Friday, January 30, 2009

Explosions During the Joyous New Year

I am sitting right now in our new apartment in Shanghai…having just decided to get up from lying down and sleeping intermittently after a hefty dinner. And it sounds like I have been transported to a horrific war zone. I hear explosions right outside the window and firecrackers so loud they might as well be going off directly inside my eardrum. It’s like someone is shooting a machine gun through our window…well, at least in the courtyard of the apartment complex. But hey! It’s Chinese New Year! Hooray! For an entire week, people (including the security guards 50 feet away) take great pleasure in shooting off firecrackers and fireworks ALL OVER the frickin’ city between the hours of 7pm and 1am. It’s midnight, so I’m in this mess for at least another hour…unless they all get bored or tired or deaf…all unlikely since they are clearly professionals at these shenanigans. Holy moly! It truly is incredible just how much the Chinese love their firecrackers and fireworks, and how no one has yet to step up and say, “This shite is too f-ing loud all the f-ing live long day….how ‘bout a little breather, eh?”

Well, at least I can chalk it up to being an intriguing and enlightening experience…at least.

- Emma

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