It’s here! The last day of the year. At least in these parts of the world.

I can tell, because when I wanted to go for breakfast this morning, I found the door to my building locked – did I ever tell you that for Spring Festival everything shuts down in this country? Well, it happens. I mean, literally!

Of course, I’m glad for the people, because for a large percentage of the Chinese the New Year’s holidays are the only time of the year they ever get off work for a couple of days. Some are not even that fortunate – as I discovered on my search for someone with a key this morning so I could go get my breakfast.

Anyways, today is the big day, marking the official beginning of the New Year’s festivities. They will last about two weeks and will end at the 15th (Lunar calendar) with the Lantern festival. This means: more than two weeks of hearing fire crackers and fireworks going off all day long while someone out there is having a lot of fun! Well, at least I’m having fun watching all the fireworks that happen to go off at night, when you actually can see them! (The Chinese invented gun powder, and they really like to use it! – click on the link at the end of this post to know what I mean)

For the Chinese however, the maybe biggest event is tonight’s TV show. The entire nation will have great dinners with their families and then gather around their television sets to watch the grand show that is broadcast by China’s biggest TV station every year at the Chinese New Year’s Eve. There are literally no exceptions: E-V-E-R-Y-O-N-E is watching the show tonight! It’s the Chinese understanding of how to spend their New Year’s Eve.

By the way, if you want to get an idea of what I’m dealing with these days, just click on the link below. For your information: this is neither war, nor is it a thunder storm. It’s just what I have to listen to when sitting at my desk – not just for an hour, but all day long, and the next couple of days to come!

Here you can listen to the …
Sounds of Spring Festival

Anyways, it’s the biggest event of the year, and I’m off celebrating!