Well, as you have all likely heard by now – our President was in Cairo last Thursday. What an experience to be part of the American embassy here! I was fortunate enough to have the chance to work with his advance team and White House staff, go to almost all the sites for advance visits, represent the embassy at the Egyptian Presidency, and generally do many other awesome and not-so-glamorous things. My days, for example, varied from meeting with Mubarak’s chief Chamberlains to running around the main speech site checking that all the toilets worked and then discussing the number of bathroom attendants with the President of Cairo University (one of the most illustrious universities in the Middle East if not all of Africa). It was an incredible all-hands-on-deck team effort.

As you might imagine, “Game Day” was super hectic, after two weeks of late nights and long weekends everyone rallied to make sure it went off without even the smallest hitch. The Embassy, with a staff numbering in the thousands, was almost singularly focused on the visit, the Egyptian Presidency was incredibly accommodating and helpful and also singularly focused on the visit, everyone at Cairo University moved mountains and parted the seas for us, and that’s not to mention the 50+ people on the White House advance team, plus Secret Service, etc, etc. And did I mention that Secretary Clinton was also in town? It was a whirlwind.

Along with another FSO, I helped oversee about 50 to 60 of our volunteer ushers and generally got a ton of exercise that day. When the speech was about to start one of my friends from the advance team pulled me into the White House VIP staff hold areas on the ground level. Suffice it to say that if you haven’t yet seen the speech, do it (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaxZPiiKyMw) Do it now. And repeat as necessary. It was incredible-I had goose bumps, tears in my eyes and a heart full of joy. I have never, ever felt as overwhelmed with pride to be an American in this region. And after traveling to this part of the world over the past seven years, I can tell you all I have never seen such a genuinely warm and welcoming reception to America and Americans in general. During the speech what you won’t see on the tape is how excited everyone was to be there, how many times the audience gave a standing ovation, how many people cheered and yelled praise for Obama and the U.S. It was incredible to see a great man give such a poignant speech. Kudos to the administration and to Favareau and company.

And when it was all said and done, on my way home cars were honking their horns as they would only for weddings and soccer games. Everyone from diplomats, to lawyers, to the taxi drivers, to the guards were elated and repeatedly and enthusiastically expressed their approval and love for Obama (and often America). I cannot begin to properly articulate what kind of turn around this is for us.

I am excited to see what this administration has in store, it has certainly started off on a high note here in the Middle East. Get excited y’all and please share with me your impressions of how people reacted to the speech in your respective corners of the world.

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