The Lantern Festival, Botanical Gardens, and, Wait a Minute... are you Hermoine Granger?!

Monday marked the last day of Chinese Spring Festival, making this sunny day the Lantern Festival. Most families spend this national holiday together, eating sweet dumplings (of a different sort than the ones eaten throughout the New Year), and relaxing together. A small group of friends and I joined the crowds at Quancheng Square (the main area of Jinan) this night to see what the celebrations would entail.

There was a hefty throng of people in the Square, most of whom were wearing bull horns (again, year of the cow) that looked suspiciously like devil horns, though some varieties were [deceivingly] pink and blue. Smiling for one photo being unwillingly taken of us, we were soon encircled by citizen photographers; Luckily, after a few minutes, the police ventured into the void of Laowais to break up the party. A fireworks show illuminated the skyline; throughout the crowd, people began scrawl wishes inside red paper lanterns, and light a small candle underneath them. As the lanterns floated up into the smoggy night sky, I was filled with appreciation for the time I have spent in China.

Not through with the night just yet, our group took a gander through Old Jinan, a surprisingly beautiful street, filled with character and buzzing with life. Literally flooded with people, we floated along with the masses past seafood chuar vendors (different food kebobs, which will be fried upon purchase - a very popular meal option in China), quaint tea houses, and other roadside stalls. With a chuckle, I noticed that all of the decorative red lanterns strung across the narrow road were branded "Coca-Cola". 

Later, we went to Diaming Lake, a park (and, coincidentally, large lake) in Jinan. We walked for a bit before taking a seat lake-side. Mutiple fireworks shows (what else?)  boomed from every angle of the lake. The Chinese are seriously obsessed with fàng biān pào!

Tuesday, on our way to look at the camera I will soon be purchasing (a beautiful Nikon D60, digital SLR extraordinaire, a necessity for my future travels and photography obsession), we stopped for a quick lunch at a generic restaurant. Throughout the meal. our waitress looked very annoyed and simply unhappy to be there, frequently glaring at our table and rolling her eyes. As we left, we realized in confusion that she was chasing us down on the street, clutching a large folder, and yelling hysterically in Chinese. We stopped, and, as she approached, she began to speak rapidly and excitedly to a shocked and bamboozled me. My mind raced in my miscomprehension: did we pay the wrong amount? Leave something inside? Offend some strange Chinese custom?

It was at this point in her unintelligible gibberish that I caught the phrase "Harry Potter". Doubting that I could have possible heard correctly, I repeated it. She began to nod vigorously, pointing at me with a kind of crazed excitement. Opening her folder, she thrusted a large handful of photographs into our hands. All of the images displayed a small group of Chinese people dressed as Harry Potter characters, wearing wigs in addition to full Hogwarts uniform, in spell-casting action poses. She got a English speaking friend on the phone, who explained to me what the heck was going on. 

Apparently, I bear an uncanny resemblance to, not Loona Lovegood, but the savvy Hermoine Granger. After expressing my shared love of Harry Potter to our new friend, she continued to tell me that I had been invited to Shanghai to play the role of Hermoine  in an on stage production. Not able to resist, or wanting in the slightest, I asked when the spectacle would take place. To my dismay, it was not until July. I regretfully informed my biggest fan that I would, in fact, be in South America at this time. The smile fell a bit from her face, but she extended an invitation to come and dress up at her house (and take many photos, of course), a delicious meal provided. I gave her my number, and Stephanie, Andy, and I walked away, laughing in disbelief at what had just happened.

Wednesday, a gorgeous 70 degree day, this same trio made our way to the Botanical Gardens. Trying to check off all of the "tourist attractions" (if they actually attracted any tourists) in Jinan, this seemed the perfect day. We had a great time walking around the green landscape, riding a few carnival rides, and once again paddle boating on the water. We sat, relaxing to music, until the sun started to descend. Wonderful day here in Jinan!