An End to the Noise

After a very long 15 days, the Chinese New Year celebration finally ended. The first night of the New Year, I was up at 11:50 and went back and forth between the windows for half an hour. There was a constant barrage of fireworks. Everywhere in the city, sparks were flying. We're not talking your simple Black Cats, either. Average people everywhere were lighting off huge, mega fireworks. In our courtyard, they were sending up fireworks that burst just outside our window. I watched people send fireworks out the windows of their 15th floor apartment. Crazy. It was like being in a war-zone with rockets going off everywhere around you. I could not have slept, but of course, Joe and Sophia slept right through it. From that day, we would hear fireworks every night. Then, on the 15th day, the Lantern Festival, there were a bunch more.

It seems some people had some leftovers, since I just heard some more tonight. I had not thought that Chinese New Year was such a big deal, but watching the fireworks explode and light up the city, I realized just how important this holiday is. You could feel the excitement and promise of the new year ahead.

That was the big deal beginning in mid-January. Other than that, things have been pretty tame. I have had a respiratory infection that I haven't been able to shake for almost a month now. Two rounds of antibiotics, 2 inhalers, and 1 antihistamine later, I'm starting to get better. We have moved into our new school building, just a 5-minute walk away. Yeah! The weather is gorgeous. We've been in the 70's for a couple of weeks now, but it is reminding me that hot and humid weather is on the way. I guess we'll enjoy it while we can.

The baby is growing and getting stronger. At my doctor's visit last week, the doctor thought I was at 24 weeks, so she said the baby was a good size. Then, I reminded her that I was at 22 weeks. Sorry, she said, looks like it will be another big one. Oh, goody. At least we seem to make 'em big and healthy.

Sophia is quite the little girl these days. One of the two-year-old teachers approached us after a meeting the other day, and told us how she saw Sophia at school with her arm pulled in her shirt. She was saying, "My arm, my arm." This American teacher got the joke, and thought it was pretty funny. Apparently, all the Chinese teachers were seriously concerned. Sophia is developing a little sense of humor and loves to make her own jokes. She's also very into singing. Today she sat at the piano and "played" along while she sang "Alouette." She then proceeded to sing the song at least 100 times today. Yep, that's not going out of my head any time soon.

Joe and I had a good Valentine's last night since a coworker so graciously offered to watch Sophia. We got to get foot massages and dessert. It's not very often that we have a babysitter, so we were very appreciative.

That's about it. I'm hoping I will be able to get some videos on, but no luck yet.