Don’t people have better things to do than complain about a five-day weekend*? OK, fine, the announcement was handled poorly, given only seven days in advance. But everyone should know that this is Taiwan, and sometimes surprise announcements like that are made here.
But we’ve already bought our train tickets, critics of the government whined. Now we have to make A PHONE CALL to reschedule. Imagine that. In addition, some students who were scheduled to take a National English exam next Saturday will now have to endure the terrible ordeal of taking it on the Sunday instead. I can just imagine the wailing and the gnashing of teeth:
"My English test was postponed by an ENTIRE day! Of all the fates on heaven and earth, why did this one have to befall ME?"
Let’s be honest: students aren’t going to complain about something like this. Kwitcherbitchin, already. You got a five-day weekend out of the deal, so lighten up.
* The date of the Moon Festival is determined by the occurrence of the full moon according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. This year, it fell on a Friday (Oct 6th), so that made for an automatic 3-day weekend. But Taiwan’s National Day, which always falls on October 10th, was only two days later. So the government said, let’s give folks Monday off too, to make it a continuous 5-day holiday.
UPDATE (Oct 16/06): 23 million people living in Taiwan, and the China Post can’t find ANY who are pleased that they had a five-day weekend last week? Not a one?
More unhappy campers here.
This is “China” Post afterall. To do stories according to professional journalism is out of question.