It’s Spring Festival week over here in China-land. To celebrate, Christian and a billion Chinese people all have one week off from work (unfortunately, it turns out pregnant women don’t get holidays). The Chinese (with the possible exception of the poor folks down south who are still waiting in endless lines at train stations thanks to the whims of nature) are spending this week playing with explosives, setting things on fire, getting drunk, eating truckloads of food, and fighting with their family. Christian is spending this week cleaning, fighting with his very pregnant and hormonal wife, and searching for food (ALL restaurants are closed).
Despite its name, Spring Festival takes place during some point over the course of late January/February. Think of it as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s all rolled into one without pesky drunk driving laws or fire codes. Generally, the locals start warming up their fireworks reserves about a week before the actually holiday, and keep up the merry bombing for about a month, teetering off around Lantern Festival which comes twelve days after Chinese New Year’s Day (today). I’ve seen fireworks set off in the middle of busy streets, directly next to buildings, underneath cars, and yet somehow, despite the obvious inherent safety hazards, there are still over a billion Chinese people.
They may not be mortal…