Golden Week (AKA National Holiday)

(sooooooo im a couple weeks late with this post … and well … life happens ….but here it is)

A whirlwind of a summer and a busy start to the school year already has me at my first BIG holiday in China. National Holiday = China’s birthday. National Day or National Holiday or Golden Week in China is celebrated on October 1 every year in celebration of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. There are lots of activities to celebrate this event all throughout the nation, but what does it mean for me? A week off of work! We are just a few weeks into the school year and have survived a delayed start to school because of COVID cases in my district near school, a typhoon, a national holiday – Mid Autumn Festival, and now National Holiday! Can we say busy? Yes, we can.

School is off to a good start, ya’ know, now that it has started. We had a very short delay because of the pandemic and then it was business as usual. This 2021-2022 academic school year marks by 17^th year in the field of education. I still love what I do and over the last three years I have truly fallen in love with teaching young learners. I am currently teaching English to Kindergarten students at a bilingual school in Shanghai, China. To say it’s a breeze would be foolish. It brings challenges all the time, but I definitely enjoy it. I have grown so much as a teacher and as a person since adding international teacher to my professional resume.

We are super excited that we had the chance to have a field trip this year- lots of COVID-19 requirements in places for this to happen, and all the parents joining us made our trip to Chenshan Botanical Gardens an absolute success. See a few pictures below. We had a blast.

Mid-Autumn Festival OR Moon Festival is the second most important festival for families in China. It is celebrated on the 15^th moon day of the 8^th Chinese lunar month calendar.  At school we enjoyed a really cool performance about the moon festival, in class we read the book, “A Big Mooncake For Little Star”, and we all made moon cakes. Mooncakes are Chinese pastries that are round and made with think pastry skin and can have many fillings. This festival is meant to celebrate friendship, fertility, and togetherness. This festival is also celebrated in Vietnam, Singapore, and Japan.

Celebrating Moon Festival at school!

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now– It is (or rather was) Golden Week? And what does one do with a whole week off? R&R! I am so happy to have some time to rest, relax, and refocus as I prepare to return back to school. Here is a piece of my holiday -enjoying Shanghai Sculpture Park J

Venue: Shanghai Sculpture Park

Address: 1158 林茵路 /1158 Linyin New Road, Sheshanzhen, Songjiang, Shanghai China

Fee: 100RMB for adults – there is a lower fee for kids and other types of individuals

Metro: Line 9- Sheshan – Can take a taxi for about 20rmb or $3.10 (if youre curious of the US conversion) and its about an 8-10 minute ride depending on traffic.

The sculptures were very nice, the weather and AQI were both great, and there are different activities you can do while at the park. If you are ever in Shangahai (thought travel here is restricted for visitors right now) do check it out. If you live in Shanghai and have not been- make your way our of the city and enjoy a day at the park.

#BlackWomanAbroad #GoldenWeek #AWeekOf #NoStudents #RanR #Sunshine #Rest #ShanghaiSculpturePark #TryNewThings #ExploreYourCity #SoloExplorer #TravelShanghai #AdventureGirlKG #Joy #BlackinChina #Shanghai #BlackInAshai #Sheshan #travelgirl #FallisHere #StillFeelsLikeSummer #travelyourcity #BrownSkinnedGirl #BlackInShanghai #ShanghaiChick #KarlaGirlJoy #FromHooksToEPAToAtlantaToOakCliffToShanghai

I am so glad that you all are still with me on this expat journey! I hope that you are well and I would love to know what you are reading these days if you are reading any interesting books. Please respond in the comments.

#FearlessinShanghai #Thankful #joychangeslives #KMarieTakesChina #BlackGirlMagic #KarlaGirlLivingLife #BlackGirlJoy #LivingMyLifeLikeItsGolden #ChinaorBust #ChinaAintReady #BlackInShanghai #BlackInChina #BlackAmericanInChina #LookOutWorldHereComesKarla  #KarlaGirlJoy #BlackGirlInShanghai #eatsleeppartyrepeat #givingisgood #givingisfun #WakandaForever #ShuriAndNakiaAndOkoye #MelaninMagic #Blessed #FaithfulIsMyGod

“life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all”  

– Hellen Keller

*I choose ADVENTURE*