My Reflection: Home Sweet Home Baby

Home sweet home!! was what i said when we touched down in Oakland Thursday night but then i thought Wow the journey is over. Physically but not mentally feel me? I can still picture my self standing on the steps of the U.S Capitol or standing next to Abraham Lincoln in his great building or sitting in the Supreme Courtroom or just chilling in our cabin. Man this experience was unforgettable and it was the best week of my life... so far. First i want to thank God for blessing me with the opportunity and strength and will power because without him none of what had happened that week would of took place. It changed my outlook on the world personally. It made me think about what i want to do in life, how can i help change this world, what do i want to become as person in this new era of humanity. Have hope and believe in one another and especially in your self and nothing can defeat you. I believe that any task or problem that comes my way can be met because i know how intelligent and positive I am, they cant stop me even if they stopped me. Thank you to every one that sponsored me on this journey to remember. Shout out to the women that knows me and loves me best MOM, dad, sis, brother, immediate family, grandma, Mrs. Farley!, and all my football brotherhood. GONE


Sergio P. #85 YEAH I GO

January 20th: A witness to history!

1.20.09 Barack Obama day. Today is History in the making because it was still only 2:30 in the morning. This is how early we has to wake up today because we had the idea that if we get to the metro station around 3 that we wouldn't have trouble with the crowds, well that wasn't the case because there was at least 1,000 people thinking the same thing. So we left the cabin, me with extra warm clothes and my tri-colored dreads and excited for the task ahead of us. We got to the metro station and there was a huge line to board the trains it actually took a while to get on the metro, but it took even longer to get to our destination because of all the trains that were being used to transfer all the people that were going to the same place. We got off at the L'endant station and there was even more traffic, especially going up the ecalators, nothing I didn't expect. After we left the station we hit the streets and the streets were even more packed. From 4th street to 12th street was closed so we walked up to 12th street and headed to the National mall, were we found a place to enjoy the Inauguration. We got as close as possible because there was already at least 400,000 people already around the mall, at 6 in the morning tho. I was amazed. We got about half a mile away from the Capitol building and got close to a jumbotron because it was a little difficult to view Obama and the Inauguration good with the naked eye. So we settled in our little area and it was cold outside about 27 degrees, and we chilled because we were still waiting for the Inauguration to set up and begin. That took about 4 hours and in about 40 min. after we got there there was no where to go because people just started flooding in all around us. After all the waiting it all began. First they introduced a few important people such as senators, cheifs of justice, and ex presidents like Bill Clinton and George Bush. Al Fore was there and a few celebrities such as Sean Combs and Jay-Z. After all that the real show begun. Michelle Obama and his and her daughters came out first, cheers and cheers rung the Mall. Then the main man Barack Obama come out and the crowd went nuts, OBAMA was all you heard echoing through the National mall. They started the Inauguration with a lady that spoke and then some guy gave a prayer that actually was pretty good. Then Biden was introduced and sworn in, that was cool. After that it was the main event, Obama was sworn in and then the crowd went nuts again. Haha. After he did his oath Obama gave a speech that I will never forget, those were wise words coming from a wise man. The inauguration ended after about an hour and Bush left the building in his helicopter and went packing home. After all was done the mall cleared out and we did also. We joined the millions in the parade that took place there along Pennslyvania ave, Its was hell of fun. Since we had more time on our hands we decided to go check out the Smithsonian Castle and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. In the Air and Space museum we got to watch a 3D movie about the sun, it was interesting because I didnt know that we had sata. Today was a great day and it will never be forgotten it was journey of a limetime
because I'm a Obama and new era witness in the flesh with a record breaking 2 million people! And nobody can take that away. Obama's speech he had everbody including myself believe and have hope when he said "that as a nation, in land of americans that for our falting economy and the war and hard welfare situations and many more problems that but he promised that we will have change in our nation maybe not in a shor`t period of time nor a term but our problems will be met and as America will rise up, dust our shoulders off and renew America, andwe will not be defeated". WE ARE ONE!


Sergio P. #85

January 19th: Inauguration Eve

Today is the day before the 44th President of the United States of America gets sworned in, and the streets are still packed from the day before. Alot of the site seeiers were still there and people were the just getting ready for history in the making. Today was a relaxed day after all the fun and excitement from yesterday. Today we just ended up not taking the metro train, we took the car into town today courtesy of Sergio and because of that idea I had we saved money like gieco.haha. As a matter of fact we got there twice as fast. In the way into town we happened to pass by another great landmark, the Pentagon. The building was big and from abroad you can see it was well protected. Today our first task was just to go check out the Vietnam Memorial because auntie wanted to too. There was a long line and I think so because the memorial was a long site period. The memorial was just amazing and it made me think hard about who and why they fought for our country. I admired the site that had 58,000 names and also remembers the soldiers that fought and shedded blood for our country. After we left the memorial we walked down the national mall to check out where we wanted to stay tomorrow, and we happened to see a crowd and me and my cousin decided to go check it out. Gladly it was CNN. There were shooting a news cast Martin Luther King III. I was juiced because I was on t.v. We went home after. Today was mellow day because we have to wake up early and I mean early for the Inaugural meeting tomorrow. Can't wait. GONE


