Candle sticks and dynamite sticks

The past two nights have been rather interesting and "enlightening." Jodi and I wandered down one of our favorite alleys as darkness began to envelope our fair city. We went to one of our favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurants where they serve pseudo Korean food. We sat at the tiny wooden tables in the concrete shell of a room, which is half blackened by the flames from the stove. The two young cooks fried the food on the woks in the corner and they served us heaping bowls of steaming hot rice with tiny pieces of chicken, cauliflower, and potatoes.

Right as we began to eat, the lights flickered and went out. Power outages happen rather frequently here, but usually we aren't eating in a restaurant during that time. Without missing a beat, the cooks picked up some little unevenly shaped candles from a nearby box, lighting them for the 15 or so people gathered inside around the 5 miniature tables. We watched as all the customers expertly dripped wax on the table and then jammed the candle stick onto the hot wax, which helped the candles stand upright. They looked like they had experience with these kinds of situations. It was actually quite cozy and exciting to eat by candlelight. The dingy restaurant looked much more serene and the usually noisy place was rather calm and quiet. The cooks just went right on cooking--apparently the two-feet tall flames from the propane stove gave off enough light.

Then on Tuesday night I was sitting at my computer near the windows working on lessons. There was suddenly a loud explosion that I felt all through out my body as the building shook. I seriously thought the windows were bending. Jodi and I immediately wondered what had happened. We leaned out the window to see nothing out of the ordinary. One of our Chinese friends just matter-of-factly stated that it was "only" dynamite being set off underground. (Maybe it is not an extremely rare event around here).

I was rubbing my head wondering why dynamite had been set off in the middle of a very densely populated area. And I could feel it four stories in the air. Apparently in the back gate they were trying to get rid of rocks in the ground to clear the way for sewer lines. Oh, okay.

I think that's all the exciting events I have to share for now. Stories about class just aren't as interesting as dynamite shaking your apartment. Have a great week!