I am belatedly writing about Chinese New Year (Yes, I know it was on February 14th but I just now have my internet set up at home and didn’t feel comfortable blogging at work) or Spring Festival as they call it here. The festivities last for two weeks and the fireworks – oh the fireworks. They went off day and night for approximately a month both leading up to the official day and trailing off afterwards. There were days when if I didn’t know better and I woke up, I would have thought I was in the middle of a firefight. There were large scale fireworks and sparklers and firecrackers galore. One day I literally walked into fireworks that had just been set-off. I walked around a car and it took me a moment to figure out why there was a man bent in front of me and then I heard the first sound and saw the closest fireworks display I have ever seen in my life! I had debris in my hair and I ran to try to escape the sound and the explosions. I do not think I was in any danger or anything but it was certainly surprising. Keep in mind this was at 10:30 in the morning on my way to yoga class with coffee and yoga matt in hand. I am sure I saw several local chuckling at me walking into that!
Seriously though the fireworks were unreal! The actual first day of the 14th (also St. Valentine’s Day just in case CNY weren’t significant enough!) my apartment was filled with the sound of explosions – all day and night they went off. At one point there were must have been 5 car alarms going off at the same time that had been set off by the explosions.
I arrived in China just in time to get a bit settled and meet some fabulous people so I was invited to a house party on Chinese New Year’s Eve which was fantastic. This particular party had expats from the UK, the U.S.A., and Japan so it was a well rounded group. So I celebrated my second New Year’s Eve in one year and a lovely flat in the French Concession (a very cool neighborhood formerly governed by the French after the opium wars), eating, drinking and generally being merry. At 10 until midnight, many of us went into the courtyard to put off a few of our own fireworks. The fireworks were going off all over the city, lighting up the night sky. There were no city sponsored fireworks this year so they were all fireworks that had been purchased by private citizens and I am sure a lot of them were expensive. We each had sparklers which we lit and then Stephen, the host of the party, had purchased a large set of fireworks which were put off in the courtyard center. I managed to get a shot of them just as they were exploding into the air – it was certainly something to behold! Just then it started snowing which is apparently very rare in Shanghai so it felt magical indeed.
Because I arrived when I did, I had a couple of mad weeks scrambling to find a flat, get oriented , acclimate and even start teaching but the beauty of arriving when I did is that I also got a week off just two weeks after arriving. More on that later because bed is calling!
Seriously though the fireworks were unreal! The actual first day of the 14th (also St. Valentine’s Day just in case CNY weren’t significant enough!) my apartment was filled with the sound of explosions – all day and night they went off. At one point there were must have been 5 car alarms going off at the same time that had been set off by the explosions.
I arrived in China just in time to get a bit settled and meet some fabulous people so I was invited to a house party on Chinese New Year’s Eve which was fantastic. This particular party had expats from the UK, the U.S.A., and Japan so it was a well rounded group. So I celebrated my second New Year’s Eve in one year and a lovely flat in the French Concession (a very cool neighborhood formerly governed by the French after the opium wars), eating, drinking and generally being merry. At 10 until midnight, many of us went into the courtyard to put off a few of our own fireworks. The fireworks were going off all over the city, lighting up the night sky. There were no city sponsored fireworks this year so they were all fireworks that had been purchased by private citizens and I am sure a lot of them were expensive. We each had sparklers which we lit and then Stephen, the host of the party, had purchased a large set of fireworks which were put off in the courtyard center. I managed to get a shot of them just as they were exploding into the air – it was certainly something to behold! Just then it started snowing which is apparently very rare in Shanghai so it felt magical indeed.
Because I arrived when I did, I had a couple of mad weeks scrambling to find a flat, get oriented , acclimate and even start teaching but the beauty of arriving when I did is that I also got a week off just two weeks after arriving. More on that later because bed is calling!
