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I think I started into the Chinese New Year on the wrong foot. First I got hit by a bad cold (again) caused by the stupid aircon and just as my cold got better my tooth began hurting like hell. So I spend half the time in the hotel room nursing my cold. The good side however was that I spend some great time with my parents in law and all of my wife’s grandparents uncles, anties and cousins eating (lots and lots, probably gained 2 kilos) and playing Majiang.

So because of my not so well being and of the weather which was not much better either, we canceled all further trips and flew back to Shanghai yesterday. You can imagine what the air pressure up and down during the flight did with my hurting tooth

Anyway, I thought the Wuhanese were crazy with fireworks but yesterday night I thought Taiwan is attacking. They shot fireworks in the street between our building and the buildings on the other side, so that they exploded right in front of our 16th floor windows. Unbelivable! I took a video that give you an idea

Enjoy!

Hi all!

I finally found time to write my blog again. Lately there is so much going on that I had to push back some things to find room to breathe. Yeah, Shanghai is demanding in every way at sometimes causes your life to pass you by. On top I had to work much. But since yesterday I am taking a few days off before I fly to Wuhan for spring festival. For all of you who are not that familiar with Chinese culture, the Spring Festival is the Chinese Newyears and *THE* most important holiday in China. Its sorta like Christmas, Easter and your birthday fall on the same day. That means that 1.3 billion people go crazy at the same time (just a few examples):

• No one will work for one week, maybe longer
• The office is deserted right about now
• If you wanted to get a train ticket somewhere your had to be at the train station at 5 am, wait for 5h being pushed and shoved and then get the info that the tickets were just sold out
• If you want to get a flight ticket with discount, good luck!
• Your wake up at 2 am at night because someone was burning fireworks in front of the house which have an explosive force to easily eradicate 2-3 blocks if set off at once (I am talking out a couple of kilotons here)
• The Hotel prices on Hainan are not 500 Yuan for a nice hotel (about 50€) but 500 US$
• The rate of theft is soring, because everyone needs money to buy gifts
• Everyone is preparing little red pockets (红包) with money as presents for all the loved (and not so loved) ones and most likely gets the same amount of money back
• Because China is so big, some people travel for up to 50h by train to get home, then spend 1 or 2 days there and take another 50h to get back
• It is almost impossible these days to get a taxi in Shanghai (at least without waiting more then 1h) because also the cabbies go home.

HEEELLLLPPPPP!!! Yeah China is an interesting country that lets you experience new things every day. I am really curious what I will experience at the airport tomorrow but I fear it will be no fun.

So anyway I wish you all a happy new year of the pig

Happy new year! 新年快乐！