Happy 2007!

It's taken us a few days to comment on our Vladivostok New Year's. And even in the several hours of delay between uploading a little video of the merriment and writing this, I've already got questions about it on YouTube!

We spent a generally rather quiet evening at a colleague of Dan's, an American who actually doesn't live in one of the 5 townhouses where we are. He is just over the hill, so at about 7:30, we got a sleepyheaded Anya suited up in her outerwear, suited up ourselves, put the munchkin in her stroller, grabbed a flashlight, and climbed first up and then over and down the little road that leads from our house to his. Once there, we had a pleasant time, eating tasty Russian salads and roast chicken, care of our host's Russian girlfriend, listening to music, and awaiting midnight.

Actually, we were informed that Vladivostokians begin the salute of the new year at 10pm. Why? Because that's when the first of their neighbors to the east pass over midnight, out in Chukotka and Kamchatka, etc.

By the time our local midnight finally rolled around, we had heard plenty of commentary about how spectacular the fireworks would be, and we weren't quite sure how they could really live up to the predictions.*
But hopefully the video linked to the picture above will give some impression of it: completely different from any kind of fireworks you'd see in the United States (mainly for legal reasons), yet still mesmerizing and amazing. It seemed as though literally every individual household had stocked up on fireworks in nearby China or in local markets supplied by Chinese sellers -- our friends estimated that 1000 rubles, or a little more than $35, was probably the average spent on each display (spending habits here are just plain different than in the States).

Because of Vlad's hilly geography, and our position way up on one of those hills, when the clock turned midnight, we were able to go to the balcony and see thousands of explosions big and small (and many of them quite loud), all over the city, apparently coming from every other free balcony or front stoop. The wealthier "New Russians" living in the fancy houses neighboring our host's were setting them off right in front of their townhouses, triggering car alarms in the process, and by all appearances having a blast themselves. The show lasted for the better part of the hour following midnight.

We joked morbidly that more than a few fingers must be lost each New Year's -- and in reality I think fires and injuries can't be uncommon. And I think each of us wondered whether any of the rockets were going to hit the house. But despite all the safety issues, I think we were all pretty amazed by the sight of so many fireworks going off, for as far as the eye could see, the whole horizon filled with bright explosions. One of our friends commented that it was like a visualization of all the thousands of lives being lived out there in the city, all around us, each party welcoming in the new year with a private firework display, but in concert with everyone around them.

* I realized after writing this that I neglected to include one detail from life here in Vlad that may help explain our skepticism: practically every night here we experience some sort of fireworks being set off just to the west of us on the ridge along which Prospect Krasoty runs [see this previous post for a little geography]. It's actually become kind of a running joke that fireworks here are so prevalent and that any evening appears to be an occasion to light off some rockets. It's kind of made fireworks a bit of a mundane event for us. Given that, you can probably imagine a little better our puzzlement at the fact that New Year's Eve could even hope to improve on these nightly displays... Little did we know! [Link back to text]