Long weekends FTW :)
Today is Monday and it's a national holiday in Russia, so: LONG WEEKEND. Woot woots!
I know most of you think "it's just another public holiday, what's the big deal?" but as a university student in Russia, let me tell you, IT'S A FRIGGIN' BIG DEAL OKAY.
Malaysia is a multicultural country. Guess what that means. LOTS OF HOLIDAYS. We celebrate so many different new years. We have 2 different dates for celebrations relating to Malaysia's Independence. The YDPA's birthday and Agong's birthday are both celebrated. I've followed both Selangor's and KL's federal holidays' calendar. And most importantly, we've got a whole slew of religious public holidays. Christmas, Deepavali, Thaipusam, Wesak, Awal Muharam, Prophet Muhammad's birthday, Nuzul Al Quran, Hari Raya Aidilfitri AND Hari Raya Haji. Other states have Gawai and stuff. Needless to say, the list goes on.
School holidaysare were awesome, and we got four breaks in a year. The only long one's at the end of the year, but at least there are mid term and mid year breaks.
I get a pathetically timed winter break (seriously, everyone else have just returned to their studies and we're only beginning ours?! It's impossible to travel with my friends studying in other european countries!) and a summer break that's Much shorter than all my friends' studying on different continents. What gives?!
I went and googled the number of public holidays per year in Malaysia and Russia, just to compare. Selangor/KL has about 19 days off, school breaks notwithstanding.
Guess how many days off we get in Russia.
12 days.
Twelve measley days. And we don't even get decent school breaks to make up for it.
This is why public holidays have become so important to me. They're so rare and precious! I cherish them more than you can imagine. I think the same will repeat when I begin working. Le Sigh.
On a side note, while I was going through the list of public holidays in Malaysia, I got hit with the thought of how ludicrous and ridiculous it was to have another public holiday thrown in for the past few years. September 16, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, I'm talking about Malaysia Day.
Malaysia Day feels like a joke to me. What, National Day / Merdeka isn't enough for you? How is Malaysia Day different from Merdeka? Okay fine, I guess if you really want to be technical about it, Sabah and Sarawak didn't join "us" until September or something. (Hope I'm remembering my history facts correctly. I apologize to my sejarah teachers for returning all that information back to you the moment I graduated high school.)
Malaysia Day became a national holiday in 2010. We gained independence in 1957. So for 53 years, celebrating Merdeka on it's own was enough, but all of a sudden we need to make Malaysia Day a national holiday as well? I'm sure the students are more than happy to get yet another holiday, but since I've been living in Moscow these past few years, I've never celebrated Malaysia Day. Not that I / most of the peers from my generation celebrate Merdeka per se, but I've never gone through the whole "Malaysia Day is a National Holiday" thing. What do you do? What does the country do? Are there parades? Do they put up flags etc?
At times like these I really feel disconnected from my country. When I return in the summer for my break, I'm met with fads and trends that don't even make sense to me. Who are these people and why's their thinking so strange?! I mean, I still get Malaysian humour and our rojak language etc; I still appreciate the beauty in that aspect of our culture, but for every year I spend abroad, the gap just gets wider.
IS THIS WHAT A GENERATION GAP FEELS LIKE?!
The saddest part (to me) is that this gap isn't only between me and my country, but I experience it with my family as well. They have their own lives and I'm like the weirdo outsider/black sheep looking in.
Wow.
That thought came out of nowhere.
Since I'm not in the mood to go down that dark twisty road (shocker, I know) I'd like to focus on my current life here in Moscow.
We get 12 public holidays in a year.
Jan 1-5 are New Year Holidays, and Jan 7 is Christmas. (It's the Russian orthodox christmas, and yes, we have classes and tests as usual on Dec 25th, and no, there's no christmas celebration spirit in December. Weird, I know. Deal with it.) But I guess we get a mini break here because the university/schools(?) generally give students Jan1-10 off. Then we've got exams until winter break. Wheee. So it's more like a study break. There goes your holiday mood, flying out the window like a pancake during Maslenitsa.
Feb 23 is Defenders of the Fatherland Day or Men's day, March 8 is Women's day.
Two days off in May. Labour day and Victory day (May 9).
June 12 is Russia Day and last but not least, National Unity Day on Nov 4.
THAT'S IT.
I just realized that there's no more holiday for the rest of this year. The next holiday will be New Years. :(
Don't really get culturally diverse holidays here, which is a bummer for Malaysians. But there are celebrations down in Arbat Street for St Patricks's Day etc and there's Easter as well, but they're all normal working/school days. Bummer again. Maslenitsa doesn't get a public holiday either. It's basically Pancake Week here in Russia, so I understand it being a bit "much" to have the week off to celebrate/welcome spring, but c'mon, at least give us a day off! I do enjoy making pancakes and flinging them out the window though, so I guess that kinda makes up for the lack of a day off a little. Just a little. Oooo, I'll be flinging a pancake from the 12th floor this coming spring. I think it's the highest I'll have ever flung a pancake from. Should be fun.
Today is Monday and it's a national holiday in Russia, so: LONG WEEKEND. Woot woots!
