone down to the floor level, but being basically lazy, I wanted a place to sit. (As it turned out, after Obama appeared, no one was sitting down anyway) The next hour and a half actually passed by pretty quickly. The guy sitting beside me was a 60-something Vietnam vet, who in all his years of following politics had never seen anything like this before. And he lived through the glory years of MLK and RFK. There were a couple of high schoolish students on the other side of me, and a couple of late-fiftyish black woman in front of me. There were periodic attempts to get a wave going in the crowd, and a bunch OBAMA chants, but generally the crowd was well-behaved even thought they were obviously pumped to be there. The highlight of the pre-game show was probably the dueling dancers at one end of the coliseum. Two ladies in the "end-zone" gave it their all with wild dances to the piped-in music. They'd trade moves, as if to say, "top that, bitch!" It was great fun with arms and hips and hair flailing between two women 20 rows apart.

Here's the arena a few minutes after I arrived.

Here's the arena a few minutes after that.

The first "introductory" group were a bunch of notable local musicians who put together a "Yes We Can" song. It's actually a pretty good song, but the guy (who was the piano player in the video) speaking to the crowd did anything but fire up the crowd. I myself (even though I'm usually reticent in public venues) was compelled to yell for the hook a couple of times! After that, the mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels took the stage with a surprisingly rousing endorsement of Obama. He then introduced Christine Gregoire, Washington's governor, who gave an amazing endorsement of Obama. I had been perfunctorily introduced to her at a function at UW, and I don't hold a strong of opinion of her one way or another, but I had no idea she was such a good public speaker.

With her introduction of Obama, the crowd went absolutely bat-shit crazy. Obama's entrance sent a shiver up my spine, and brought a tear to my eye. If this had been a revival meeting with an altar call, I would have walked to the altar and sacrificed all my worldly goods to follow Obama. He was absolutely electrifying. It would have taken a dead man, or someone with a heart of stone not to be moved by his 45 minute speech. I don't think I heard anything I hadn't heard him say before, but to hear it in person was absolutely amazing, especially for a hard-bitten, cynical old fart like me.

This video is pretty shaky, with full zoom on, and with me way too excited to hold a camera steady. But if you bear with it, and turn up the volume, you might get a little bit of the feel of what was going on.

In conclusion, I've never been at any event of any kind that moved me the way this one did. Vote Obama! My only regret is that I can't vote for him tomorrow in the caucuses.

11:00AM Friday, Key Arena

I will be attending Obama's rally at The Key Arena tomorrow morning. I had previously written that I'd stand in the rain for hours to get a chance to see him. There is a 70% chance of precipitation tomorrow, so it looks like I'll actually get to do it.

Stay tuned for a full report (hopefully complete with photos) tomorrow.