Master (or should that be ‘mistress’?) of the obvious here. Today is Wednesday. July 4th, American IndependenceDay, happens to fall on a Wednesday this year. Since it is a one day holiday, there are two work days on either side which means either people took the entire week off, or it’s just the one day off.
Part of me hates to say it, but I am thankful that this isn’t a Chinese holiday. A one day holiday that falls on a Wednesday is the Worst. Possible. Combination. Ever.
Wednesday would have still been Wednesday, but Monday would have been switched with Saturday (so people worked on Saturday as if it Monday) and Tuesday would have been switched with Sunday. Why? To get three days off in a row. So, you work seven days straight and to get three days off? And really two of the days are the weekend? Can you see my Americanness coming through? This just seems more hassle/mafan than it is worth! Sometimes a one day holiday falls on Wednesday and that is just life. This is one of those things that no matter how long I live in China, you can take the girl out of America, but there are parts of America you can’t get out of the girl!
In August I will spend the month with a group of teachers who will be moving to China for one or two years. As part of their orientation, at some point we will hold classes on Saturday and tell them it is Wednesday and that they will get Wednesday off as Saturday. It’s kind of fun to watch their heads cock to the side and quizzical look come over them. Welcome to you new home! You won’t have time zones, but you will have days switching around!
I wrote about when Tuesday is a holiday; my friend Joann wrote a great piece about how the Chinese see Time Zones (all of China is on one time zone and they find that whole concept confusing). You can read it here.
I shared this with my friends visiting China and Rob just sat there and said, “That makes a lot of sense. Why don’t we do that in America?” I had no reply…nothing.
Me too, nothing. =)