Firecrakers & Feeling Better

Happy Chinese New Year! Today is the first day of the Year of the Pig. Firecrackers seem to be the favorite way to celebrate special days around here...weddings, new buildings, holidays, birthdays. The firecrackers started yesterday and went all day long and all night long...of course they were the loudest at midnight. Anyway, people just gather around and shoot off really loud firecrackers. At midnight it was so loud that I had to turn off the movie I was watching for 20 minutes because it sounded like I was in the middle of a war! I woke up to the loud bangs 4 or 5 times throught the night last night. I'm still trying to figure out why it's fun to make loud noises at 3 o'clock in the morning or at 4 o'clock or 5 o'clock. Check out this article about Chinese New Year...it's pretty interesting.

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I spent the last 7 days on my couch. I'm thinking about venturing out today...but I'm not sure yet. I've had the flu :( I did eventually go to the doctor, but I would have been just as well off if I hadn't. They don't speak very much English and I don't know enough Chinese to explain my symptoms. I ended up with some Tylenol Cold and Chinese herbs. (My roommate and I have a pile of Chinese herbal remedies that we have been given over the last 6 months that we just can't bring ourselves to use). I'm finally feeling almost back to normal, so I'm thinking about going out today. But, since today marks the beginning of the most important national holdiay in China...and all of China is out and about...I'm thinking it might be just a little bit crazy out there. I might be better off staying home today :)