Tucker and I asked Mr. Zhang if he knew were to buy fireworks. He thought about it for a while and said he did not know but would call Xiao Zhang to see if she knew. The answer was no so he said he would ask around at our apartment building when we got back to Shimao. And so he did....he asked the door keeper, who asked another driver who said no, then the door keeper radioed to the security guards at the front gate, they did not know so they asked the supervisor who came back to the driveway to talk to Mr. Zhang. That is the way you find out things in Shanghai. Mr. Zhang then asked Tucker if he wanted and I quote..."POP POP POP POP" (firecrackers) or ZINGGGGG POW (skyrockets). Tucker said yes!!! So we got back in the car and drove 1/2 block from our building. Mr. Zhang got out and went down an alley....came back a few minutes later and got Tucker............. This is the fireworks shop. When Tucker and Mr. Zhang first arrived there was no one around except the shop keeper. But they soon drew a crowd....all wanting to see what Tucker was looking for. The shop keeper climbed into the ceiling of the shop and retrieve all sorts of fireworks much to Tucker's delight.

I waited in the car while all of this was taking place. Unfortunately Mr. Zhang parked in front of a newspaper/magazine stand and the lady shopkeeper was really really annoyed. I think she thought our car was blocking her ability to do business so she was really agitated. I was happy that I am not fluent in Chinese today because I am pretty sure she was not saying anything nice or that I should repeat. She banged on the windows of the van, told everyone on the street how she did not like our parking spot. She was very animated.....I waved and smiled and pretended not to understand what she was saying, and counted the minutes until Tucker and Mr. Zhang came back. At one point I looked out the other window and she came around to that side of the car and cussed some more. Yikes.....I really wanted to crawl under the seat and hide. It was the first time since we lived in Shanghai that I was tempted to drive the car myself. Needless to say...we did not stay long after Tucker and Mr. Zhang returned.

It was all worth it.....look at that smile!!!

Tim and Tucker had a great time setting off the fireworks tonight. Happy 4th of July!!!