Chinese New Year

We had an amazing two weeks.  The last two weeks were Chinese New Year.  The first week was spent in Nanjing enjoying CNY and the second week was in London.  Chinese New Year started off on the evening of Feb 9th.  That night is New Years Eve.  We had some friends, the Streeters, come over for dinner and new years fun.  We had a great dinner that night.  It was traditional Chinese New Year Fare, good ol' American Hamburgers.  We grilled the burgers up on the grill and it was so delicious.  Fireworks are also a big part of CNY.  That whole day people were lighting firecrackers and other fireworks.  The quantity and quality intensified as evening progressed. Of course we had to join in the fireworks show.

We went to Luhe a week earlier to buy fireworks.  Our driver, Yang Ning, found us a great place that sells fireworks wholesale.  It is a great place to get them.  The selection is great and the prices are even better.  It was so fun taking the kids to get fireworks.  They were like kids in a candy store.  We are repeat customers at this store and so when we pulled up the guy ran out to meet us with excitement.  He knew that he would have good day when he saw us pull up.  We loaded up on firecrackers, sparklers, roman candles, bottle rockets, fountains  poppers, spiders and double spiders at his shop.  He then took us to the warehouse for the big stuff.  We got some more large fireworks there.

Just before the Streeters arrived I had to run to SuGuo to pick up a couple more things.  They were selling fireworks out front so of course we had to check out what they had.  They had this huge roll of firecrackers.  I talked them down to a great price so obviously I had to get it.  After I bought it, it hit me that I was on my bike.  The box this was in was about 2.5 feet squared.  I carried it on one shoulder and  the other hand was on the handlebar.  The kids were laughing when they saw this.

That night was a great night.  We had a great barbecue and then we had a great fireworks show with the Streeters.  It was a great time and the fireworks were amazing.  We then went in the house and were just relaxing and taking it easy.  The fireworks were steadily going off the whole evening.  We were debating whether we go to bed or wait up until midnight.  We were sitting in the family room and could  hear the fireworks progressively getting louder and more frequent.  We looked at the clock and it was 11:50.  We rushed outside, opened up the garage and broke into the stash of remaining fireworks.  We had an amazing show.  It was fun to light our own fireworks and simultaneously watch thousands of fireworks going off all around us all over the city.  It was almost unbelievable how many fireworks were going off at the same time.  And then to think about all of China and a billion plus people all lighting fireworks at the same time was pretty cool.

Because it was Chinese New Year the hotel that we have church in was closed.  So, we had our church branch at our house for church on Sunday morning.  It was a great morning.  It was awesome to have everyone at our house and have church together.  There was such a great spirit there.  After church we had an amazing potluck.  Everyone brought great food.  It's always so nice to have some good home cooked western food.  After the lunch we lit some more fireworks off.  There is a story of lighting firecrackers on New Years day to scare off the Nian monster.  We light off 20,000 firecrackers and two large boxed fireworks.  I think we scared off the Nian monster.  It was a great day.  I really am grateful that we have the opportunity to attend church here in China.  Going to church each week is really strengthens me and I am glad I have this opportunity.

With Chinese New Year the kids were out of school for two weeks.  The second week of Chinese New year we went to London.  We had an amazing trip.  It was one of the best vacations ever.  We spent the first night in a hotel near Clapham Common.  It was a great location with lots of character.  Lots of Character means it looks great in pictures but in reality is small and old.  It was nice though.  It was also close to the church and we could walk to church.  When we were are church there was a lady in the ward that her son is living in Shanghai.  He couldn't find the church address in Shanghai so we were able to help her out and get her the address.

The rest of the trip we staying in Greenwich in a 3 bedroom apartment near the O2.  One Direction had two concerts in the O2 while we were there and it drove Tiana crazy that 1D was performing and she wasn't there.  I told here that it took me almost 20 years to see my first U2 concert so she needed to be patient.  She responded that she needed to see them now because she probably wouldn't even be a band in 20 years.  I thought that was pretty funny.  At least she understand true talent.

We were in London a week and we packed as much as we could into that week.  Here is a quick highlight of what we saw and did.  Double Decker bus tour in the city, Changing of the Guard walking tour, Jack the Ripper walking Tour, Harry Potter walking tour, Tower of London, Fish and Chips multiple times, Phantom of the Opera, Ripley's believe it or not Museum, Stratford upon Avon, Shakespeare's house, Shakespeare's grave, Globe theater tour, Dinner with Shaun Kidd, Buckingham Palace, pictures with the Horse Guard, train station pastys, Harrods, Thames River Tour, Borough Market and the amazing cheese sandwiches and cheese potatoes, Tower Bridge, Multiple Churches, London Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Nandos, full English Breakfast.  I'm sure I'm forgetting something.  It was a great time.  It was so great to see Mikayla at the Globe Theater and Shakespeare's house.  She loves all things Shakespeare and she was so happy to soak it all in.

We are truly blessed to have all these amazing experiences.  I will post some pictures in a separate post.

Boyd