Watching the Cubs Win and America Lose from the other side of the world

What an insane few weeks it has been in America. Talk about HIGHS and ⬇️ LOWS⬇️. With the Cubs trailblazing to our first World Series championship in ages and the nastiest Election coming to a brutal close, trust me, the whole world has been watching.

I’m grateful that my company set up a TV for our office to watch the events go down. But hey, it wasn’t just me glued to the TV for the most stressful 10 innings of the century and the most shocking presidential results on the planet. Being over here has opened my eyes even more to how powerful and influential the U.S. is.

Very stressful day at work here but very pleased with the results ☝? #flythew #gocubsgo ?⚾️✨

A photo posted by Emily Griffith (@emigriff) on

For most of my family and friends, the Cubs and the Election brought about many emotions and meaning. My mind has been racing the past few weeks. In some ways it has been so amazing and interesting to be in Australia for all this, and in some ways I feel I’m missing important moments at home. But I am grateful for this perspective and overall have a bright outlook on the future (even if the road is arduous).

PT 1. FLY THE W

Yeah, I know. I noticed that I was not in Wrigleyville raging my face off with my best friends when the Cubs won the World Series for the first time in 108 years. I didn’t hear firsthand the roar of the crowd on Addison street and I wasn’t up til 4am ordering deep dish pizza after one of the best nights of my life. (but I also wasn’t puking in the office stalls at work the next day ??) Some might say this was not the best time to move to Australia. I mean yeah it would have been awesome to be in Wrigley for this (and I feared before leaving that I would be missing exactly this), but honestly, location didn’t affect the amazingness of watching that moment happen. The smile on Bryant’s face when he threw to Rizzo SWOOOOON half a second before the Cubs won (source: Business Insider)  half a second before the Cubs won (source: Business Insider) I still get goosebumps thinking about it. Instead of Wrigleyville with my best friends, this is how I witnessed baseball history on an 80 degree sunny Thursday workday in Sydney, Australia:

    • 1st – 3rd innings: Frantically checking the Guardian’s live updates of the game while sitting in an Australian Defence Force financial seminar outside of Sydney (one of my clients). There were people all around the world who must not have access to the live game checking this, so at least I wasn’t alone.

 

  • 4th – 6th innings: Kingston (my CEO) and I were driving back into the city after the seminar, so he streamed the game on his phone. It was actually super high-def and updated, so I got to properly watch the game here. I appreciated Kingston’s interest in this important game.

 

 

By the end of the 5th inning, I had to ask Kingston if he could drop me off at a sports bar to finish watching the game. I promised I would finish the hours of my work later but I had to be in an appropriate environment to let out my stress about this game (i.e. drink beer, scream and cry).

    • 7th – 10th (!!) innings: Kingston dropped me off at Cheers, a bar where some Americans, both Cubs and Indians fans, were apparently watching the game, according to an Americans-in-Sydney type of Facebook group. I didn’t even care if anyone was there but just needed the live game, beer, and room to pace and jump and flail according to the game.

 

 

I walked in to a packed (ok, not packed) bar of around 30 nervous, loud Cubs fans freaking out about the game. My people.

After the most intense three hours hugging and screaming and pacing and getting to know my new Cubs fan friends, I spent the hour after Kris Bryant threw the ball leaping into strangers arms, bawling with a few Chicagoans, taking turns calling home, crying some more, drinking beer and singing the Go Cubs Go song.

You literally could be one of the nasty cockroaches in my kitchen but if you were a Cubs fan we would have had the best time. And I might’ve kissed you.

Funny thing is, I surely celebrated that Cubs win with some people who are celebrating Trump’s win. ?

It’s so cool how a sport unifies people like that. Not just unifying people from different backgrounds and beliefs but I felt SO in touch with everyone at home (and Grandpa Lou up above ?), feeling the same feelings about the game and watching a dream come true. It made the world feel small and full of love and good things. 

[I will say, once celebrations in Sydney died down around 7pm and all my American friends were passed out, I was v v lonely for a couple hours because I was like HELLLOOO THE CUBS WON WHO WILL CELEBRATE THIS MOMENTOUS OCCASION but then I hung out with two of my best Aussie friends and the world was right again. Because the Cubs WON]

PT 2. DRUMPF

Haha, a newspaper in Aus Haha, a newspaper in Aus

I thought America was on a roll with the Cubs thing. This month, I was getting nervous leading up to Election Day (Wednesday for me). Yesterday kind of felt like an anxious Christmas! The vicious election would finally be over and we could get an official answer and get down to tackling the issues.

Woof. Watching the Election all day at work was shocking. A darkness slowly and literally crept over me (I biked home through a storm). It’s funny that something like a Cubs game unified so many, but this Election harshly divided our people.

As the Aussies would say, I am DEVO (devastated) about the results. ?

It’s scary. It’s real. My heart aches for those that don’t feel safe or wanted in the U.S. And for my own brother and others in the LGBTQ community. And for women and even for people uneducated enough to understand what they’ve chosen.

And for the PLANET. The Paris Agreement, the Clean Power Plan, spend on clean energy…all this progress I am terrified to lose. AAHHHH (P.S. pls watch Time To Choose)

But we’ve seen a lot (a LOT..) of positive bravery in the media the past couple days. I can’t stop reading/watching it honestly. It’s really cool to see everyone express their disappointment but courage to go on and fight this. (hoping everyone puts their tweets where their mouth is)

Today I even met up with my new American friend from NYC to grieve, eat sushi and get ready to take action. She’s already donated to causes she supports that are in danger of getting trampled by Trump. ?

No need to repeat everyone but I liked this instagrammer’s post:

I’ve been inspired to practice more fiercely and fight harder for everything I believe in. It’s comforting to know that of 18-25 year olds, only five or six states would have been Trump. Makes me excited for a brighter future.

But it’ll take work work work work work to get there. Being in Australia showed me that there is a real danger of losing our rep as one of the most powerful countries in the world. We set the example and the international agenda on a lot of issues, so it really makes me now, more than ever, grateful to be an American. I feel fully responsible to make sure we do the world right. Obama said in his interview with Bill Maher the other day:

“Our values and our ideals actually matter. We do a lot of good around the world. There are some things that we do that are either ineffective or imperfect, but there is a lot to be proud of”

— President Obama

There’s no need to for everyone bail on America (although visitors are welcome) and there’s no need for me to run home straight away.  Despair is not the answer. Let’s fight da good fight, all over the world ?

I will still happily fly the W and fly the American flag side by side (I actually do on my desk at work). I’m just ready to wake up, be a better person, and rep our country well here ? ✌️?

And here’s Bondi Beach on November 10, 2016, looking fresh as ever ?

More Aussie Travels