Dear family and friends,
Back story: When Evan realized President Obama would be in London for the G20 he got in touch with his contact from the White House Office of Scheduling and Advance whom he had worked with for the Presidential Inauguration at the White House to offer his assistance. Much to his surprise, they took him up on it and for the past 10 days Evan has been working for the WH Office of Scheduling and Advance in charge of the motorcade.
He got to fly in a Chinook on Saturday on the dry run from the airport to the embassy, he got to measure the gate at Buckingham Palace to make sure the big US car that was flown over would fit through (it didn’t, so they switched cars), he brought in our fancy coffee maker to the advance office so the other staffers (mostly marines and 20 something’s who get paid nothing) could get a cup of coffee for free rather than paying 2 pounds a cup around the corner, he got tours for Josh (simon was sick) of the cool cars and the embassy and last night…well…then there was last night…..
The President was doing a meet and greet at the American School in a closed event to just Embassy staff and their families. This is protocol so he can thank his employees who are working so hard abroad. Since Evan is a temporary employee of the White House, we were invited. There were about 1000 people in the gym. The President and Mrs. Obama (she was wearing a brilliant yellow dress with black cardigan) arrived and he spoke for about 10 minutes basically thanking all the career foreign service people for doing such an incredible job, being diplomats in all their dealings, for not much pay, and then he thanked them for bringing the children. It was about 9:15 in the evening at this point. He said he and Michelle were already missing their kids. But he reminded everyone that this is why we work so hard…for our kids. And to see them making connections and having experiences – makes it all worthwhile.
We then had the incredible honor of being escorted to a private foyer to meet the President. There were also two groups of police and Military Officers who were having their photos taken as well.
Yesterday afternoon the boys and I discussed the fact there was a chance we could meet the President and if there was a chance we need to be prepared. We practiced, “Hello President Obama it is an honor to meet you.” And then we practiced questions…just in case they had an opportunity. To the best of my recollection (I am still reeling and don’t know how much I was really paying attention because mostly I was thinking, “OMG we are meeting the President. OMG we are meeting the President” Luckily the boys were much better poised) this is how it went:
Pres: (to Simon) Well hello young man.
S: Hello Mr. President it is an honor to meet you.
P: And what is your name?
S: Simon
P : And how old are you?
S: 7 and I have a question for you
P: You do?
S Do you know what the state fish of Hawaii is?
P: (Big Smile) Well, I use to know. Let me think…the humuhumu isn’t it?
S: Well…it is the Humuhumunuku-nukuapua 'a
Michelle: the what?
S: the Humuhumunuku-nukuapua 'a
M: Can you say that again?
(lots of laughter and photos from paparatzi)
P: What a smart young man you are. How do you know that?
S: We are studying the ocean in school.
Josh: Hello Mr. President I am very proud to meet you
P: Hello there and what is your name
J: Joshua Martin Swart Grossman and I am in 5th grade here at the American School
P: Nice to meet you.
J: I have a question for you as well Mr. President.
P: Yes?
J; In 5th grade here at ASL the entire class is studying Africa and my research is on conflict diamonds. I wonder if you could tell me what your position is on the conflict and any thoughts you may have?
P: (Big smile, looking through out the room….) well, nobody briefed me on this one! (Smiling at Josh and looking very thoughtful) but that deserves a thoughtful answer because it is such a horrible issue. As you know there are many countries in Africa and many of them are involved and lots of people are being exploited and hurt in the process. I believe that the countries must come together to get a hold of the situation and that people should be careful and make sure that if they are buying diamonds they are only coming from areas that are being respectful and legal in their diamond production.
At that point I made a stupid comment about only buying cubic zirconium diamonds and we all got in position for the photo attached….
I can’t even being to tell you how high we are all flying today….
Xo, wendy
Back story: When Evan realized President Obama would be in London for the G20 he got in touch with his contact from the White House Office of Scheduling and Advance whom he had worked with for the Presidential Inauguration at the White House to offer his assistance. Much to his surprise, they took him up on it and for the past 10 days Evan has been working for the WH Office of Scheduling and Advance in charge of the motorcade.
He got to fly in a Chinook on Saturday on the dry run from the airport to the embassy, he got to measure the gate at Buckingham Palace to make sure the big US car that was flown over would fit through (it didn’t, so they switched cars), he brought in our fancy coffee maker to the advance office so the other staffers (mostly marines and 20 something’s who get paid nothing) could get a cup of coffee for free rather than paying 2 pounds a cup around the corner, he got tours for Josh (simon was sick) of the cool cars and the embassy and last night…well…then there was last night…..
The President was doing a meet and greet at the American School in a closed event to just Embassy staff and their families. This is protocol so he can thank his employees who are working so hard abroad. Since Evan is a temporary employee of the White House, we were invited. There were about 1000 people in the gym. The President and Mrs. Obama (she was wearing a brilliant yellow dress with black cardigan) arrived and he spoke for about 10 minutes basically thanking all the career foreign service people for doing such an incredible job, being diplomats in all their dealings, for not much pay, and then he thanked them for bringing the children. It was about 9:15 in the evening at this point. He said he and Michelle were already missing their kids. But he reminded everyone that this is why we work so hard…for our kids. And to see them making connections and having experiences – makes it all worthwhile.
We then had the incredible honor of being escorted to a private foyer to meet the President. There were also two groups of police and Military Officers who were having their photos taken as well.
Yesterday afternoon the boys and I discussed the fact there was a chance we could meet the President and if there was a chance we need to be prepared. We practiced, “Hello President Obama it is an honor to meet you.” And then we practiced questions…just in case they had an opportunity. To the best of my recollection (I am still reeling and don’t know how much I was really paying attention because mostly I was thinking, “OMG we are meeting the President. OMG we are meeting the President” Luckily the boys were much better poised) this is how it went:
Pres: (to Simon) Well hello young man.
S: Hello Mr. President it is an honor to meet you.
P: And what is your name?
S: Simon
P : And how old are you?
S: 7 and I have a question for you
P: You do?
S Do you know what the state fish of Hawaii is?
P: (Big Smile) Well, I use to know. Let me think…the humuhumu isn’t it?
S: Well…it is the Humuhumunuku-nukuapua 'a
Michelle: the what?
S: the Humuhumunuku-nukuapua 'a
M: Can you say that again?
(lots of laughter and photos from paparatzi)
P: What a smart young man you are. How do you know that?
S: We are studying the ocean in school.
Josh: Hello Mr. President I am very proud to meet you
P: Hello there and what is your name
J: Joshua Martin Swart Grossman and I am in 5th grade here at the American School
P: Nice to meet you.
J: I have a question for you as well Mr. President.
P: Yes?
J; In 5th grade here at ASL the entire class is studying Africa and my research is on conflict diamonds. I wonder if you could tell me what your position is on the conflict and any thoughts you may have?
P: (Big smile, looking through out the room….) well, nobody briefed me on this one! (Smiling at Josh and looking very thoughtful) but that deserves a thoughtful answer because it is such a horrible issue. As you know there are many countries in Africa and many of them are involved and lots of people are being exploited and hurt in the process. I believe that the countries must come together to get a hold of the situation and that people should be careful and make sure that if they are buying diamonds they are only coming from areas that are being respectful and legal in their diamond production.
At that point I made a stupid comment about only buying cubic zirconium diamonds and we all got in position for the photo attached….
I can’t even being to tell you how high we are all flying today….
Xo, wendy
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