Woman's Day...

Today is International Women's Day, or as the people here like to call it, "Woman's Day." It makes me laugh a bit.

Apparently, it is a huge holiday here, as we don't have school on Monday because it is a government mandated holiday. Even though it's International Women's Day, it is only recognized as a holiday in a few countries. Seems to be countries that are not known for treating their women so nice in the past.

The more I think about it, I think it is a holiday worth celebrating here (maybe all businesses and governmental buildings closing is a little overkill, but...) because the women here have overcome a lot in the last twenty years or so. I have been surprised at the volume of the woman workforce here. It seems that most women do work and the majority are business-oriented. This is interesting because it also seems that the local men here are quite lazy. Not all of them, mind you. I don't want to get into trouble here. But as a whole, it is quite the opposite of what I thought it might be like.

Anyway, I was bombarded with flowers on Friday from students and parents. The big K-ers love flowers. And you better be careful when you give or receive flowers because and even amount of flowers in your bouquet symbolizes death. Thankfully, I have received only odd amounts of flowers. This is sort of weird to get used to, where in America, they sell flowers by the dozen and half dozen.

Look at these beauties! I love, love, love fresh flowers. But I know nothing about greenery of any type. I do not possess a green thumb of any kind. I get sad when they die. But I do know that I received tulips. Four bouquets, actually.

These yellow tulips are the most unique because I've never seen this kind before, with the frayed-type edges.

But my favorite are these. They're orange with purple tones on the underside of the blooms.

I also got a couple of little gifts: Dior j'adore perfume, which smells amazing, a card that has a bunch of Russian writing it and I have no idea what it says, but it probably says something like, Congratulations on being a woman and being my teacher. May you have happiness bless you all the days of your life. That sounds like a typical big K wish. And I got this book called, God, A Brief History. It actually looks like an interesting book, but it seems like such an odd book to give someone, especially your teacher! Only in the big K...

I will enjoy my Women's Day fully by sleeping in and going to the Korean restaurant for lunch to indulge in some Ramen noodles.

Happy International Women's Day, everybody!