The national holiday/festivals are quite something here in China. Yesterday was the Mid-autumn Festival and a lot of people ended up working last Sunday so that they could have yesterday off. Where I work, this was not an option, so I was one of the few people that had to go to work yesterday. Because we had to work, the management in our building had to work, coming to open the door for us, helping us to access the elevator etc. Not very convenient. Then, lunch came and we went to our favourite Thai place to have their standard, 30 kuai lunch sets… only to be greeted with a: “No lunch sets today! It’s a public holiday!” Aha… so off we went to another (Japanese) place. Same story there. I tried to order my usual “grilled salmon with rice set meal” but was told by the waitress that it was impossible to get.
“Why?!” I tried.
“It’s just impossible today!”
“But what if I pay a bit extra?!”
“No, impossible!”
“OK, then I’d like to have one plate of salmon, one bowl of rice, and one miso soup?”
“Sure, no problem!”
Yeah, that’s how “impossible” it was.
Try calling someone on this very day with a work errand:
“Eh… sorry, I’m at the beach! Can we talk later?!”
Right. So. Useful. Day. At. The. Office.
Not!
However, my workmate told me one story that made me smile. After having to work non-stop for the last 5 months, covering all the ups and downs of the Expo, apparently a lot of the journalists obtaining Expo accreditation were sent by the local Government to Hainan Island during this Mid-autumn festival.
“Just to relax and have fun!”
Couldn’t that have to include all of us that have been working our a***s off because of the Expo? Oh well.
Today’s a new working day for me and my workmates, while apparently others have it off? It’s a bit confusing this whole “work one weekend and get a few weekdays off.” Everybody seems to follow different systems and I simply cannot keep track. My favourite Shanghai blogger “Woai” has written a pretty good post describing it all, you can read it here.
Happy Mid-autumn festival everyone! But be careful with the moon cake consumption! Tell you why in another post…
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4 comments:
I hadn't heard that about the Expo Journalists going to Hainan. None of the CD reporters are going to Hainan on the government's dime, though.
Your favourite Shanghai blogger? Oh Shopgirl is going to be so mad! 2011's schedule actually looks far less crazy. I think they read our posts and decided to take action!
Woai -no offense to shopgirl (we all love her) but ur blog beats hers.... ;)
Haha, thanks you're so sweet!
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