Say What?! Episode 2: That’s a Holiday?

Happy Say What?! Wednesday! ^^

Episode 2 in our series highlights national holidays or “Red Days”. Usually when I see job ads for teaching positions online it vaguely says “All national holidays off”. Most people reading the job ad at first glance wouldn’t think twice about that, because it seems standard and straightforward. While the details on national holidays and other random days you get off of work may not be the most important information in the world, it’s something fun to know ahead of time! (Although some teachers may enjoy the surprise days off! I assure you those will still exist. hehe!)

Just a short disclaimer, my list is NOT the end all and be all of days off. There are some schools that may tell you to come to work on a Red Day. In that case, it’s up to you whether to fight them on it or not. But those cases are very rare, I’ve only heard of it happening twice since I’ve been in Korea. More than likely, there will be confusion about the NON-Red Days and your summer/winter vacation dates. In any and all of these situations, the best thing to do is clear everything with your boss first before making any plans (especially when it comes to buying flights!).

Here is the calendar year showing all of the Red Days in Korea for 2013.


Red Days 2013

As you can see, this year we get 16 Red Days off! That’s pretty good. I talk briefly about this in the video, but if you work at public school, and a Red Day like Buddha’s Birthday falls on a Thursday, it’s likely that you’ll ALSO get Wednesday and/or Friday off too. These days will not be listed in any calendar, and are usually decided by your principal.

I talk about another extra day you get off of work in the video, but you’ll have to watch to find out what it is! ;) Thanks for the feedback on the last Say What?! video, and as always we’d love to hear from you in the comments!



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