Children's Day 2010

 

 

 

 

June 1 is Children's Day in China. Personally, I think every day is Children's Day, but what makes this day stand out is that the children actually get a day off from school AND the teachers don't load them up with homework to do on that day. (True holidays are unknown here . . . the kids always have a lot of schoolwork to do during their winter and summer breaks.)

At any rate, while the kids had the day off, we, the parents did not. Fortunately, we work a "flip" schedule . . . Art is home when I have class and vice versa. He was home in the morning, I was home in the afternoon.

However, the kids didn't want to just stay home. There wasn't enough time to go to the local amusement park (free entrance on Children's Day, but can you imagine the bedlam?) and the weather wasn't that great anyway.

I decided I would take them to KFC. KFC is the only western fast food restaurant in town. We don't go very often as it's not that convenient to where we live and because we think it's expensive. However, it's a big hit with children and it's kind of a tradition to go on Children's Day.

We hopped on the bus and rode the 25 minutes to get to our destination. The first photo shows what was waiting! Yes, those lines were up to ten people deep when we got there and it took 30 minutes to get through the line. The kids went upstairs and found seats while I stood in line.

After enjoying our meal, we walked down to the Yellow River. Yes, it really is yellow! (Weeeellllll, I guess it's more of a golden brown!) This is due to the silt and sand that gets washed down from upriver. The currents are quite swift and they are fascinating to watch. The Yellow River runs through our town and the iron bridge over the river is a major tourist attraction. It's reportedly the first permanent (iron) bridge built over the river back in 1909. It's now a pedestrian only structure, although motorcycles are allowed to provide taxi service from side to side.

It was a fun day, but now the kids are back in the real world. School. Less than six weeks before the end of the semester and their summer vacation!