Obama wins! Off to 长沙 !

Today is legendary, but for me it is November 5th that I found out America elected its first black (biracial technically) President. I woke up from a nap and my roommate Funstar said, "did you know Obama won?" and that's the memory I will recall when people ask me far down the line, "What were you doing when America elected its first black President?" I'll say Funstar just came back to the room dressed fancy from an important interview and asked me if I knew. Well I was really happy to hear that, you know, because now I have another reason to come back to the United States. Just now watched his acceptance speech on Youtube from Grant Park in my beloved Chicago, IL. On Facebook a lot of 'friends'' status reads: "Yes We Did!" And I am sad I missed out on the whole thing, all the time leading up to the election and especially today now that I know Obama for sure won and I don't have to worry anymore. The acceptance speech was very moving. I heard Sen. McCain had a very good concession speech which I will try to catch as well. Although I am completely late, I may well go back and watch all the VP and Presidential debates (all of which I am embarrassed to admit) I did not watch here in China.
I went to dinner last night with my Chinese friend 炫霖 and he told me he loves Obama, not only because he is good-looking and black, but also because he knows how to fight for his cause. He also told me Sichuanese girls are of spicey temperament like their food around the time I was relaying my brief travel experiences in that area. I thought that was hilarious, especially because he was very wide-eyed as he said that.
The most exciting thing to happen these last few days was finally tracking down my long-lost cousins with the help of my dad. We had been trying for quite awhile but had turned up no luck. Then randomly the other night I was talking to Ba on Google Chat when suddenly he said: "Good news, I got through to Changsha!" And it all sort of fell into place there. The following evening I placed a call given the new cell number for my cousin living in Changsha. I was really nervous about making the cal actually, not only because I wasn't sure how well I'd conduct a conversation in Chinese over the phone, but also because even though it was a blood relative he was essentially a perfect stranger. But I found him quite amiable over the phone, and he welcomed me to come to Changsha in a few weeeks, saying he would contact his siblings now living in Leiyang (Ba's hometown) and Shenzhen to try to bring them all together for my visit. When I thanked him for his hospitality he said there was no need because we are brothers. That was an interesting response... So I am really looking forward to this opportunity, I imagine it will be among the most valuable experiences of this whole study abroad trip. The plan is to fly there the weekend spanning the 20th-23rd. I will start planning this weekend.