I had to say goodbye to some of my great new friends as their term here is finished. I look forward to completing the second and final semester with the remaining students on campus, including new students, and I'm excited for new possibilities.
This program at UPeace is not exactly what I thought it would be. I feel like I felt in third grade when I came home from school and my mom asked me, "What did you learn today?" I would reply, "Nothing" not knowing that I had actually learned something. I feel like I'm not making any significant gains in knowledge or skills as my time in Costa Rica progresses, but perhaps it's just as it was then and I simply don't recognize it. Perhaps it's just that I don't see, on a daily basis, that I am in fact making gains. I hope that's the case. I hope that my daily exposure to mind challenging conversations is actually building my capacity for greatness. Or perhaps I'm just having fun hanging out with hippies. Unfortunately, only time will tell.
I was quite happy to put my first semester of grad school to rest. One down, one to go. I'm starting to aggressively apply for jobs back home and I'm hoping to land something soon. Even if it should happen before my time here is finished. I've been away from the working world for far too long and I miss it almost as much as I miss my friends and family. It's time. I'm ready.
My winter break was great! I got to visit my good Peace Corps friend, Alex, in New York for New Years! It was sooo cold! It was my first time to New York and I loved it! I sure hope it won't be my last!
I'm back in class again and the particular class I'm taking, Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector, is a major challenge to my abilities. It's nothing like anything I've ever studied. This is the "elective term" at UPeace so I thought I'd take something to broaden my horizons. Man, is it demanding! I have to write a 20 to 30 page business plan for a social enterprise from my creative mind in less than 3 weeks time! As you can imagine, I have no idea how I'll pull that off. It's no surprise that I probably won't post that one on this site. Regardless, I think it will hold promise and potential for my upcoming thesis and supplementary material. Classes were cut short for the Obama inauguration speech the other day. UPeace has students from something like 60 countries, and they all paused their educational progress to take a gander at the current happenings of the United States. It was quite impressive. We gathered in the cafeteria to watch a projected presentation of the speech in real time... Well, with only a 15 second difference between the video and audio, until the internet cut out and we only got patches of the speech. I felt like a kid sitting around a radio broadcast 100 years ago - only a radio broadcast wouldn't have been interrupted by Costa Rican/UPeace shortcomings, I imagine.
In any case, this is really an inspiring global event. And it truly is a global event. To have representatives from 60-ish countries on the edge of their seats, clapping to great statements, is really significant in that it shows that the world is behind the new United States presidential administration. It's quite touching and it made me feel proud.
I know that a larger-than-I-care-to-admit part of my family is not excited about President Obama, but the fact is, that the rest of the world is excited. I don't think Americans recognize that we hold such a leadership position in the world, and as such, we should fulfill the part of a good leader. However, I'm waiting to be impressed by his actions and not by his reputation, but in the meantime, it should be recognized that the world really is watching. Hell, we skipped classes to watch! And large part of our discussion the following day was directly pertaining to his speech and what he stands for. It's an interesting time in history that I hope you all can appreciate.
As far as my love for Costa Rica goes, it is still non-existent and I can't wait to come home.
3 comments:
I don't know a lot of people who really dislike Obama. I think most of them are just pointing out that "Hey, he hasn't actually DONE anything, yet..." and getting frustrated with the rock-star fame. The Obama Fever around the world just seems a little vapid. Didn't we just elect the guy who made the most promises? Don't we always?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbnpRcj4RvI
Maybe there's something wrong with me. Everytime I see "Hail to the Chief," I want to read it as "Hail to the Chef," and then I immediately think of that old Snickers commercial about the old guy painting the football end zone. "That looks great! But who are the Chefs?"
As someone who didn't vote for Obama, I'm not insensitive to world reaction. Continuing with the Super Bowl / sports metaphor, I know that sometimes you just need to change coaches, or faces, or voices, to get peoples' attention back. I think the US had definitely reached that point in world affairs. Bush had little diplomatic credibility and even less leverage by the end. I think he did some good and quite a bit of bad along the way, but good or bad, he had been tuned out. That's not acceptable for a person whose job description includes pursuing US interests abroad. Obama wouldn't have been my choice, but I think it's great other nations have hopes for him. I hope he can do some good with his current spotlight.
But I also think it won't be long before reality reasserts itself. For example, Ahmadinejad recently said that Iran welcomed Obama's call for more dialogue, and that he was willing to talk just as soon as Obama apologized for 60 years of US crimes against humanity. He then delivered a long address at a Tehran University conference: "Holocaust, the West's sacred lie." The US has done plenty wrong in the last century, including some nasty wrongs to Iran specifically. But the idea that world opinion and nations will suddenly roll over and reconsider because a man with "a good tan" (per Italy's Berlusconi) is in the White House, seems a little Kool-Aidish.
If Obama is a good President -- that is, fulfills his oath of office by upholding the Constitution and faithfully executing the laws of the US, and seeks to pursue and advance US interests -- he will pretty much inevitably piss off a lot of world opinion. If the world loves him too much, I'm not sure it will be an unqualifiedly good endorsement.
Gee wiz, fellas! You guys are good! Great insight! I totally agree that Obama is totally overrated at the moment, and that a real evaluation can't happen for at least a year. Time will tell, gentlemen, I'm just expressing my happiness at everyone's "hope". Just like changing the football coach, perhaps it's just that a change is all we need (If you subscribe to the idea that we need anything to begin with).
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