“Oh, your parents are here – they must have known that it was 重阳节!” say the other teachers. Today is the Double Ninth holiday (according to the Chinese lunar calendar). When I ask them what the day marks, nobody seems to be able to tell me (”Hmm…actually I do not know, maybe it is just a traditional holiday?”) but whatever it is, it somehow involves old people (”sometimes it is called Senior Day”) and climbing mountains (”we’re going to climb the mountain now! Are you coming?”). Those two associations seem kind of contradictory to me, but oh well, that’s how the paradigm shifts, I guess.