Happy National Day!

October 1st is Chinese National Day, essentially the equivalent to our July 4th. It marks the day in 1949 when Mao Zedong declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It's the first big holiday during which I have been in China. Everyone generally has October 1-4 off and since it is combined with a weekend it means a five day break and is therefore a big travel period, one of the busiest of the year, second I think only to the Spring Festival (more on that at the appropriate time). A news program I saw recently issued the general sort of travel warnings in terms of arrive early and allow for plenty of time that we here around Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, because our school is undergoing some sort of review, the nature of which still eludes me, we have to teach the weekend before and after the holiday. So I won't be going anywhere.

It is 8 p.m. and outside of my apartment I can hear fireworks; somewhere a loud horn is blaring; a chorus of people singing in the distance. Happy National Day!