Chinese New Year

Happy New Year to all of you who missed it last Saturday... at least it would have been if you went by the lunar calendar, as the Chinese do. One of their main forms of celebration is to set off fireworks...they LOVE those things. You heard them going on and off throughout New Year's Eve day and then pretty constantly from about 8pm - 1am, with the climax at midnight of course. Then they started up again around 7 am or so and went all day. I've never heard anything like it! My dad told me that they think it scares away evil spirits and I've heard several other people say the same thing since then. Most businesses close for 3 days at least...some have been closed for weeks though since there are not any students here. It was cool being here to experience it and the kitchen staff graciously cooked us a really nice meal too!