Sergio P. #85

January 18th: Obama's Inaugural Ceremony

OBAMA, OBAMA, OBAMA!. That's all you heard in the crowds today. Among thousands and thousands, we were there in the flesh, as a witness of how this world can be changed by all Americans because we believe in YES WE CAN. The metro stations were packed, and the streets were even more packed. From every corner of my eye i can see a person of color. The National Mall was crowded from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, were the Inaugural Ceremony took place. It wasn't that cold today, i think because all of the body heat that was being produced. haha. The ceremony was set to start off at 2:30. In the celebration that sent the words of presidents from Lincoln to Reagan echoing across the National Mall, Obama assured an anxious nation that " WE will overcome what ails us now" with a faltering economy and two wars abroad. He asked for patience for the tasks ahead. We all cheered, clapped and sang along to performances from Stevie Wonder, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Shakira, Usher, Sheryl Crow, Gawrth Brook, and many more. Denzel Washington started it all off with an amazing speech. Then followed many more stars like Samuel L. Jackson, George Lopez and many more. This experience lifted my heart and me off my feet. You can just feel all the joy and hope everybody had that was there. The best thing Obama said was that " What gave him the most hope, was not all the marble monuments around us, but the PEOPLE that fill in the spaces between them". That made me feel like i was meant to do something for my country. BEAUTIFULLY DONE!


Sergio P. #85 IM A CHAMP AT HEART

January 17th: Another Day in DC

YESSSSSIR! Another beautiful day in Virginia, but not as beautiful as my day in Washington DC today.We started the day of the just right this morning.I had the chance to cook some eggs and ham outside in the 20 degree weather. Doesn't sound so fun huh, but it really was. The camping experiance gets better by the day. After break fest we headed to the Metro Station again, and this time we we got off at Foggy Bottom station, where around around the corner from the station is the Great Lincoln Memorial. I saw the Lincoln Memorial from a distance and man was it beautiful, i couldnt wait to get closer. When i got to the steps of the memorial i could't believe how big and bright it was. Abraham Lincoln and his blinkless eyes were a site i could never forget! We stayed for a little while after that a got to see a preview of the ceremony and You 2 (Irish Band).We left the memorial to find our selfs in front of another memorial, the Korean War Memorial. It had a gorgeous garden with big statue soldiers. The big black wall with pictures of the soldiers moved me in way. We kept walking down the National mall and we saw the World war 2 memorial it was a colossal architecture. The Washington Monument was just ahead of that. The Monument was like a sky scraper 555 ft high. Thats about 100 of me! haha. these memorials were something I've always wanted to see and now that i've seen them i feel blessed. Thank god for letting me get a chance to do this. It was already about 11 o'clock wen we boarded the train back home. Another long day that enjoyed. We got home and had some good dinner again. Tomorrow is the day of the Inaugural Ceremony, im very very juiced. GONE


Sergio P. #85

January 16th: First Day Of Exploration

Happy Birthday Sis!

I don't even know what to start with today, but let me start off saying today was cold 10 degrees. The birds were chirping, the trees and air smelt good, but the cold air made my nose hurt somewhat. Today we were set to explore the capitol, Washington DC. First we had some delicious break fest down the road from the cabin. After we had break fest and bought a few groceries we needed we headed to the Metro Station. We had took the metro to one of the United States biggest Metro Stations, Union Station. There was a lot of people and it was pretty busy in there, we had some coffee there then we continued our exploration. The Supreme Court was our first destination after we left the station, and I mean all the buildings around us were big and the architectural work was beautiful. We went inside the Supreme Court and luckily had the chance to sit inside the court room. And if u didn't know the Supreme Court has only one court room. This room was cool. The ceilings were high, the drapes were bright red and the artwork was amazing. That experience was great and will be treasured. The next stop was just across the street, the Nation's Capitol. This building was huge and extremely secured. They had dudes standing on the steps with CHOPPAS (Big guns). These people weren't playing. Haha. We didn't get to go inside but we did have the privilege to have lunch on the buildings steps. On the other side of the Capitol building I saw the initial setup for Obama's Inauguration. The view was amazing, and at this time my gluteos maximus (ass) is still freezing.. We kept it lite down the street and happened to find the National Archive on Pennsylvania St. This Archive/ Museum had the United States most important documents to ever be recorded such as, the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution. After this stop it ended our exploration for the day and we hopped on the Metro and headed back to the cabin. We had some good dinner and its now leaving me here writing my experience. Tomorrow is going to be another day to learn, explore, and enjoy. GONE


Sergio P. #85

January 15th: Arrival

January 15 the day the journey actually begins. I couldn't sleep the night before there was just this weird feeling and one that felt good at the same time because I couldn't wait to leave. We arrived at the airport around 6:00am. They did the usual, checked in our luggage, gave us our flight tickets, and we had to go through the security gates. Damn I basically got stripped down to my underwear, Haha. The clock struck 7:30am and it was about that time to board the Southwest, blue and orange plane. When we boarded the plane it was about 67 degrees, not so bad huh. On the plane I met a few people who were also attending the inauguration in Washington DC. Our flight was set for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The flight was about 4 hours but that was only to Chicago because we had to transfer here and hop on the plane to Philly. I'm telling you the weather in Chicago was not so roses and daisies, the temperature outside was -4 degrees thats below freezing! The city was as cold as Mt. Everest and even as white. We got on our flight to Philadelphia at 4:05 and we were on our way. That flight was short about an hour and a half, we got there earlier then scheduled. But we had one problem when we got off, they didn't send my uncles luggage on our plane, so we waited for the next flight and luckily it was there. That was nothing though we got through that. After we got all our luggage we went to get our car rental and headed for our cabin in Virginia. On the way we passed the home of the Ravens, Baltimore, Maryland. I Saw the stadium of the Purple and Black , the stadium was fat! Before we got to our cabin we decided to stop at the Waffle House. The food here was good, especially the waffles. Haa. We got to the cabin after we ate and settled in. The weather in Virginia was cold too, about 15 degrees. Tomorrow is another day of exploration and I cant wait to hit the capitol. GONE

Sergio P. #85