Friday, January 4, 2013

Working weekends

As I sit here on a gloomy Saturday afternoon, I look at my clock , and it reads 13:31. My son is napping in his crib, I'm watching "Departures" on tv and my cat is snuggled up next to me. This would constitute a wonderfully perfect lazy Saturday for our family.....if only NZ was here.

Where could he be on a Saturday afternoon?

One word.

Work.

Yep, my husband along with most of China are working through the weekend to make up for the government approved holiday we just celebrated. Two days off to celebrate New Years, equals working the following Saturday and Sunday.

The american in me wants to yell "What sort of holiday is that?!" And mutter profanities that would put a sailor to shame.

This has definitely been a learning experience for us, and I'm pretty sure those who are not accustomed to this sort of arrangement think it sucks a$$ and would just assume work during the holidays to have their weekends freed up. 

Instead, my friends and myself are husbandless for the next nine days straight. 

I realize that I've got it easy, it's my ol man that should be complaining, but, then again....should we really complain?

Afterall, we signed up for this, and if this is how China does it, then this is our new "normal". 

So be it.

As a foreigner, I find myself doing a lot of comparison between my homeland and here. This isn't necessarily good, and I have to step back and see this whole experience for what it is. We live HERE now. This is our current HOME. How can I fully accept China as home if I am constantly comparing it to America. 

Because clearly, this ain't America.

The sooner I accept this and adapt to the Chinese way, the more positive our experience as a family will be here. Perhaps I should have made a resolution this year...it would go something like, "just let go and enjoy the (wild) ride".


...and what a wild ride it will be...

3 comments:

  1. China is not Kansas.

    You little fellow is pretty cute.

    Where are you in China?

    Thanks for making a comment on my blog.

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  2. How different China is from other parts of the world. The Europeans have a month of (at least) for vacation and long weekends all the time. No one works a minute over their 8 hours. It was shocking to see, even as an American. The French? Not ALLOWED to work the standard 40 hours like Americans do.

    A World of difference...

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  3. Totally wild is right! Makes no sense to us but hey...you are right. We signed up for this. You are doing great friend...keep it up!

    ReplyDelete