Celebrating America
Happy Fourth of July, all.
To celebrate America's independence, I went to work. For eight hours. On a Saturday. After working 12 hours on a Friday. This only happens to me on holidays.
Interesting thing I learned: fireworks are illegal in China except for during the Spring Festival. Weren't fireworks invented here? The people who invented them didn't even realize the military potential of what they had concocted (gunpowder). They just wanted pretty things to look at. Seems like fireworks should be sold at all the street vendors. Of course, there's a burned-out building downtown next to the CCTV Tower that is a good example of what happens when fireworks go wrong.
Not that it matters much anyway; the smog was so bad on the fourth that you wouldn't have been able to see a firework go off any higher than 10 feet above your head.
At about 5:00 on Saturday we headed to Sanlitun, the central area for expats, for some chili dogs and a couple of beers. Funny that the best chili dog I have ever eaten was at a restaurant in Beijing. I hit the streets armed with my newest Chinese phrase - I don't know how to spell it correctly so I'll give you the phonetics - "doo lee yeur quai le." That means "happy Independence Day" in Mandarin. I learned how to say that while we were on the subway. I did my best to say it to just about everyone I saw, which got me several interesting looks. Most people didn't even pay attention, except for one guy who respond by saying "thank you." So much for that.
To celebrate America's independence, I went to work. For eight hours. On a Saturday. After working 12 hours on a Friday. This only happens to me on holidays.
Interesting thing I learned: fireworks are illegal in China except for during the Spring Festival. Weren't fireworks invented here? The people who invented them didn't even realize the military potential of what they had concocted (gunpowder). They just wanted pretty things to look at. Seems like fireworks should be sold at all the street vendors. Of course, there's a burned-out building downtown next to the CCTV Tower that is a good example of what happens when fireworks go wrong.
Not that it matters much anyway; the smog was so bad on the fourth that you wouldn't have been able to see a firework go off any higher than 10 feet above your head.
At about 5:00 on Saturday we headed to Sanlitun, the central area for expats, for some chili dogs and a couple of beers. Funny that the best chili dog I have ever eaten was at a restaurant in Beijing. I hit the streets armed with my newest Chinese phrase - I don't know how to spell it correctly so I'll give you the phonetics - "doo lee yeur quai le." That means "happy Independence Day" in Mandarin. I learned how to say that while we were on the subway. I did my best to say it to just about everyone I saw, which got me several interesting looks. Most people didn't even pay attention, except for one guy who respond by saying "thank you." So much for that.
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