when I heard that Barack Obama had been elected the next president of the United States of America.

Nearly all the Peace Corps Samoa volunteers, some American exchange students, a handful of other expats and a couple of non-American well-wishers were in the American Embassy yesterday to watch the live CNN coverage of the election results. Everyone was sitting around, on the floor, drinking soda and eating popcorn, the whole scene was pretty cute.

I wasn't in the room when CNN announced their projection that Obama had won - but I heard the cheers. When I came back to see the chyron reading, "Barack Obama elected next president: CNN projection," I was basically in shock. I don't think anyone really believed it until John McCain gave his very eloquent and truly patriotic consession speech. The satellite feed started acting funny as we were waiting to hear Obama speak, but it managed to hold up enough so we could listen. There were some tears shed, and when he made reference to the "far corners of the world" (or however it went), the room cheered.

I think there might be pictures on the embassy or Observer websites later.

There was a lot of celebration and patriotism all around.

Then I went to see Tropic Thunder.