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Proud to be an American!

Friday, July 20th was a special day. It was the day I became American.
I've waited for this day for five years and since I had to apply for dual citizenship before I could actually apply for the American one, the whole process took a little over a year from start to finish.

Freitag, der 20. Juli war ein besonderer Tag. Es war der Tag, an dem ich Amerikanerin wurde.
Ich habe auf diesen Tag fünf Jahre lang gewartet, und da ich mich erst für die doppelte Staatsbürgerschaft bewerben musste, bevor ich mich fuer die amerikanische bewerben konnte, dauerte der gesamte Prozess vom Anfang zum Ende ein bisschen laenger als ein Jahr.


I'm so grateful that Katie was able to come to the Oath Ceremony with me. The Ceremony was relatively short, a Federal Judge took our oath, we all said the Pledge of Allegiance, watched a video with a message from President Obama, we sang the National Anthem and the Ceremony ended with the song "Proud to be an American". It was awesome.

Ich bin so froh, dass Katie mit mir zur Einschwoerung kommen konnte. Die Zeremonie war relativ kurz, ein Richter nahm uns alle den Eid ab, wir sagten die "Pledge of Allegiance", guckten ein Video mit einer Botschaft von Präsident Obama, sangen die Nationalhymne und die Zeremonie wurde mit dem Lied "Proud to be an American" beendet. Es war toll.
There were 62 people from 27 different countries and some people shared their stories on how they came to this country and how much it meant to them, which was pretty emotional. 

Es waren 62 Personen aus 27 verschiedenen Ländern dort und einige Leute erzaehlten ihre Geschichten, wie sie in dieses Land kamen und wieviel es für sie bedeutete, was ziemlich emotional war.

We got back to the office around noon and I had no idea what surprise waited for me there. The first thing I noticed were the decorations that my co-workers had hung above my desk, American flags everywhere. Everyone was wearing American flag top hats and some of my co-workers even dressed in matching flag shirts. It was so sweet and it made me so happy, that the surprise could've ended right then and there, but they had more in store. 

Wir waren so um 12 Uhr wieder im Buero und ich hatte ueberhaupt keine Ahnung, was für eine Überraschung dort auf mich wartete. Das erste, was mir auffiel, waren die Dekorationen, die meine Kollegen über meinem Schreibtisch aufgehangen hatten, ueberall amerikanische Flaggen. Alle trugen Zylinder mit der amerikanischen Flagge drauf und einige meiner Kolleginnen trugen auch dazu passende Flaggen T-Shirts. Es war so süß und es machte mich so glücklich, dass die Überraschung damit haette beendet sein koennen, aber sie hatten noch mehr fuer mich geplant!
They took me to the lunch room, which was also decorated in red, white and blue and they had gotten me my favorite pizza and one of my co-workers had made me an Ice-Cream Cake (also my favorite). 

Sie brachten mich in den Pausenraum, welcher auch in rot, weiß und blau geschmueckt war, und sie hatten meine Lieblings-Pizza besorgt und eine meiner Kolleginnen hatte mir eine Eistorte gebacken.



I also received a card, a constitution, a paper weight in form of a star that had "Congratulations Nadine" and the date engraved in it and a passport holder that will soon be able to hold both of my passports, which was also engraved with my name and the date. 

Ich bekam ausserdem eine Karte, eine amerikanische Verfassung, einen Briefbeschwerer in Form eines Sterns, in welchem "Herzlichen Glückwunsch Nadine" und das Datum eingraviert war und ein Portomone fuer meine Reisepaesse, welches schon bald beide meiner Paesse aufbewahren wird, was sie auch mit meinem Namen und das Datum eingraviert hatten.
Aren't they the sweetest? They are the best co-workers anyone could wish for and I feel so blessed to be able to work with them every day. 
It was over the top amazing and I couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate my first day as an American.
Sind sie nicht toll? Sie sind die besten Kollegen, die man sich nur wuenschen kann, und ich bin so dankbar, jeden Tag mit ihnen arbeiten zu koennen.
Es war ein unglaublicher Tag und ich haette mir keinen besseren Weg vorstellen koennen, um meinen ersten Tag als Amerikanerin zu feiern.


Comments

  1. Congrats again... Du musst mir mal zeigen, wie man eine Eistorte backen kann :) Hehehe!

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  2. Ich gratuliere dir Nadine.
    Und ich freue mich natürlich wahnsinnig. :) (unbekannterweise)

    LG Kerstin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Das ist klasse! Herzlichen Glueckwunsch Nadine! Und deine Kollegen haben einen ganz besonderen Tag daraus gemacht! War die Eistorte denn lecker? :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations Nadine! So eine tolle ueberraschung von deinen kollegen! Lg ingrid

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alex, du backst den Teig und klatscht dann das Eis drauf - fertig! :) Die Torte war so gut, ich hab 3/4 davon in einer Woche verputzt!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Congratulations! Isn't it an amazing feeling? I am so happy for you that your coworkers made it even more special!

    ReplyDelete
  7. ja wirklich toll gemacht und mit viel viel Mühe

    sogar einen Sheriff Stern gab es - wäre was für mich ;-)

    greets oli

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ich habe deinen Blog lange verfolgt und dann aufgrund einiger Computerabstürze nicht mehr gefunden. Nun hat es geklappt und ich bin wieder begeisterte Leserin(hab einiges nachzuholen, aber darauf freue ich mich^^). Als ich nun den Beitrag über die Us-Citizenship gelesen habe, habe ich richtig Gänsehaut bekommen! Wahnsinnig geil! ;)
    Ich hoffe das alles weiterhin so verläuft wie du es dir vorstellst! Danke, dass du uns daran teilhaben lässt!!
    Liebe Grüße aus Flensburg,
    Jennifer

    ReplyDelete

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