BOOM! BOOM! BOOOOOOOM!

And the buildings around us went BOOM! Exploding in celebration of the New Year - dancing with each other in the night sky.



Our apartment lies at the heart of the city and is surrounded largely by huge office buildings. Apparently, as part of the Chinese New Year celebrations, some of the owners of these buildings have partnered to put on a breathtaking fireworks display. The show lasts for about 15 minutes, and is viewed well from the top of our 24-story building.





Let's celebrate!

It went BOOM!

Did I forget to mention that the Chinese celebrate the new year with fireworks?! It was great. There were 500,000 people that watched these fireworks with Eric and I on the Honk Kong harbor.

Chicken Headed Monster

Happy New Year! Year of the Rooster!

The Chinese use two different calendars to keep track of time. The one we use - the Gregorian calendar - and a Chinese calendar. On the Chinese calendar, a new year has just begun! I hope you all have been celebrating back at home!

Each year on the Chinese calendar is associated with a different animal and this year happens to be the year of the rooster. Everything in Hong Kong has been decorated up with chickens and roosters in celebration. I took a picture of this New Year's decoration especially for Colin's enjoyment. Can you believe these crazy heads? Maybe this would be a good outfit for Halloween next year? Or to wear to school?



Colin was born in the year of the ox.
Daniel was born in the year of the snake.
Eliza was born in the year of the horse.

Check out the links to see what the Chinese zodiac predicts you will be like.

Erie Night Skies

Check out this cool picture! I took it from my office. The top of that building completely disappeared the other night! This happens a lot in Hong Kong because it's really humid. That means that there is a lot of moisture in the air which can actually block out light. That's what happens with fog. If you were up in that office building and tried to look down at the ground on a night like this, you totally couldn't see it! It'd seem like you were floating!

It's Going Up (and Down)

Hong Kong is built right on top of a really, really steep hill. It's so steep that they built an escalator (you know, like you use at the mall) right through the middle of the sidewalk. You can get on the escalator and ride it for 20 minutes it's so long! The city will even pay you for riding the escalator - HK$20. Wish you guys were here to ride it with me!



Photo 1: In this picture, I am looking down from a local grocery store which sits well above our apartment towards the heart of Hong Kong's Central district.



Photo 2: This picture gives you an idea of the height of the city.