Fake weekend

Why am I working on Saturday and Sunday?  Because next Wednesday is the Dragon Boat Festival, a national holiday for which all businesses are closed.

Since this year the holiday falls on a Wednesday, most businesses have decided to close Monday and Tuesday, instead shifting these workdays to the weekend before.  This has resulted in a massive 7-day workweek for us, followed by three days off, a two-day workweek, and another regular weekend.

I'm just annoyed by it and would really appreciate a bit of a break from teaching.  I even have to work on Monday because the classes I teach on Saturdays at Joe's have been rescheduled.  Essentially I have gone from Friday, to Monday and Tuesday, then to Saturday.  Then I guess Saturday again?

Dragon Boat Festival Traditions

As the name indicates, there are boats that look like dragons that are raced on bodies of water.  I have no idea if this is actually happening in Qingdao, but I do know that my friend Max is going to be racing a boat with his office in Shanghai.

Chinese people also eat 粽子 (zong2 zi) basically boiled rice with fillings wrapped in a bamboo leaf.  It smells really good and there are many flavors of zongzi available, including peanut and red bean.  

They are also made into pyramid shapes and wrapped with string or a rubber band.  These little guys are being sold on pretty much every block and shopping establishment this week.  They have a very strong and delicious aroma, so it's kind of nice to be smelling them instead of sewage, body odor, or sausages.

This is the reason why I am working on a weekend and am unable to go see the England v. US match tonight... don't even get me started about how irritated I am about this whole thing.  This is my fake weekend and I will continue to complain about it until I have my massive break that will be next week.

It's exam season, kiddos.  Just when you thought I was getting soft on you, I'm going to pull the sudden death final exam.  Only the strong will survive!