Bon anniversaire a moi....

I spent my birthday waiting an inordinate amount of time to sit and listen to Obama speak for only about 45 minutes. But then I remembered that this was an opportunity that very few people have--to meet the President. There was this moment when I realized how amazing it was to be sitting in this room with the President only 300 feet from me. I realized the reason he won the election is because many Americans believed he offered change and hope. Then I felt like the moment nearly encapsulated the entire reason why the other teachers and I wanted this trip to happen: there can be change and the change can be good, but it needs to come through the education of our children. We must teach them to be compassionate, generous, intelligent and sensitive beings, and part of this education must come from cross-cultural interactions. While I wish that we could have actually shaken hands with Obama or that he could have signed my book, I am still amazed that we all had this experience. It's the kind of birtday you don't forget: I saw the President of the United States in person, and brought 30 students with me. As a side note: France is quite ready to kick the tail of anyone who wants to threaten the NATO meeting--there are police and military personel everyone. I'm going to try to take a picture of this.