China, Learning and Loving: Fireworks are the name of the game, 新年快乐, Happy New Year! Part 2

Hello again,

It is time for the second half of my Chinese New Year story, and it will end with a bang! On New Year's Eve, we had the privilege of being invited to the house of a family at our church. They have a beautiful home and served some wonderful food for us. They even gave us a gift for the new year, which was candy in an envelope, that is a traditional gift.

After dinner, we went back to our apartment and just waited for the chaos to ensue. Starting at dark, fireworks were going off here and there, but midnight was a whole other story.

We decided to walk out to the road behind our complex to get the best view. I took some shots of the fireworks, but all of the smoke from them, made them rather unclear. I also took some video to attempt to capture the incredible noise made by the fireworks, but it does not do it justice.

To try to explain the scene, beginning at about 11:45pm, you start seeing fireworks here and there in all directions. As time continues, the fireworks increase in frequency. They also, increase in loudness. Fireworks here are not only about how pretty they are but how loudly they explode. They also REALLY enjoy firecrackers, but ones louder than I have EVER heard.

By the time midnight rolls around, the sound from the fireworks is absolutely deafening, and in all directions you see nothing but the sky lighting up. This happens non-stop for nearly a half hour. Then it begins to slow down. Nevertheless, the whole night fireworks are going off into the wee hours of the morning.

Needless to say, fireworks here are like nothing I have ever experienced. Disney World has nothing on the common people of China when it comes to fireworks!

The following morning, we had church service and got to hear great sermon about "Going Home" in relationship to the Chinese New Year. The main focus of Chinese New Year is to celebrate the coming of Spring and spend time with family. Therefore, everyone packs up and heads to their hometown. Our current home nearly became a ghost town, besides those that call Minhang, Shanghai home. People will do anything to get home and wait in never-ending lines for the chance to be at home.

Following the service we had some time to relax and then had dinner with another family from our church. This family is from Singapore originally and the allow us to hold youth gatherings at their home. They hosted a delicious dinner including lots of seafood, which we found out was typical Southeast Asian food. The father of the family had spent hours preparing it for us and it was definitely a gourmet meal.

After dinner, we were treated to yet another fireworks show of our own. Justin had a great time helping pick them out and light them.

The rest of the Chinese New Year, we really got to enjoy just hanging out. Megan and I did a bit of "Spring Cleaning" to get rid of the extra dust and grime in our apartment. Then, Justin and I caught up on all of "Downton Abbey." We even got to help out a family in our church by house-sitting for them. They have a beautiful home, two cute dogs, and left us some delicious food. It was wonderful :)