Madness!
It was Chinese New Year's Eve. Fireworks were driving me over the edge. (Oh no, you can't possibly understand. And no words I know can possibly explain. They are just so, so, so, so BAD.)
In a bold move to maintain sanity, Mimi and I (well, mostly me) set up the cot in the hallway. Are we clever or what?!! We closed the doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms. As if we were conducting a tornado drill, we were nowhere near the windows, and felt doubly protected. This camping-in-the-hallway would not block out the noise completely, but it would keep the explosions from causing my heart to jump when the fireworks hit my windows.
Ear plugs, of course, were considered. I knew it was not fair to Mimi if I had ear plugs, but there was no need for both of us to suffer.
However, I reasoned that if fire trucks came during the night or if my neighbors pounded on my door to warn me to get out, I wanted to be able to hear it. So, no ear plugs.
Oh yeah, I know what you are thinking. I am paranoid, a little over the top.
But when three fire trucks and an ambulance came screaming into my apartment complex a little after 10 p.m., I knew I was right on the mark.
I was in my pajamas, but threw on my clothes to go to the next building to see flames shooting out of an apartment on the 21st floor of a 25-floor building. I never got the full story, but the paramedic said everyone got out, and there is no doubt in my mind that their stash of fireworks caused the fire. BECAUSE EVERY FAMILY HAS THEIR OWN STASH OF FIREWORKS, enough to entertain an entire small town in Texas for the 4th of July. I kid you not.
Shaking, I returned home to the cot, the one in the hallway. But with midnight approaching, I dared not sleep. Last year my upstair neighbors' firecrackers hit my balcony windows. I was afraid it might happen again, setting something on my balcony on fire.
Sure enough, at midnight, hundreds of flaming pieces of red firecracker paper began flying onto my balcony. I began screaming -- not at anyone in particular (yeah, as if anyone could hear me over the madness anyway) -- I just really felt better screaming.
Last week, as a courtesy intended for foreigners in the country, the police called my cell phone and told me to be vigilant and careful during Chinese New Year. Careful? What could happen?
Well, you know, 700 million people are traveling across the country at the exact same time and twice that number are harboring explosives in their apartments.
The only way to be "careful" is to be gone, like to another country. But I think I need to be here to protect my dog and my home!
Oh my. It is ridiculous. There ought to be laws to prevent this madness.
Thank you, young firefighters, for giving up your own holidays to serve us. Thank you, young firefighters, for giving the fireworks-setting people glaring looks (my sentiments exactly). Thank you, young firefighters, for your superior physical fitness that allows you to run up 21-flights of stairs quickly with fire extinguishers in tow. Thank you, God, for getting us safely through the night, even though we didn't get a wink of sleep.
Sunday night, the "money god" supposedly arrives at midnight. It will be even worse.
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