Ohhhh my god. Chinese new year is CRAZY! Ever since I have been back in China, people have been lighting fireworks non stop. I wake up every morning to random people lighting fireworks on the street. As I go to school, all the streets have at least one person lighting fireworks. There are red firework stands on all the street corners that never seem to be without customers. If a week ago you would have told me that Chinese New Year was this crazy, I would have said “NO WAY IN HELL.” Now I know.

Ever since returning to China, I have been spending a lot of time with my friend Leo and his family. Leo has been teaching me 6 new characters every day, and helping me with many other daily life things. Leo invited me and some of my friends to spend New Year with his family. I was honored and excited to get to see what an authentic Chinese New Year was like.

We met early in the morning to do some shopping for the feast that night. We first went to the fruit market and loaded up on 160 Yuan worth of produce ($20). Next stop was a small street vendor to buy some red envelopes (hong dar) that are used to give money to little kids. I wanted to give Leo’s son a gift, and was told that this was appropriate. We then went to the super market and bought meat, seafood, drinks, and vegetables. I stuck with Leo and we would take turns saying the Chinese and then English name for everything in the market and then quizzing each other. We dropped the food off at Leo’s house, and then I went to the bath house for a quick steam and massage.

When I got back to Leo’s house that night, things were already getting crazy. It seemed that every second fireworks were going off nearby. I asked Leo if it would get worse, and he said that it would get MUCH worse later. I took a lot of pictures of everyone cooking and hanging out before dinner. The group consisted of Leo, his wife, and his son, Leo’s parents, one of Leo’s workers, me, and three of my friends (Ryan, Kevin, and Blake).

The meal was huge consisting of dumplings, shrimp, eggs, every kind of meat you could imagine, vegetables, nuts, and of course beer, wine, and baijo (Chinese traditional hard alcohol). No one was left wanting more food or drink. We then watched a traditional New Year’s program on CCTV and made dumplings. My dumplings actually came out quite decently. I ate them the next morning. Three of the characters that Leo taught me were guo nian hao….or happy new year: 过年好.

As midnight approached, things got crazier and crazier. Leo had purchased a TON of fireworks, 2000 Kuai worth ($250), and about 5 minutes before midnight, we left his basement with all the fireworks. As we came outside, I felt like I had been transported to another reality….I felt like I was in the middle of a war zone. All around me explosions were shattering my ear drums and blinding my eyes. I was on sensory overload and had trouble concentrating enough to stay upright as I walked. There were so many lights and sounds that I didn’t realize what the people around me were doing or saying. In America, you might have a coordinated fireworks display for the 4th of July, or light of a couple fireworks here and there, but EVERYONE in China was lighting fireworks all over the place. Finally, I came to grips with the insanity and started taking pictures and lighting fireworks. It took us well over an hour to light all the fireworks.

Chinese people also seem to have different standards of what is considered to be safe handling of fireworks. For instance, I went to have lunch with Aaron a few days ago and kids were lighting fireworks in front of the restaurant. One of the fireworks misfired or something and wound up landing on top of the restaurant before exploding. Ummm….that is a good idea. Kids also seem to have no problem lighting fireworks in their hands before setting them on the ground. I would hate to see one with a quick fuse go off and blow someone’s hand to shreds. Anyway, we lit all our fireworks right next to the cars in the parking lot. One of the fireworks I lit was upside down and exploded under a car. I am glad it had a think enough gas tank.

Kevin had the funniest moment of the night though. He was lighting a bottle rocket and instead of holding the stick, he held the body of the rocket. When it started firring, it didn’t take off into the air since he had a firm grip on the body. Instead a shower of sparks rained down all over Kevin and his body for a few minutes as he panicked . Serves you right Kevin for getting too drunk on Baijo.

After a long time lighting fireworks, I found my way home and called it a day. Another day in China, another crazy experience, another story that will stay with me……sometimes I really love China