New Year's

Last night, I celebrated my first new year's abroad by eating cake on the roof of our dorm and watching a couple of Palestinian international students attempted traditional dancing. As we listened to famous Bollywood tunes and laughed at the pigs rummaging in the garbage behind the building, we kept an eye on our watches. 11:54, 11:55, 11:56...

At midnight, the whole campus began cheering to usher in a new decade - our dorm, the dorms around us, and the cleaning staff downstairs all joined in spontaneous, simultaneous celebration. From where I was standing, I could see fireworks erupt in six different locations throughout the city of Hyderabad, while hanging laundry dried in the night breeze.

I only hope 2010 can be as wonderful as '09!