that was not the original title of my post, but it has become the new one. The original title was "the craziest thing I ever saw" but that was before I accidentally clicked on some link and it opened the webpage in my blogger window. What's that about? Couldn't it have opened in a different window and left my innocent post alone? Sheesh.
So now i'll have to try to remember everything I said in my last post. Ok, here goes nothing.
The truth is, I'm a bit pessimistic about the country I live in. Sure, I love living here and my freinds and stuff. But, I seldom root for my host-country to succeed in the international arena. I attribute it largely to the fact that so many locals I know have been oppressed, swindled, or taken advantage of by corruption and bad leadership. Every time I read some news article heralding all the advancements and opportunities where I live, it's hard not to sigh and think, "If only these writers lived here...had friends get cheated here...had lives torn upside down..." So, it's true. I'm a host-country pessimist. I cringe when I see some of the latest fashion trends. I cringe even more, and sometimes even harbor contempt, for some of the ways I see people behave - like the kid who pooped through his split-crotch pants on the mcdonald playland, or the girl who peed through her split-crotch pants inside - inside! - the grocery cart, or the very public lovers quarrels, which seem to become more and more common out on the street corners.
So, you can imagine that I don't get too worked up over national holidays, other than the fact that usually josh is out of school. But THIS holiday, I was totally wrong about. THIS holiday was cool...so cool, in fact, that I wish it was an American holiday.
Imagine it's fourth of july. There are no rules, no zoning laws. No fire marshalls, no nothing. Fireworks are a dime a dozen. Your social status is directly tied to the amount of bling that you can produce with fireworks. That's generally the scene.
As soon as it's dark enough, every resident in this 5-million-plus city starts simultaneously, it seems, lighting off their firecrackers. I'm not talkign about little tanks that whirl around and have a little candle flame at the top. I'm talking about the huge ones that light up the night sky, like when you open your blacked-out hotel curtains after you wake up in the morning, thinking it must be still like 5am when really it's almost noon. I'm talking about starbursts so big that you can barely contain it within your field of vision. Glittery, shimmery sprays and high-powered booms...one after another after another. And on it goes for hours.
We live on the 10th floor of our building, so we could see out over the entire city. There was not one second in the span of an hour where someone, somewhere was not lighting off firecrackers. Huge bursts of light were going off everywhere. Imagine the best fireworks show you ever saw, and then multiply it by like, a million. It was truly that amazing. I've never seen anything like it, nor will I ever see anything like it in America, what with all our laws and regulations (which are a good thing!).
People across the street were lighting Roman candles out their windows. Finally, someone from our building grabbed their sack and started lighting theirs off down in the courtyard right under us. Our apartment was eye level with most of the bursts they were setting off, sending blinding shards of light - pink, green, silver, blue, gold - into our rooms. The booms were so loud, I thought my chest cavity would never recover.
Emma was scared. But it was a reverential, impressed kind of fear. She loved watching it all, but only if she was enveloped in the protective arms of mommy or daddy. If we moved, she moved with us. She was quite insistent. I almost didn't know if she'd actually be able to sleep because things were so loud. Honestly, it was so loud, even in our house. It was hard to hear each other talking.
But emma went to sleep, and josh and I watched the fireworks long into the night. I've had to come to grips with the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed this holiday. But, don't worry...I'll keep it a secret.
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