Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Real Americans

today i saw 3414 (if i remember correctly) people become real american citizens. one of them i know from work; thats why i was there! i thought it was so cool that i could see that.... and he was sooo proud! :) he is in the middle of above picture (more or less).
but the ceremony was a little different than i thought. in fact, it was an endless process. i did not know he was one amongst 3413 others. how could i know it was such a mass-event! but it became clear as soon as i stepped out of the subway; endless rows of very nicely dressed people, waiting to get into the TD garden (the TD garden has 19,580 seats).we got in there around 9.30. i was never in the TD garden, so that was interesting. sooo huge! but after an hour i had seen it. however, it took until 12.30 before everyone was finally seated..... ooh, and everyone looked so beautiful, especially little girls with beautiful dresses... then the ceremony began. there was some singing. some speeches, and then the oath (thats the picture above). thats when you have to swear that when required by law you will bear arms on behalf of the United States, will perform noncombatant service in the us armed forces, and will perform work of national importance under civilian direction....
ah well... it was cool that i could be present there; it was a... very american happening... ;) congratulations once again!
here a few more photos (it was hard to take pictures, we were so high up in the stadium and it was quite dark. buuuhhh)