Friday, April 27, 2007

Today is Saturday . . .

. . . or is it? Yesterday was Friday -- I know, because I taught my Friday class. But my students asked me if I was going to have class tomorrow. Huh? Now, why would I have class on Saturday? Especially a Saturday that starts a vacation week.

May 1 -- Tuesday -- is a big holiday in China, and everyone gets 7 days off. I assumed that meant that there would be no classes on Monday, April 30, as well, and I was rather surprised that I actually had students in class on a Friday before a holiday week. At my home law school, we used to have class on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, but so many students skipped class that we gave in and made Wednesday a holiday, too. Now, of course, the students skip Tuesday . . .

My confusion was heightened when I had my students translate a message from Zoe's and Maya's school -- it seems they have a special trip planned for the students on Monday. (Which explains also why Maya's teacher asked me for 5 yuan -- I had no idea why she wanted it, I just gave it to her!) They are going by bus to a scenic park that morning, and will have the afternoon off (I hope there will be no mountains!). So it seems Monday is not a holiday after all. But that still doesn't explain why my students want to know if I'm having class on Saturday.

Then when I went to pick up the kids Friday afternoon, my helpful English-speaking parent tells me that the kids have school tomorrow -- school on Saturday! Why is that, I ask. It seems that Saturday is actually Friday this week -- everyone who works on Friday or has class on Friday has to go to work or class on Saturday.

So it seems I was supposed to meet class today. Oh, well, no one told me that. So the kids went to school this morning, and I'm having a day off!

4 comments:

mimifrancoise said...

Where is the liaison person who is supposed to explain such things to you? Hope you had a good day off to rest from such a heavy teaching load (tongue in cheek!
Are you going with the girls on Monday as a helper? You ususally help in all school activities here.
Are the girls excited to go a field trip?
bises

Anonymous said...

LOL! Mike showed up for his Saturday class this week, only to find a few students. The rest didn't come of course, b/c "Today is not Saturday, it was next Friday (already!). Nobody bothered to tell him of course, I guess they assumed he knew. And what happened to Saturday??? Grace's school was in session Saturday (for Friday of course) and Sunday (for a week from Monday), and will be in session tomorrow (real Monday). Holidays are supposed to be relaxing, right? This sure seems like a lot of work!

malinda said...

Kerri, I discovered last night that I was supposed to send the kids to school on Sunday, too! My helpful parent called to ask why Maya wasn't in school. Somehow I had gotten from his wife's description that the girls were to go to school NEXT Sunday as a week from Monday! Sigh. I'm getting quite used to feeling like a complete idiot . . . .

Anonymous said...

Well, I did the ultimate in bad parenting here and kept her home both days - I just couldn't bring myself to send her on Saturday and Sunday is church day. I know the teachers will be so worried that she will get behind! Oh yes, feeling clueless is pretty much the norm these days - it has been humbling to say the least.