Our Inaugural Ball

As you may have seen on CNN, we attended the Democrats Abroad celebration in Jakarta on Inauguration Day. We made a brief appearance on CNN International in a clip they've been airing about the event. We're also in a Reuters photo that's been picked up online in a bunch of places... (http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/slideshow/photo//090120/ids_photos_wl/r4009770437.jpg)The event was a lot of fun. There were maybe 600 people and a lot of excitement in the air. The room was decorated with lots of Obama election memorabilia (all of which was up for auction at the end of the evening) and they had some bands, a trivia contest (which a team of Indonesians won) and the CNN International live viewing started at 10:30 PM. There was Obama cheering, Bush booing and everything you would expect. Truly the "people's party" this event was free, while the celebs and big-wigs partied at the Ritz at about 100 bucks a pop. Our low end event proved to contain what we believe was every white person we know or have met here in Jakarta. It was honestly a little overwhelming - we have not been in a room with that many non-Indonesians in a long, long time. But, considering the event, I guess it was appropriate and to be expected.

There were also a good number of Indonesians there, some even with their faces painted in red, white and blue. This particular mom and kid really gave us a giggle, she was uber excited and I think he came for the ice cream. There are few moments living here as expats that we are proud to be American and we relished in it last night.