So anyway... About 7:00pm or so, I went out to watch some fireworks. Good stuff. After awhile, I went back home to do whatever. I got to my door and realized I didn't have my keys.
This is not a good thing.
I checked all my pockets 5 times. Nope. No keys.
This is a very bad thing.
It's always bad when you realize you don't have your keys. It's especially bad when...
-Your roommates are hundreds of miles away.
-Your friends/bosses (who speak English and Chinese) are hundreds of miles away.
-Your cel phone is inside the house charging up.
-You are in a foreign country.
-You live on the 15th floor of a building with no fire escapes to climb up.
-Your door is built to withstand an assault by the preaching capitalists and invading Jehovahs.
-It's below 0 degrees.
-There is no superintendent in charge of the building.
The only good part to this whole situation was that I knew where my keys were. I just couldn't get to them. They were inside the house.
Okay... So what to do?
I go back downstairs, and find the elevator lady. She speaks zero English, but I know enough Chinese to say. "I don't have my keys, and my roommates are gone to visit family. I need help." I don't know how to say "locksmith", but somehow I got the point across.
We borrowed a cel phone from someone waiting at the elevator. Called some guy who happened to speak English.
--Him: "All the workers (aka locksmiths) are gone to visit family. It's New Years Eve. Call your landlord."
--Me: "Ummm.. I have no idea who my landlord is, or where to find her."
--Him: "Ummm... Get a hotel for the night, and try again tomorrow."
--Me: "Oh hell."
Now, I'm a resourceful guy. I can handle this. Time to WANDER!!
So, I walked around. Went to one hotel. "No rooms." Liar. Went to another hotel. They had rooms. Unfortunately, I only had enough cash to cover about 8 hours, not an entire night. Went to another hotel. Same deal. Except this time, I could only have paid for 6 hours.
So... I went to MacDonalds. I was hungry, and needed the facilities. This brings me to about 10pm.
Headed back home. Watched some fireworks. Got to light a few. (I think the guy was afraid to do it himself.)
(On a side note: There is something surreal about watching a father give his 8 year old son a firework and a lighter, and then watching the kid light off a firework that shoots 20 stories in the air, and then explodes big enough to set off car alarms down on the ground. I saw this more times than you can imagine. Sometimes it wasn't a lighter. Occasionally, dad would give child a cigarette to use instead of a lighter.)
Back home... Sat in front of my door, thinking... Okay. What are my options?
Option #1 - The day before, I had located a "western-style" bar. Darts, pool tables, CNN, sports, open 24 hours, 7 days a week. Only problem. Taxi ride there would be about 40RMB. Back, would be another 40RMB. That would leave me with enough cash to buy one soda at most. Don't know if they would appreciate me hanging out for 10 hours with one soda.
Option #2 - Just hang out, and kill the time until the morning, and figure it out from there.
Seemed like my only real option was #2. Okay, fine. I can do that.
About this time, the fireworks started going off with a vengeance. Cool, something to look at.
And, I'm telling you... It was frigging amazing!
---
It must have been midnight, because the entire city was lighting off the big stuff.
I stood 25 feet away from people lighting off the big city-size fireworks. (See part 1 for the definition of "city-size fireworks.) People were hanging the strips of 2000 ladyfingers out of windows and letting them fall to the ground, exploding on the way.
Everywhere you looked, things were exploding. The noise was deafening. It was insane. I don't know how to describe it. It was just plain amazing.
---
In part 1 of this post, I mentioned something about the way the neighborhoods are set up.
-In general, you have 10 or so buildings surrounding a courtyard.
-My apartment complex has at least 234 buildings. Mine is 23 stories tall, some are only 6 stories.
-There are 3 other apartment complexes of similar size on my side of the street. The other side of the street has a similar set up.
-Each block has more or less the same kind of deal.
Now imagine EVERY SINGLE ONE of these courtyards shooting off city-size fireworks. And imagine these same fireworks going off the tops of apartment buildings. And, m-1080s on every side-street, and roman candles everywhere, and sparklers, and piccolo pete's and you name it.
China doesn't just do colored sparkles. It does colored sparkles that shoot 25 stories in the air and explode extremely loudly.
---
I admit, over the years I had gotten bored with fireworks. When you see them once a year (aka July 4th), they can be cool. But, when you live in San Diego and from your front porch you can see the Sea World fireworks EVERYDAY, they kind of lose their special-ness.
(Although I do admit, sitting on the sand in Ocean Beach with a keg of beer, friends, fireworks, and a marshmellow fight is damn awesome.)
(San Francisco 4th of July is worthless. Fog, fog, and more fog.)
---
Beijing has reintroduced the coolness of fireworks to me. There is something amazing about an entire city of 14 million people shooting off fireworks non-stop for over a week. Big ones, little ones, loud ones, not-quite-as-loud ones. (There are no quiet ones here.)
---
I don't know how many times I said to myself last night, "Friggin COOL!" I know that on at least a few occasions, I turned to the person next to me (who probably didn't understand English) and said, "Thats COOL!" And, even as I sit here typing, I still find myself saying, "Damn. That's friggin cool!"
---
Beijing on Lunar New Year's Eve 2006.
-My kids have been the best part of my Beijing life so far. Watching them do their thing at the Xmas Pageant was a proud moment for me. The progression from then to now is an amazing thing.
-Other than the times with the kids, I must say that last night was the best time I have had in Beijing in my 2.5 months here. I said "Friggin Cool" more times than I can remember, and I meant it everytime.
---
Of course, I still didn't have my keys.
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