Quick Hits: Holidays and Vacation

As a teacher here in Taiwan, our teaching schedule is quite a bit longer than if I were to teach in America. The typical school year runs from the beginning of August until the end of June, giving the teachers only one month of vacation in the summer as opposed to 2 in America.

In the middle of the year is a two week break for Chinese New Year, which is in the end of January or the beginning of February. This usually coincides with time between semesters, so it is also a semester break of sorts.

The first semester has three other days that are considered holidays: Moon Festival (in September or October), National Day (October 10), and the Republic of China Founding Day (January 1).

The second semester has three vacation holidays: Peace Day (February 28), Tomb Sweeping Day (in April or March) and Dragon Boat Festival (in May or June).

For all of these holidays, our school gets one day off...provided that day is on a normal school day. If it is on a Saturday or Sunday, we do not get another day off that week. The weekend is our chance to celebrate.

If the day falls on a Monday or a Friday, this is great because it means a three day weekend.

On Thursday, Taiwan will be celebrating Dragon Boat Festival, which means no schoool, and it also presents another vacation scenario.

Being that the holiday is on Thursday, the school will also take Friday off, enabling us to have a four day weekend. The catch is that the following week schools (and any public institutes that choose to have Friday off), need to be open on Saturday. So that gives me a four day weekend this week, and a six day work week/one day weekend next week.

This is Taiwan!

Now, I can't complain too much because next Saturday is graduation at Concordia. This is a school wide event that will include a ceremony and a school fair following the ceremony. In other words...I don't have to teach class and can just enjoy the fair on Saturday.

As for the four day weekend, I am going on a trip to Hua Lien, which is located on the east side of the island. There is a beautiful national park and a famous site called Taroko Gorge. I look forward to a relaxing trip and some beautiful scenery.