piao! piao! piao!

(that’s the sound kids here make for explosions)

Approximately two dozen strings of firecrackers went off within earshot of our building before nine a.m. this morning. I don’t know what today is a good day for (every day in the two weeks between New Year and Lantern Festival is a special day in one way or another), but it seems that noise in on that list. Some were like cannons, other just lines of small firecrackers that went on for a full minute or two. Oh, and it started around six.  6 o’clock! I felt sorry for the people who lived around the temple where we did our kung fu demo back in September (the group we were with did the same thing, firecrackers at six in the morning) – now I know how they felt.

Later: It was a good day for praying for good luck and enshrining statues of Buddha. So maybe that helped. Lots of praying. Now with more firecrackers! I think that enhances the prayer. I’ll try that next time I go to church…