Inauguration

I know I was planning on having weekly updates, but I figured I have to write about inauguration, especially since my experience was quite cool.
Last week we went to the US embassy in Gaborone and we talked to the staff a bit about how we were excited for Obama getting inaugurated. So, while we were there, we were invited to one of the houses of a embassy employee. We figured that this would be fun to take advantage of, so five of us decided to go yesterday. The house we went to is that of the deputy ambassador, so the second in command in Botswana, and since the actual ambassador is out of the country, she is technically the acting ambassador. Now, we drove to her house and as our combi (small bus used here as public and private transportation), we saw a number of men in uniforms with large machine guns. It turns out that we were going to the house directly across from the vice president of Botswana's private residence, which has military guards at all times. So at least we knew we were safe, though the men with machine guns were slightly daunting.
Anyways, we got into the house/compound, and were greeted by a number of the embassy staff, as well as a few members of the Marine corp who are stationed in Botswana right now. One of the men was quite interesting, as he just got into the country after being transferred from Budapest. He works in the embassy as the liaison to the Air Force. There was also amazing food at the house, as well as cool items the couple whose house it was, including a Bedouin matrimonial mask, which was quite heavy and has burning incense hanging from the bottom.
Obama's, or as we should say, President Obama's speech was most amazing. The entire room was captivated through it's entire span and I was getting chills just listening to parts. No one can deny that he is an amazing orator. His message of hope, unity, and courage was amazing.
I hope everyone else had the opportunity to watch the inauguration and that you who are reading this are doing well.
Stay tuned for more pictures too. Perhaps a video?????