Joya, Howie, Haviva, Me, ChadThe big celebration was later, at - naturally! - a shopping mall. It was organized by Democrats Abroad. They had a huge screen to show a video of the acceptance speech, and bands, and beer, and a balloon drop.
It was a lot like a post-election party in the States, so it scratched that itch to feel American. It reminded me of many an election night I've spent in a hotel ballroom with my microphone and notebook, waiting for the candidate to come out and make a speech.There were plenty of Indonesians celebrating, too. As you may have heard 50,000 times on CNN, Obama is quite popular here.
I got an extra shirt, figuring someone would want it. Today one of my workmates who'd seen pictures of the party asked me in desperate tones, "Do you know any way I can get an Obama shirt?" When I gave it to her, she was pretty happy.
9 comments:
As someone who got way too emotionally and financially invested in an election of a country in which she's not even a citizen of ... I've been high-fiving and participating in all the celebrations, gloatings, and some trash talkings with every single Obama-supporting american I know. So Kudos to you, too miss kopi susu. That was way overdue and very well earned and deserved. I can go back to fully loving your country again now. Minus Alaska. Just kidding.
You could make a fortune selling those shirt.
Hahaha! I'm going back to fully loving my country too, Nadya. Although I guess I have Bush to thank for moving to Indonesia at all; I was tired of yelling at my radio every time I heard his voice.
And don't give up on Alaska. They have some pretty cool people (and moose, and penguins). They've just been driven a little crazy by too much oil. It can happen to any country. :)
Maybe we should go into business, Joko?
Alaska has many things, but penguins are not among them.
and probably not as many moose as the ... pre-governor era
I love the joy expressed in those photos, and continue to smile at the thought that the world may start liking the United States again.
For us, it was extra-sweet that this was the first election that the kids (8 & 10) were old enough to truly understand. We went to a friend's house to watch the results live (we're a TV-free household), and the kids were coloring in electoral vote maps and we were just about dancing with glee as the winner became clear. While I'm not happy that my state voted against marriage equality, in general I haven't felt this hopeful since the 1990s.
I am shocked, shocked, to find that Alaska has no penguins. I hope it's something the new administration will address promptly.
Emily, sounds like a great night to spend with your kids. I guess for them it won't be any big deal to see non-white, non-male candidates run for president -- and win. That's pretty cool. Hopefully we'll leave them the world in a little better shape than it is right now, too (crossing fingers hard, very hard).
I do really love reading your blogs. I'm an indonesian who is right now studying abroad.I miss Indonesia so much.by reading your blogs I can catch up a lot of things that had happened there,what makes it more interesting, is that I'm reading things about Indonesia from a foreigner's point of view.anyway, I would like to make a contact with you if you wouldn't mind.
looks like some fun parties! I celebrated in a pub with lots of friends and strangers, all of whom hugged each other and yelled our heads off when he was declared the winner.
whew! what a stupendous relief to have elected obama, and I think more importantly, to have put an official end to W's reign. wish we could have also voted to shorten the lame duck period by a couple months. seems unfair that we still have to live with this same guy in charge until jan 20! jeez louise. but, come mid january, it's party time again.
by the way, what were the b/w graphics and the caption on those obama shirts?
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