I know most of you think "it's just another public holiday, what's the big deal?" but as a university student in Russia, let me tell you, IT'S A FRIGGIN' BIG DEAL OKAY.
Malaysia is a multicultural country. Guess what that means. LOTS OF HOLIDAYS. We celebrate so many different new years. We have 2 different dates for celebrations relating to Malaysia's Independence. The YDPA's birthday and Agong's birthday are both celebrated. I've followed both Selangor's and KL's federal holidays' calendar. And most importantly, we've got a whole slew of religious public holidays. Christmas, Deepavali, Thaipusam, Wesak, Awal Muharam, Prophet Muhammad's birthday, Nuzul Al Quran, Hari Raya Aidilfitri AND Hari Raya Haji. Other states have Gawai and stuff. Needless to say, the list goes on.
School holidays
I get a pathetically timed winter break (seriously, everyone else have just returned to their studies and we're only beginning ours?! It's impossible to travel with my friends studying in other european countries!) and a summer break that's Much shorter than all my friends' studying on different continents. What gives?!
I went and googled the number of public holidays per year in Malaysia and Russia, just to compare. Selangor/KL has about 19 days off, school breaks notwithstanding.
Guess how many days off we get in Russia.
12 days.
Twelve measley days. And we don't even get decent school breaks to make up for it.
This is why public holidays have become so important to me. They're so rare and precious! I cherish them more than you can imagine. I think the same will repeat when I begin working. Le Sigh.
On a side note, while I was going through the list of public holidays in Malaysia, I got hit with the thought of how ludicrous and ridiculous it was to have another public holiday thrown in for the past few years. September 16, ladies and gentlemen. Yes, I'm talking about Malaysia Day.
Malaysia Day feels like a joke to me. What, National Day / Merdeka isn't enough for you? How is Malaysia Day different from Merdeka? Okay fine, I guess if you really want to be technical about it, Sabah and Sarawak didn't join "us" until September or something. (Hope I'm remembering my history facts correctly. I apologize to my sejarah teachers for returning all that information back to you the moment I graduated high school.)
Malaysia Day became a national holiday in 2010. We gained independence in 1957. So for 53 years, celebrating Merdeka on it's own was enough, but all of a sudden we need to make Malaysia Day a national holiday as well? I'm sure the students are more than happy to get yet another holiday, but since I've been living in Moscow these past few years, I've never celebrated Malaysia Day. Not that I / most of the peers from my generation celebrate Merdeka per se, but I've never gone through the whole "Malaysia Day is a National Holiday" thing. What do you do? What does the country do? Are there parades? Do they put up flags etc?
At times like these I really feel disconnected from my country. When I return in the summer for my break, I'm met with fads and trends that don't even make sense to me. Who are these people and why's their thinking so strange?! I mean, I still get Malaysian humour and our rojak language etc; I still appreciate the beauty in that aspect of our culture, but for every year I spend abroad, the gap just gets wider.
IS THIS WHAT A GENERATION GAP FEELS LIKE?!
The saddest part (to me) is that this gap isn't only between me and my country, but I experience it with my family as well. They have their own lives and I'm like the weirdo outsider/black sheep looking in.
Wow.
That thought came out of nowhere.
Since I'm not in the mood to go down that dark twisty road (shocker, I know) I'd like to focus on my current life here in Moscow.
We get 12 public holidays in a year.
Jan 1-5 are New Year Holidays, and Jan 7 is Christmas. (It's the Russian orthodox christmas, and yes, we have classes and tests as usual on Dec 25th, and no, there's no christmas celebration spirit in December. Weird, I know. Deal with it.) But I guess we get a mini break here because the university/schools(?) generally give students Jan1-10 off. Then we've got exams until winter break. Wheee. So it's more like a study break. There goes your holiday mood, flying out the window like a pancake during Maslenitsa.
Feb 23 is Defenders of the Fatherland Day or Men's day, March 8 is Women's day.
Two days off in May. Labour day and Victory day (May 9).
June 12 is Russia Day and last but not least, National Unity Day on Nov 4.
THAT'S IT.
I just realized that there's no more holiday for the rest of this year. The next holiday will be New Years. :(
Don't really get culturally diverse holidays here, which is a bummer for Malaysians. But there are celebrations down in Arbat Street for St Patricks's Day etc and there's Easter as well, but they're all normal working/school days. Bummer again. Maslenitsa doesn't get a public holiday either. It's basically Pancake Week here in Russia, so I understand it being a bit "much" to have the week off to celebrate/welcome spring, but c'mon, at least give us a day off! I do enjoy making pancakes and flinging them out the window though, so I guess that kinda makes up for the lack of a day off a little. Just a little. Oooo, I'll be flinging a pancake from the 12th floor this coming spring. I think it's the highest I'll have ever flung a pancake from. Should be fun.
I think Malaysia Day is just as important to "celebrate" not just out of respect for East Malaysia, but because Malaysia did not exist before they joined the Peninsula and Singapore. Malaya gained independence in 1957, but Malaysia only came 6 years later :)
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