Obama ftw!

It was lunchtime and most of the foreign exchange students piled in to Chubu's study abroad office for our homestay meeting. I had seen earlier in the day that Obama had loads more votes than McCain, but at this point people were saying that it was over.

And after the end of the meeting, we were watching McCain concede the race. I had been worried about missing history-in-the-making, but a little school-owned laptop was keeping me in the loop with what was happening about 6,000 miles and 14 hours away. By the time I got back to the dorm, I was just catching the last 8-10 minutes of Obama's victory speech on the New York Time's site. They had a live feed right on their front page.

However, all the foreign exchange students have been talking about the rate going down again, which sucks because I already changed $100 again today for a mere 98 yen/1 dollar. I have to hope for something good on Friday because that's going to be my next chance to change money (crazy Japanese banks open at 9:30 and close at 3:00-3:30... what kind of hours are those?). I think I might change a good chunk of money if all the doomsaying is true. Our economy has to get worse before it gets better and all that.

But still, to be able to see the first black president step up live from halfway across the globe... it was a really cool feeling. A couple of people have expressed concerns about assassination attempts on Obama, which is sad, but definitely a thought. I read there had already been an assassination attempt on him while he was on the campaign trail.

I received a survey from a Japanese student about Martin Luther King and his work, which makes me wonder what the Japanese's perception of race in America is. Some of them really do think we all carry guns. One older Japanese man I met said that's why he won't go to America.

At any rate, I'll be watching the new presidency and other political events from abroad.

Or at the very least trying to catch the parodies The Daily Show or the Colbert Report serve up. I miss Comedy Central XD