Children's Day

Today is a National holiday - Children's Day - and most families are out and about enjoying the sun and indulging their kids in a well earned day off. There aren't many opportunities for kids here get to really enjoy being kids. The school days are so long with almost every child going to at least one evening crammer school, and the pressure to study, study, study is immense. There's a big street festival up the road we checked out with mimes and puppetry from all over the world, and watched hundreds of kids in their best outfits playing in the fountains and shoveling in ice cream. Lovely.

Children's Day is followed this weekend by Parents' Day and next week is Teachers' Day. My coteacher was explaining that Teachers' Day used to be a fairly thin veil for outright bribery but now that's illegal parents are having to resort to more imaginative ways of getting money to the teachers. Her brother, a high school teacher is often brought a cake with a stash of money under it or a basket of fruit lined with cash. Sounds great, fingers crossed for next week!