There is Fire and Light in the New Year

This past Sunday was the last day of the Chinese New Year. These people really know how to celebrate. There has been random outbursts of fireworks ever since we arrived nearly two weeks ago. On Sunday, there was constant fireworks from six in the morning, continuing late into the night. It took me a while to figure out all the new sounds here, but the fireworks were an obvious one. A bunch of us went to downtown Hefei, to see the celebrations. It was a blast (no pun intended). There were huge fireworks going off everywhere, people were shooting off bottle rockets left and right. Little kids ran free with sparklers waving wildly in the air. None of these activities were controlled by any sort of official. It was a free for all. If this sort of thing was to go down in the U.S., there would be cops everywhere. I found out later that there is only one police department for this whole province! Anhui (our province) is about the size of Virginia.
Saturday we went to the Temple market in downtown. People stared at us like we were celebrities. Shopkeepers waved at us and pointed to their merchandise, "hey, hey" they said, that was about all I could understand. We would shake our head and say "Tai gui le", which means "too much". That was all they needed to understand. We didn't buy anything there, which is good. Despite what we told the Chinese, everything was really really cheap. We went inside the temple that was in the middle of the market. At the top of the temple we overlooked the city. As far as we could see there were apartment buildings and skyscrapers. It is hard to grasp how huge this city really is, but it makes New York look wimpy. From sun up, to long after the sun goes, down the horns of cars, motorcycles, taxis and buses blare. There seem to be no rules on the road. If there are, they are all broken. There is no regard for lanes, or signals, or stops signs. Pedestrians most certainly don't have the right of way. We rode in a taxi once, and I think if you are walking across the road, it is a rule that the taxi drivers speed up and try to hit you.
Teaching is great so far, I don't have a lot to say about it yet. I will say that the kids are very energetic, and very smart. It is challenging to keep their attention, but so far, teaching is very rewarding.
Our new favorite pastime is playing Ping Pong. We play as often as we can. The kids are really good, the teachers are better. Yesterday a teacher, named Linda, invited us to play with her and other teachers after dinner, at a special indoor teachers table(most of the tables are outside, and they are made of concrete). She kicked our trash! She beat me, Ted, and our friend Steve. We are getting really good though. It is Ted's goal to be able to beat my dad when we get home, I think he'll have no problem. Speaking off the pong, I hear the tables calling me....Zaijian! (Bye)
-a.