OBAMA in Ghana

I touched Barack Obama.
Sigh.
We shook hands.
He looked at me.
He said, "Kari Ann Benge, You are doing a great job."
Thats a lie.
He didn't insert my name.

But, he DID tell me I was doing a great job! :)

Then I shook Michelle Obama's hand.
And she said, "I hope you're ready, you're next!"

I wasn't able to utter a single word back to either of them.
The cat had my tongue.
This is what went on in my head- Obama is right in front of me, holyshit. Obama is shaking my hand, holyshit. Obama is looking right at me and smiling, holyshit. Obama just told me I'm doing a great job, holyshit. I just touched Barack Obama, holyshit. Michelle Obama is coming next, holyshit. She's squeezing my hand like we're good friends, holyshit. She's grinning and telling me I'm next, holyshit. What does that mean, I'm next? I just shook hands with Barack and Michelle Obama, holyshit. That was Barack Obama. He was here. I not only got to see him, he talked about how amazing Ghana is, and I shook his hand. Holyshit. Holyshit. Holyshit.
Sigh.



After months of nothing, we got the heads up on Thursday that everyone was invited to the departure ceremony for the Obama's at the Accra airport. I piled in with all the PCTrainees Sunday morning and bumped on down to Accra. By 2 we met up with all the other PCVs in Ghana at the US Embassy, got a nifty VIP ticket and were loaded into a bunch of stc buses that had special clearence to go to the airport (all the roads within a 3 mile radius of the airport were closed.) We were ushered past hundreds of police, military, and secret service and deposited in a little fenced in area directly in front of a podium on the main runway.
Luckily I was one of the first 15 people to enter this corral. So I walked over to the fence directly in front of the podium. And didn't move for 5 hours.
Totally worth it.
Obama gave an amazing speech.
And I got to touch him.
Sigh.