Gong Xi Fa Cai!

I don't normally anxiously await vacations. But it seems like the Chinese New Year holiday has been approaching for several long and slow years.

Tim and I have friends coming during that holiday. It will be the worst time of the year for visiting Taiwan, because half of the families in the country will be driving to the homes of the other half during that week. It's the most thoughtless public holiday ever conceived. Banks, government offices, and public services will be halted most of a week while everyone takes a drive. Then when they get where they're going, all the shops are closed and trash is piling up in the streets.

But this is the one real holiday this year. There are no 3 day weekends, some of the holidays fall on Saturday or Sunday and so are lost, and no one complains. Except me. Dammit. Even Mainland China gets more holidays than we do. Even the U.S.. Even Japan.

And then my school has the nerve to suggest that I can't take 3 extra days off even though I have friends coming, and told my boss as much 5 months ago. Like of course I should come to work even though my friends traveled around the world for a visit. My missing three days of kindergarten would be a tragic loss for these young students.

The Taiwanese are an economic miracle, to be sure. But they have yet to learn the skill of valuing their employees. They don't recognize the difference between working and being at work. They didn't get more efficient, they just worked the same inefficient way for more and more hours.

My real problem is that I've been ready for a holiday since Christmas, so excuse my morning tirade. Now off to work.