FIRECRACKERS IN STEREO -- AS I WRITE
We're in for a lot of gunpowder tonight! As I write, firecrackers are being set off -- behind the building, in the distance, every few minutes and have since earlier today.
Carrefour, almost always a source of frustration at the dinner hour, was not unusually busy, but everyone's cart looked like they were hosting a party, especially those near the liquor section.
Piled up around the freezer section were packages with photos of foods we didn't recognize. What a night to be tired of Chinese food and shopping for a salad and burger.
We wouldn't have known it was a mini-holiday, but our new best friend/restaurantuer par excellence, Mr. Wong, informed Mr. T. that tonight is "pre-New Year's"
The Chinese New Year is eight days from now, February 9th, but firecrackers are being sold and popping off everywhere -- main streets, local neighborhood bodegas.
Just now, coming home in the taxi, we heard a racket and saw, as we passed a deserted nondescript dwelling, the jerking movement, pinpoints of lights jumping off the pavement.
Who could mind the racket? We're hanging with the folk that invented the shite! We walk through our courtyard with our groceries, and look for our keys as we walk through wasted red paper debris.
Five months to the day since we came to China, and still, it's hard for me to believe we're really here. Except that logging on to Blogger (for the first time since we got here), I found the Home page loaded in Chinese. Had to feel my way around from memory.
Rattatatatatat -- Another round from the building next door!
I'm getting offline and going back to the kitchen/balcony over the street with a view of sky, help the man make dinner and look for more exploding fireworks!
It's in stereo now, from the front and back of the building...It would appear this is their holiday and they're stickin' to it -- not too colonized by the Christian calendar -- right on! And hao-le, hao-le, hao - le (Okay, okay, okay. Good, good, good.)
Carrefour, almost always a source of frustration at the dinner hour, was not unusually busy, but everyone's cart looked like they were hosting a party, especially those near the liquor section.
Piled up around the freezer section were packages with photos of foods we didn't recognize. What a night to be tired of Chinese food and shopping for a salad and burger.
We wouldn't have known it was a mini-holiday, but our new best friend/restaurantuer par excellence, Mr. Wong, informed Mr. T. that tonight is "pre-New Year's"
The Chinese New Year is eight days from now, February 9th, but firecrackers are being sold and popping off everywhere -- main streets, local neighborhood bodegas.
Just now, coming home in the taxi, we heard a racket and saw, as we passed a deserted nondescript dwelling, the jerking movement, pinpoints of lights jumping off the pavement.
Who could mind the racket? We're hanging with the folk that invented the shite! We walk through our courtyard with our groceries, and look for our keys as we walk through wasted red paper debris.
Five months to the day since we came to China, and still, it's hard for me to believe we're really here. Except that logging on to Blogger (for the first time since we got here), I found the Home page loaded in Chinese. Had to feel my way around from memory.
Rattatatatatat -- Another round from the building next door!
I'm getting offline and going back to the kitchen/balcony over the street with a view of sky, help the man make dinner and look for more exploding fireworks!
It's in stereo now, from the front and back of the building...It would appear this is their holiday and they're stickin' to it -- not too colonized by the Christian calendar -- right on! And hao-le, hao-le, hao - le (Okay, okay, okay. Good, good, good.)
posted by Anonymous at 7:33 PM
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