I think this is only my second 4th of July that I've completely missed (the first one was when we visited Ryan in Prague), and its a bit sad, but we look to new ways to celebrate it.
After class we sojurned to the southern part of the city to see a Chinese Opera. Here we saw the most Americans we have seen yet. The Chinese Opera, well, here are some pictures so you can get a little of an idea:
Trust me, I just did you a big favor. Now you can say you've seen a Chinese Opera, and you'll never have to see one again. Oh, and be thankful that I didnt attach sound.
So, yesterday Derek and I went to Houhai (the place with bars lining the "lake") in search of sparklers that we saw people using when they were floating on the river. We were able to find them right away, but it was curious that the shopkeeper had them hiding in a special little spot. Nonetheless, we bought them and tonight we lit them!
In the first batch of sparklers, all of our lit and "de"lit without incident except for one. Derek's made a huge popping noise that was greatly enhanced by the buildings surrounding us. We supposed it was a dud, so we tried a second batch. In this batch, all of our sparklers went out with a bang- literally. We were hooping and hollaring and laughing and having a great time.
This is when we learned that these sparklers are illegal until the autumn festival. We didnt get in trouble, just the grounds keepers and some police stopped by to tell us that we could get heavy fines, but besides that, we were some 美国人meiguoren (Americans) just looking to have some clean, fun, safe celebrating!
Happy 4th!
PS- My brother, Ben, is famous! Check him out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTX8cjhY0wM
1 comment:
your firework photo looks funny. hehehe.
my mom made this thai version of coleslaw. or american version of thai salad. yay for america day
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