What's a foreign country without nearly getting killed?

So it's still Diwali here, which means nobody's sleeping thanks to the constant sound of fireworks going off all over town. It feels like we're in a war zone.

Last night, Dr. Raju and his wife invited us to their house for a celebratory dinner. But first...fireworks! We all waved around sparklers and nearly set each other on fire while we took turns lighting up some of the bigger stuff. Their neighbors also had a big bunch of fireworks, and kept scaring the living daylights out of all of us with the noise.

The main event for us, however, was a package of five small rockets that were designed to all shoot up into the air at once. This, however, did not unfold as planned. One rocket went up, while the other four shot off in four different directions. We all scrambled for cover as one shot under Dr. Raju's car! An exploding gas tank would have put a real damper on the evening, but luckily we all lived to tell about it.

The rest of the night was uneventful, but after several people telling me how much danger I would be in if I came here, I find it rather funny that my only near-death experience has come at the hands of fireworks.