All I wanted was a drink of water. But I couldn’t get it ‘cause there was a dog lying near the end of the steps. A HUGE dog just chillin’ there. Now dogs do not normally scare me, and this one wouldn’t either if it were say, a house dog. But it was not a house dog; it was a stray dog blocking my way to the kitchen. They kids tried telling me it was no big deal, and that I should just “walk around it.” “Around it?” I could barely see past it. I finally decided to go back up the stairs, and walk all the way around the second floor and come down on the other side. By the time I got to the bottom I was really thirsty, and more than a little angry at the beast of a thing on the other side of the room.
Why was there a stray dog in the house? Because it is Chinese New Years of course.
Everywhere throughout the city, people are setting off firecrackers throughout the day, and it’s scaring the stray dogs. One of them I guess was sick of being disturbed and came into our house. It doesn’t help that they leave the “door,” which is basically a garage door, open all day long. Anyways, it is believed that the “bangs” ward off the evil spirits, but I think it gives people an excuse to make unnecessary noise on a day most of them have off from work. But they are not even limiting themselves to one day, or even to setting them off during an expectable hour. At about 3 am last night I was awaken by what first sounded like gunshots. The first thing that came to mind was “so much for the land of smiles,” but after a few seconds I realized it was just some idiot being an idiot on a week night. If it were a weekend I could have given a bit more slack, but as it wasn’t, and I was not exactly “loving” all of God’s creatures because of it. However, last night when I was getting ready for bed there was a REAL fireworks display. I could see the whole thing from the balcony off my room. I stood out there giving all the appropriate “ooo”s and “ahhh”s, and it totally made up for the firecrackers of the previous few days.
Today was my laundry day. Thankfully, because of all of my vintage clothing at home, I know how to wash clothing by hand. There are washing machines here, but I don’t trust them with most of my clothing. I don’t have a whole lot of clothes here, and what I do have I would like it to stay in one piece, and not be completely faded for a little while longer.
I also did some adventuring by myself today. Now last time I did this I got a bit lost and was almost run over by a motor bike. This time out I chose a different direction, and I found the park everyone here has been talking about. I was quite nice, little ponds and lots of paths and trees. But I got turned around while I was in it, and in the end I walk through the WHOLE park (which turned out to be larger than it looked) to find my way out. It was important to go out the way I went in, otherwise I would be lost in a unfamiliar part of town, and that is exactly what I was trying to avoid. I finally got out and home. Success!
Catch you on the flip side.
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