Diana and I woke up early morning on the 5th of November to head out to an American Cafe in the Wudaokou area of Beijing, China. When we arrived the place was already packed with other Americans (as well as others from around the world) to watch the poll results. Diana and I had both cast our ballots weeks ago in our registered state of New York thus our votes were already counted.

It was really nice to be amongst the company of other Americans that were anxiously awaiting the poll results. We cheered, applauded, sang Americana songs and came together as Americans. We even applauded John McCain's speech; which I think was quite good.

The title and the video somewhat say it all, if you're unfamiliar with sniper alley check out the wikipedia article.

I probably don't need to write how important it is for every citizen in America to vote. Elections and voting is one of the primary elements that make America great. Even though Diana and I are several thousand miles away from our country it does not stop us from voting. We registered and then cast our ballots using the old-fashioned write in method. Fed-Ex is incredibly awesome and has a program called "Express your vote". American expats living in China are able to send their ballots for free.

I'm not exactly sure why its free as Fed-Ex runs this same program in other countries but as a pay-for service (about 20USD usually, which isn't bad). I will say that I'm extremely happy that they offered this service because I do *not*.. let me repeat this I do NOT trust the Chinese Post Office to deliver an American ballot. The post office opens every letter, box, package, everything in or out so I don't trust them to not tamper with my vote. I hope they change this outright invasion of privacy but their country their rules; I'm but a guest. Fortunately Fed-Ex came to the rescue. Tracking number confirmed our votes were received about two weeks prior to the elections.