Happy New Year x2!

January 27, 2017
11:30 pm
Beijing, China

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone!

Over here, this is huge. I mean, take New Year’s at home and multiply it by 10 and you’ll get some idea of what Chinese New Year is like. I told you guys yesterday that people here take a ton of time off of work to go home for Chinese New Year. Those who don’t, though, definitely celebrate like crazy. For the past few days, there have been fireworks going off every once in a while. Starting this morning, though, the fireworks have been constant. I, being boring as I am, did not go out tonight. My mother did help me come to terms with my lack of social interaction by reminding me that my options for the night mostly consisted of going out to clubs and drinking a lot, I don’t really feel bad about staying in anymore. Because I didn’t go out, I’m watching fireworks through my window. Now, from what I’ve been told, fireworks are not allowed in Yizhuang, so I don’t have any close by (or at least none that I can see from my window). But I can see the city and there are tons of fireworks going off over there. It’s actually really cool to watch. I’d take a picture, but I don’t think it would turn out.

But, more important than discussing Chinese New Year, I wanted to share my funny story that happened today. Since nothing is really open down here in Yizhuang, I spent my day cleaning and doing laundry. Now, when I moved to China I packed Tide pods to get me through the first few months of laundry. Well, the first few months are over and I’m out of pods. I bought some liquid detergent, but it didn’t have a measuring cup with it. As a result, I’ve just been guesstimating. Well today, I over guesstimated and—can you see where this is going—overflowed the washing machine. So, yet again, I’m faced with a new “adulting” problem. Now cleaning up from my mess wasn’t a big deal, but I didn’t know what effects this could have on my washing machine and I didn’t want to run it again until I knew for sure. Unfortunately, at the time that this occurred, it was 2am in Ohio. I tried calling my parents, but both of them were out cold. Luckily, Aunt Kim and Uncle Ed were still awake. We had a nice laugh about it and they helped me figure out the best way to deal with the situation. Thanks again, Aunt Kim and Uncle Ed. I really appreciate the help. Love you both! With that all worked out, I spent a good part of my day laughing at my stupidity and dealing with the consequences.

Well, it’s now after midnight, so Happy New Year! The fireworks have become even more constant. I’m going to try to get some sleep, although loud booms may make that a bit difficult. Even so, I’m ready for bed.

Goodnight, all!
Kristen