We've conquered it, the fear that was been ailing our country for the past 8 years that has lead to unnecessary war, innocent lives sacrificed, belief of "weapons of mass destruction", lies & paranoia. We had enough, tasted the hope, and picked ourselves up. We united as a country, voted for change and the world applauded us!!
November 4th was the first day in 17 months I was proud to say I was an American in Ecuador. When I first arrived to Ecuador I made the mistake of saying I was an American, an American supported by the US government. This was always followed by many shocked looks and anti-American rants. So I began just leave it to the basics, a gringa volunteering in Ecuador, even though one of the Peace Corps goals is to share my culture. Even amongst the locals in my community everyone has strong feelings regarding the states and love to express their not so hidden hatred for G.W. (We don't have a very good image from the outside looking in.). But all that started to change November 4th.
A few Peace Corps Volunteers and I went to Finn McCool's, hot smoky hole-in-the-wall Irish pub in Quito that had English CNN coverage. There we were Americans, Brits, Germans, Aussies, and Ecuadorians all together captivated by the tallying results, we held our breaths, and broke into an uproar at the landslide victory of HOPE!!! The next day it was front page news on every Ecuadorian paper: "USA votes for change", "Historical Election for USA", "Obama wins", etc. Ecuadorians are still congratulating me on this victory. I think they are almost as excited as Americans (if possible) for this new era we are about to depart upon.
I left the states 17 months ago feeling annoyed, embarrassed, and grateful for an opportunity to leave the mess of our country and with only 9 months left in my time here I feel proud to be an American and antsy/excited to come back to the states and be apart of this revolutionary time in our history.
Yes we can!!!
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