Monday, April 6, 2009

I don't know who is glowing more, Angela Merkel or Karenne Sylvester



Barack Obama was in my neck of the woods last week. First in Baden Baden and then Straßburg. Current events gal that I am, I knew about it AFTER he was gone. There he was on the front page of the newspaper next to a blushing Angela Merkel. She seemed to be glowing in his presence. Anyone who's seen Angela knows she is not one to "glow". Well, Barack has that effect on people. Especially on the leader of Writers-in-Stuttgart (yes, that was a plug for our writer's group) I don't think I have ever seen Karenne like this. She was still floating on cloud nine Saturday morning.
"I shook his hand." She kept saying. As I watched her make the coffee for the meeting, I noticed her being careful NOT to get her hand wet. Will she ever wash that hand again?
After the meeting, she gave me an animated play-by-play account of her day. Photo after photo. The alarm clock - "This is what my clock looked like the day I Shook Barack Obama's hand." Her breakfast - "This was what I had for breakfast the day I shook Barack Obama's hand. Her morning dump - "This is what my poop looked like the day I shook Barack Obama's hand. Is it just me Liz, or do you see a sort of shroud like shadow of Barack in my toilet bowl?"
Oh all right, she didn't snap a photo of her poo.
I exaggerate this Blog because I am jealous. Did I mention she was sitting in the front row? The friggen front row for cryin' out loud! I mean, at first I was like - Okay, big deal you saw Barack. Then she said she shook his hand. And I was still thinking, yeah, you stood in a crowd of hundreds and stuck your paw through... Then she hits me with, "I was in the front row!"
So, yes, I was jealous. Perhaps if I spent less time on Facebook & YouTube, and more time on current events I would have known Barack was coming BEFORE he had already left. From now on I am going to keep up on what's happening. I'm going to know all the breaking news. And the next time President Bill Clinton comes to Germany I'm going to shake his hand!


Thanks to Karenne Sylvester for this blog inspiration and the great photos!
Check out her web page and blog spots. http://www.kalinago-english.com/
http://kalinago.blogspot.com/ (for teachers)
http://how2learnenglish.blogspot.com (for students)