CNY

Kenton marching in the New Year's parade at school. You could either wear traditional Chinese wear or a red shirt. The whistle he is blowing we found in China Town last weekend. The idea is to make a lot of noise so that something evil is scared away - I have no idea what that evil was but I'm telling you there isn't much that would stick around for the noise of this parade! There were teachers in the front pounding on drums and cymbols and the kids followed with whatever noise makers their moms could come up with. Amazingly, Ethan wasn't scared!

Kaitlyn's class leaving the classroom to march in the parade. You may not be able to tell from the picture but all the classrooms open to the outdoors. The hallways are actually outside! I will try to remember to take pictures the next time I am at SAS.

We are looking toward China Town in this picture. I decided to go ahead and include it since the lights won't be there the next time we venture that way.

Would anyone care to purchase a rat? I have to say that they are kind of cute:) I'm not sure what's growing in the pots...it's a plant that I have seen a lot of lately so it symbolizes some kind of good luck to the Chinese. These were some of the wares available for purchase in China Town.

The following video starts with a stall in China Town. Each stall has a man that is yelling out what he is selling. If you actually stop he begins to explain why his product is superior. Occasionally they would switch to English if they saw me looking over their wares. They use microphones clipped on to the front of their shirts so that they can be heard over the other hawkers when you are standing directly in front of their stall. The middle and last part of the video are from the parade today. I didn't get as much video as I would have liked as I kept having a little escapee that I had to track down:)