Fireworks!

So, it is a new year and I am back in Deutschland. I was feeling vaguely sorry for myself having just flown away from friends and family, a country that is my home with all of it's faults, and let's face it.... warmth! To make matters worse, all of my friends here were out of town for the holiday. So I took a bath, ate a bowl of Uncle Ben's 10 minute whole grain rice, plain (the only food in the house) and put myself to bed at 7:30. My attitude about returning to Germany has ranged from total despair to mild indifference at best. Then I woke up to the deep, resonant booming and high pitched shrieks emanating from the sky all around me. FIREWORKS! Germans LOVE fireworks and I love them for it. I have friends who are disgusted by the copious sums of money spent for just one fireworks display. 100,000 euro for just a few minutes of "oooh" and "aahh". I can see their point. Wouldn't that money be better used to feed the hungry or fight the AIDS epidemic? Of course! I will not attempt to make some lame argument on the side of fireworks.... "aesthetics and beauty are essential to culture... blah, blah, blah." No, I simply, guiltily love fireworks! And tonight on this first day of the new year, 2010, I stood with my head out the roof-top window of my attic apartment watching the sparkling beauty erupt all round and was glad to be right where I was :)

*** UPDATE***

Here is some info on New Years in Germany... it's called Silvester here.