Super!!!!!!

Last Wednesday China celebrated the New Year and the debauchery that followed will take some to time to type out. Therefore, this post will talk about last week's two super events in the States - the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday.

Actually, I was a little bummed out about missing the Superbowl. My plan was to get up at 5:30 am that Monday morning and hike over to The Goose 'n Duck, a popular Beijing sports bar, to watch the whole game on their illegal satellite system. Satellites in China are illegal but most cops don't seem to mind especially if you are a foreigner or a business that caters to foreigners. My mistake was spending all night explaining the rules of football to my Korean friend while drinking Soju, Korean rice wine. We both passed out at my place and when I finally woke up it was already the 4th quarter. Although I couldn't find a live stream of the game on the internet, I was able to connect to a Detroit radio broadcast from my iTunes. I had seen thousands of football games throughout my life, so my imagination guided by the words of the announcer was just as entertaining (or more). I also relished in the fact that the last ten minutes of the game were by far the most exciting and that the NY Giants, the underdog and my favorite team since I was a boy, triumphed over the show-boaty Patriots and their uncouth Bostonian supporters. I miss football.

Super Tuesday has also made big headlines in Asia. I am a strong Obama supporter and I have been following his campaign and the results of the primaries vigoursly on the internet. I am very informed and often get information faster than my counterparts in the US (mainly because I can read the NY Times morning edition before everyone at home wakes up). I also belong to a group of 30 expats in Beijing that are Obama supporters and are looking for ways to add our bit to the race, besides the obvious donation.

I have clearly been inspired by Barack Obama and his message and with this sudden interest in US politics, I begin to remember why I love my country so much. It may just be a slogan to you and political rhetoric to others, but "Yes, we can" means a lot to me. Living in Beijing, you are conditioned to except the government as a supreme authority. The policies and institutions in place can not be dictates by individuals but rather a small group of Communist officials. The democratic ideals behind "Yes, we can" should not and can not be taken for granted. The US and the democractic system we live under by no means is flawless nor infallible, but we should be proud of how exceptional we live as a united and free people. In Beijing, the slogan might as well be, "No, you can't" or as they like to say Mei Banfa.


I miss the U.S. of A.