trill a cheery tune

waking up at 1 really shortens your day a whole bunch. heyy itunes has something called 'genius' which groups songs with similar musical qualities.. just like pandora [which only works in the US, incidentally]. too bad it only selects from songs you already have in your library. i think half the fun of pandora is that it pulls random songs that you've never heard of and expands your music vocabulary a little bit.
if you haven't already checked out pandora, you should. you just plug in a song or a band that you like, and it plays songs that have the same kind of instruments or that are from the same genre. i've discovered some cool bands that i would have never otherwise heard of.
they hired a new girl at latini's. i think she told jerry and i her name is 'priss'. it seems like she speaks english relatively well. she told me that she's seen me around because she lives right by the school i live at. i introduced jerry and i, and told her we're in there a lot, so i'm sure we'll be seeing much more of her.
and bernice is back! i think she chose a new name, but i can't remember what it is.. i haven't seen her in ages. she only works on weekends since she's in high school, and i usually go during the week.
the lantern festival started up in the big park across the street. that explains all of the fireworks we've had for the last few days. i think it lasts two weeks. wikipedia says it's on the 15th day of the lunar new year, so we must be building up toward that.tonight jerry and i just did the whirlwind tour of the tents that lined the edges. there were lots of crafty things and a bunch of traditional food vendors. this man was blowing glass into persimmons mostly. i think its persimmon or tomatoes or pumpkins or apples.. one of the 4 ;)
i've been dying to show you a fresh squeezed juice thing. this is sugarcane that goes through a machine and gets extruded. you regularly see these stands along the streets. it's usually sugarcane, oranges or pineapple and a cup is around 75 cents.
i tried a sip once and didn't really care for it. it just tastes earthy like you would imagine a handfull of sweet grass would taste if you made it into a smoothie.
tiny quail eggs. the stand owner's friend was laughing as i took a picture of it. now they know how it feels to be put on the spot for just being yourself.
dumplings of all kinds. i'm too much of a wimp to try them. they look a lot scarier in person. enlarge the picture and you can see how there's all kinds of stuff sticking out of them. maybe once i learn more food characters.
fancy corn dogs. they're pretty yummy.
jerry being eaten by the claw.
i thinkkkk that there was a contest for best lantern. some were made out of these tiny yogurt drink bottles that come with lunch boxes (like that robot looking thing in the upper left). most were paper though.

turtles!
there was a big paper temple set up since there's no temple in the park.

i'll ask my kids more about it this week. i can't believe we've gone a week without school. tomorrow's the last day and then we're back at it. i miss most of them. i'm excited to see their new clothes! for chinese new year they traditionally play games, eat fish, eat rice cakes, play mahjong and get new clothes.