Driving in the Rain

These last couple of days, we've been receiving torrential amounts of rain, especially in the morning. The sound of rain is relaxing, the smell is pacifying, and the sight of it is so blissful it makes me feel like staying at home and watching the raindrops fall onto the ground. However, I cannot give myself this joy because I have to go to school. Whenever it rains and I have school, I get really nervous. My hands are freezing and trembling the moment I'm out of the house, and my heart is hammering in my chest when I insert the key in the ignition key and turn it to power my car. I like hearing the soft roar of my car coming to life, but the raindrops dropping on the car make me really nervous. And the knowledge that I have to drive in the freeway makes me the more nervous.

Whenever it rains, I feel like I lose control of my car, and I go slower than usual. I fear the downhill part because I'm terribly afraid of getting into an accident, like any responsible driver would. I just got my license a year ago and a car of my own a couple of months ago. I cannot lose them so quickly! Anyway, today I drove slower than usual and breaking a lot of times because apparently everybody suffers from the same disease whenever it rains: we forget how to drive!

Besides, I'm not experience in driving in the rain. Usually, I always hitch a ride whenever it rains, but my mother is busy and I don't feel like depriving her from her sleep after an arduous day of work. Anyway, I had a really bad experience driving in the rain. It was horrible, not because for what I felt, but for what I made others feel.

I was driving my little cousins to their house because their parents couldn't pick them up. They are six and seven year old children. It was late in the afternoon and I was driving peacefully, listening to their lively conversation, when it started to rain. I started to panic because the rain was falling so hard in just a few instants. We were on the freeway and I couldn't see a thing because of the rain, not even with my windshields wiping constantly. The other drivers got exasperated and everybody started honking. I don't know at what they were honking (I thought it was me). And my cousins got scared and started to cry, asking me to leave the freeway.

Their cries got to my nerves and I told them repeatedly to calm down, that everything was going to be okay. But they kept on crying. I was also aiming for leaving the freeway and going local because I couldn't take their cries anymore. I felt like crying too. After twenty minutes, I was able to drive out of the freeway and take local. They calmed down after that and asked me to never drive in the freeway again when it was raining. It took me half an hour more to get home.

What an experience!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Festival!

Happy Chinese New Year to everybody! (Lunar New Year or Spring Festival, whatever you prefer). Wishing that the year of the Dragon, 2012, brings forth many blessings and happiness to everybody in this world. May all the dreams from your heart come true!

Chinese traditions are fascinating, one of my all-time favourite subjects of study. The Chinese festive days are very colourful with plenty of food, music, dances, and lucky money! I've lost faith in our generic New Year Day and have devoted myself into celebrating the Chinese New Year instead because it brings so much more meaning to the special date.

A gift from my kind neighbour. It wishes me
a happy and healthy life.

A little bit of background on the Chinese New Year history. Originally, China had a calendar of its own, consisting of twelve months with thirty days each month. Every year was assigned an animal, twelve animals in total that repeat themselves in cycle. Just like our zodiac, only the animals are assigned yearly instead of monthly. 2012 is the year of the Dragon. Anyway, Asians are very adhered to their culture, a great majority celebrates Chinese New Year and other festivities following the old calendar. For example, my neighbours are Chinese and they follow the Chinese calendar for their birthdays and celebrations like "Moon Festival", "Fall Harvest festival", "Chinese New Year", among others. I think it's a beautiful tradition.

On Sunday the 22nd, my neighbours invited my family over to their house to celebrate Chinese New Year with them. We were ten people in total, all dressed in red, gathered happily around the table with ten dishes and a pot of soup spread before us for our enjoyment. The food was delicious; it was original, traditional Chinese food, not the one you but at the restaurants. After delighting our appetites with the flavourful food we took pictures with the red paper with golden letters (forgot their name! I only know it in Chinese) they hang and tape to their doors for good luck, and red paper lanterns.

Afterwards, every kid received lucky money, consisting of an amount of money in a red envelope. Married couples give these to unmarried children and people younger than themselves. I think it's an interesting tradition and I will do that too in due time!

We gathered round the tv to watch the fireworks from China welcoming the year of the dragon. They weren't as impressive as last year, but extravagant nonetheless.

I had fun, and looking forward for the next year! Just kidding, I will enjoy this year as much as I can.
:)

-CS