New Years Eve in Manila

The Philippines is a country of people who love noisy, celebration, family, and connectivity. New Years Eve brings all these things together! Last night we went up to the school, which sits on a hill overlooking the Manila skyline with a 180 degree view. All day long the people around us were setting off firecrackers, and when we drove through town we were shocked to see stand after stand of fireworks filling the streets. Around 8:30pm, the fire cracker activity in our neighborhood began to intensify into larger fireworks being set off in the street. The dogs were going crazy! We decided it was time to close up all the windows and head to the school. We closed the windows having been told that by the end of the evening there would be a layer of soot if we didn't.

The traffic on the way to school was unexpectedly light. I think it was the lightest I have ever seen it, even compared to the times I have traveled this road at 3am! I actually was able to clock 35 miles per hour!

There are no words to descibe the fireworks. I will do my best to give you a picture. At 9pm, there were already regular fireworks exploding around the city. By 11pm, I didn't even know where to look! I began to feel a little like a pingpong ball. My head was trying to look everywhere, to absorb it all, not miss anything! By 11:15pm there was so much smoke in the air, you could no longer see the buildings and lights on the horizon. Between 11:30 and midnight, it was simply a colorful war zone. You could see the flash of light from explosions going off behind the clouds of smoke although the color was gone. I have never seen the sheer volume of fireworks set off as what I saw last night. In fact, I am sure I will never see this in the US with its concern for pollution and the ozone layer. It is still amazing to me that for over two hours constantly fireworks were going off! 

When we drove home at 12:30am, the smoke was so thick, it was like driving through a fog. We had to avoid fires and fireworks that were still being set off on the road. This morning, the smoke was still as thick as fog in the air. However, this afternoon God has sent us a wonderful rain storm to clean away the smog and smoke! As much as I want my laundry to dry, I am praising Him for the cleansing rain!