Thought You Were Safe From Fireworks After CNY? Think Again……..

Thought You Were Safe From Fireworks After CNY? Think Again……..
easyrider Feb 21, 2013 16:31

Having only just the survived the festive onslaught which is Chinese New Year I can safely say that it’s an overrated festival for anyone who isn’t Chinese. At least Christmas, although it’s not necessarily a saving grace, has some commercial appeal that makes it a festival for everybody. How noise, more noise, explosions, more explosions, and beast-like consumption of almost any edible substance can be called a festival is beyond me. Yes you can call me an uncultured dumb Laowai, and yes I’m sure Spring Festival has huge cultural significance and importance for billions of people, but let me vent my steam this one time (I’m usually a very calm and collected guy I have you know.)

I spent the holiday locked up in my apartment with a beer and all five seasons of The Wire to get through, which I thought would successfully block me off from any exterior disturbance. It worked pretty well, and as I munched my way through my stock of supplies which lasted the whole holiday week, I actually had, for the first time, what was an enjoyable Spring Festival, albeit all by myself.

Then came the inevitable back to school day, which went well despite the students being a bit rusty and tired in class (no change there to be honest, but I can forgive them this time as they’ve just come back from along holiday.) Nay, it was on the walk home one evening after class that I experienced my share of New Year frustration, almost 2 weeks after the festival had finished.


Some genius had decided that it was cool to let off fireworks on the side of the road, and as he made his way up the street,continued to do see in different spots. As it was pitch black outside, I couldn’t see where he was lighting the fireworks until they actually took off. After seeing the first one, I kept my distance, though having assumed everything was safe I kept on walking. Then – boom! A rocket took off literally 2 feet from me which scared the living bejebus out of me. As I was in shock and annoyance, I approached the culprit and with broken Chinese told him of the dangers of his actions both to cars and pedestrians. Of course, his reaction was one of “I didn’t do anything wrong, what is this crazy-ass foreigner talking about?” But there you go, I tried to make my point. 

Tags:Expat Rants & Advice

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