KA-BOOOM

I'm back! Tonight is the last night of my one month hiatus from school, work and the real world. The past month has been a blur of exploding fireworks, steaming 饺子 (dumplings), glittering rice patties, and swaying palm trees. I did not know it was possible to experience and see so much in one month. Let me go back in time to 8 am., Sunday, the 25th of January.

'KAAA-BOOOOM!!!' **THWACK** The bang of an explosion sent me sitting up straight in bed. Well, I would have been sitting up straight if it wasn't for the wooden board supporting the bunk bed above me that I collided into with extreme force. "@#$%! OWW!" However, my cries were interrupted with more bangs, and I quicky panicked. Someone was setting off bombs somewhere very close to my hutong. I got up expecting to find my host sister Wang Qian fully awake and equally worried. Instead she rubbed her eyes and rolled over.
"王芊？" （Wang Qian）
"Mmmmhhh..."
"是什么?" （What is that？）
"放炮。” （Fireworks。）
And then I remembered. That Sunday marked the beginning of the Chinese New Years or 春节, arguably the most important holiday in China. A holiday known for eating dumplings until they come out your ears, watching marathon celebration/singing/dancing performances on tv, spending time with family, and setting off fireworks at ALL hours of the day.
This year was 牛年( The Year of the Cow) and my family spent the majority of it at my Laolao's house (maternal grandmother).
We set off mid-afternoon on Sunday to her apartment on the outskirts of Beijing where we would stay for 3 nights. When we opened the door a combination of steam, sweat and smoke greeted us. Her overheated, midsized apartment was crammed full with gaggles of relatives- the men smoking and playing cards, the women in assembly line form making mass quantities of food, and the children running around causing mahem. This was all just the start of the partying chaos. :)
After settling in and eating a huge dinner, the sunlight started to fade outside my baba pulled out a giant plastic bag. He beckoned all the kids to come outside with him and when we arrived outside the sound of more explosions reached our ears. Everywhere people were setting off fireworks, and my baba opened up the bag to pull out dozens of varying sizes and colors of fireworks. The bangs made it impossible to hear what anyone was saying, but my baba beckoned me over and gave me a match. He then pointed at the whisp of rope leading to a rather large firework. Gulp. I lit it and ran for my life in the opposite direction. KAABOOOM. My firework mixed in with the bangs of the hundreds of other fireworks going off in Beijing and a red spark shot up into the night sky. After lighting off that one, I choose to just watch the spectacular light show above me. The blinding lights and deafening noises were exciting and overwhelming. While we went back inside at just past 12:30, the party outside raged on until 3 or 4am and restarted at about 7 am.
The next several days were spent much the same way. Eat, play cards, light off fireworks. I enjoyed spending time with my host family and chatting with relatives, and occasionally escaped for long walks along the exploding streets. Going for a walk outside during the Chinese New Years is like going for a walk through a war zone. Everywhere you turn there are explosions and people ducking for cover, and you have to be very careful where you walk. Car alarms go off and the sky is constantly being lit up. However, instead of the crumbing buildings and the deserted streets of war, the only evidence of disturbances are the omnipresent scatterings of ripped red paper littered on the streets and a lingering smell of smoke. I have honestly never seen anything like Chinese New Years celebrations and it completely puts any American holiday celebration to shame.
After three days at my laolao's, Wang Qian, my baba and I headed home (my mama stayed an extra couple of days with her family) and I started to prepare for my next adventure.

Unfortunately, it's starting to get late and I want to do the next section of my adventure justice. I promise it will be posted before the week is out!

Until Next Time,
Julia Loughlin

Song of the Week:
Maps By: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs