A Lost Perspective in Pea Soup Fog

How's that for a title? Yesterday I was in travel pool and was going to blog about my adventures when I got back but I was so exhausted that I decided to wait until this morning. And I'm glad I did because if I had written last night, it would have been an entirely different blogpost.

You see, yesterday was a brutal day to be in travel pool. There were so many things to complain about like absolutely miserable and nasty weather (you literally couldn't see five feet in front of you due to the pea soup fog and then it was pouring on top of that.) The incredibly long, busy day. TONS of walking in heels. I've come down with a cold (hopefully not SARS or the bird flu). No internet access whatsoever. (Ok, thanks for letting me vent. I feel much better now!! No more complaining, I promise!!) I got to the hotel and was just physically and mentally exhausted. I was downright cranky. But it took me several hours of reflecting as I was going to sleep and then again this morning to really appreciate my day yesterday.

All those negatives aside, I had a really exciting day in travel pool. For 99.5% of the people on this trip, they haven't left the hotel at all. And I've been out for two days. I've actually gotten to see POTUS many times in person and not on TV screens in the workspace almost an hour away! Our day started out with going to a meeting with POTUS and the new Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev. It was the first time the two leaders had met since he had become POR (is that the right acronym?). Anyway, it was historical and I was fortunate to be in the room as part of the pool. They made some statements and took a question for each side and appeared to be fairly chummy with each other. After we left the room and I was supposed to go to the next event, we were standing in the hall and all of a sudden, SS agents came through the hall saying "move to the right"... I was a bit discombobulated and was trying to figure out what he meant when I realized he was moving me because I was about to get run over by POTUS and the new POR as they were walking to their next event. Someone asked about POTUS's birthday and he replied that it was "truly fabulous!" Literally I was within about a foot of the two leaders which I'm sure was not part of the original SS security plan!

The next event was where each leader was officially met by Japanese PM Fakuda. So I watched as one world leader after another walked down the steps and came to shake hands and have their picture taken. It turned out that I thought we would be there for just POTUS but we were stuck by Japanese security and had to watch all 25 leaders from the G8 and the African leaders who joined the meeting.

Then we headed to the press tent to hold for a few hours. Because of the weather, it was just best to stay in the tent to wait. Without internet access, it was somewhat of a challenge to not get completely bored or to fall asleep but those of us without access to the outside world made the best of the situation and played a lot of group hangman and Win Lose or Draw on the dry erase board in our little corner of the tent. I'm sure the other countries there were confused as to what we were doing because we were having fun and making a bit of noise and they really couldn't see what we were doing!

After that hold, we went back through the bowels of the hotel (I can actually read the Japanese signs now!) to go to a statement by POTUS and the President of Tanzania about Zimbabwe elections and other things African. This time it was just the US press so we didn't have to elbow anyone or get pushed around. It was rather pleasant!

At some point in the day, there was the family photo- that's what they call it when they take a picture of all the world leaders. They were just one big happy family. I think they were just happy that they weren't outside like originally planned since it was still pouring down rain and very very foggy.

We also had an off-camera briefing in there too. I was pretty unconnected to the outside world and was pretty clueless about what was being talked about at some moments!!

The last event of the day would have been absolutely spectacular had the weather been a bit different. But even in the rain and mist, it was fairly cool. They had two different groups of Japanese dancers which to me seemed like they just danced in pretty outfits and yelled some word all at the same time. The final act was a Japanese fireworks display. I was hoping that it would replace the fireworks I missed on the Fourth of July but this was different. These were bamboo tube cannon-type things that shot off fireworks and it looked like it was raining fire. Pretty cool except that it was really raining so I'm sure it wasn't quite as impressive as I'm sure it could have been. The announcer said that I would be inspired by the entertainment. And I guess I was but I was more inspired by the fact that all the worlds' most powerful leaders were standing in the rain to watch these performers because they knew a lot of work had been put into it.

Actually I didn't come to that conclusion until this morning. I'll be honest. I was REALLY cranky last night. I couldn't see through the fog, literally and figuratively, to see what a unique place I was in all day yesterday. I was on an all-expense paid trip to Japan, to a place I would never go to on my own. I was representing all the major TV news networks to get the news out of different events that POTUS was doing. I was in the same room as the power players of the world!! A foot or so away from the President of the United States of America. Nearly getting run over by two world leaders! After getting some sleep, I now appreciate more fully exactly where I am right now!