Golden Week

Golden Week

There are two legal Golden Weeks in China. One happens in January or February for Chinese New Year. The other week is around October 1, and is National Day, in other words, the founding of China.  It gives people a whole week of vacation, partially so they can make the long trip to their homes. (This is a HUGE country, and even with very good public transport, getting “home” can easily take many, many days.) It does not really hit right for university students. School started for us only 2 weeks ago. Why would you go home after only arriving 2 weeks ago? It also is complicated by Moon Festival a week or so before October 1. (For me, it meant that my Monday classes had one class and then 2 weeks off. …..but I gave them assignments anyway and had them email me their essays. )  There are certainly fewer people on the streets. I don’t see shops closed like they are for Chinese New Year, but there are some which open late, etc.   I am checking the 150 essays which have been emailed to me, and then re-mailed with corrections. We also are going out with friends and sleeping a lot. Nice.

Any of you who have celebrated holidays in countries and cultures other than your own know that some of these holidays have little meaning for you. One tries, because they are so important to those around you. Some have long fascinating fables attached to them with interesting customs: mooncakes, lanterns, firecrackers, bamboo wrapped rice, etc. National Days usually have much more recent history attached. These stories are meaningful and deeply felt by citizens. However, they often are too recent to have as many customs attached. For China, National Day of October 1, dates to 1949.   There are fascinating founding stories, only a few of which we have heard. I am proud to be here, now, but I know I don’t have the full contextualization.

This morning we were caught in one of those "not know where we are to be when" moments caused by Golden Week. We had made an appointment for a massage this morning. When I made the appointment a week and a half ago, I asked 3 times if they were sure this appointment was right. They assured me it was fine. But when we arrived this morning, the spa was closed. There was a sign on it. Of course we could not read it. It had something about 10:00-12:00, but we had no way to understand what significance it had. We asked a passing lady to tell us what it meant. I think she said that it might open, but probably late. I think.  We will go back at 12:30 and see what happens. Just life.