GOBAMA !

Speaking of community organizers, hearing the election results was cause for celebration! I wish that I could report that I was dancing in the desert sand when Barack Obama won the election, but instead I was recovering from a nasty 24-hour bug in a hotel in Bamako. I had eaten something that my body rejected several times and I still can’t identify the culprit but was feeling much better after a couple of days. I was utterly disappointed to miss a few days in the field in the middle of the survey, though it was great to watch the Grant Park speech on CNN. I feel like I’m proud to say where I’m from again, after 8 years of whispering « the US » when asked where I’m from while traveling. It’s fun to watch people’s reactions here though and watch their faces light up when I tell them who I voted for.

It was actually a bit lonely – such a celebratory occasion but no one to with whom to celebrate. Thankfully the hotel staff knew me since I’d been there long enough, and they gave me high fives when I went downstairs for soup. A car full of the interviewers called me from the field with felicitations about the election and said to bring something back to the field to celebrate. It was nice to know that I wasn’t forgotten by the team and, to their delight, I showed up with a half dozen watermelons.