An Explosive End to a New Beginning

So last night was Lanterns Day, which means the end of the Spring Festival and the New Year celebrations. There have been fireworks every morning and pretty much every night since we got here because of these celebrations. Last night was a great show and it was supposed to be the last of the fireworks, but I guess this morning somebody had some leftovers :/ haha. We had our own party here at the Central College office with some of the professors which was a bit overwhelming. Everyone was speaking Chinese with each other, though they pretty much all knew English. It takes a lot more patience and effort to try and communicate across cultures. Also, being shy I mostly kept to myself. Though I did partially learn how to play Mahjong from a couple professors (I still don't really know what I'm doing though I know some of the general rules). For those of you who don't know, Mahjong is a game with domino like tiles. You draw 14 in a very specific order and try and get three or more of a kind, 3 of a series, and wild cards. Thats about the best I can describe it at the moment. It's rather fun and I won the first game and Jack had to pay me double! haha. but then he won three consecutive games :/ lol. Oh! and there were also riddles posted all over the room for people to answer. I got to be the official prize giver for correct answers which was fun. That is another part of the celebration. Lastly, we made and ate soooo much jiao ze, or dumplings. yum
On a cultural note, something I keep having to remind myself of is to give and recieve things with both hands. That is considered the polite way to do things in Chinese culture, and I can understand that. Otherwise it's kind of like giving someone the brush off, which we tend to do in our culture. Also I've been informed that by trying to be polite by saying thank you to people, sometimes it may actually be considered rude. If it is somebody's job to do something, I guess it is not necessary to thank them. Doing so may mean you look down upon them. Also you do not tip people because it means the same thing. Now I know a lot of the struggles foreign people have in our country trying not to step on any toes. In some cases, for some reason being American means I'm forgiven easily. There have been many cases of people wanting to get pictures with members of our group because we are white. Or they just take pictures of us without our consent like we are just as much of an attraction as the scenery. It's like being somewhat of a celebrity when all I really want to do is blend in. I'm uncomfortable with the special attention .....and the fact that I tower over most people. I feel like some beast of a woman at times. The fact that there are no clothes here to fit me doesn't help either :/. Other than the akwardness, I'm having a lot of fun and enjoying the challenges I'm faced with. :D