It's not our first major holiday out of the country since we moved 2 months ago, we celebrated Easter here, but it is the first that they don't celebrate here. No day off for us and no great picnics to attend, pools to laze by, or cold beers to drink. I guess we could do it anyway but the whole spirit of the day would be missing. I also think that our neighbors would think it weird if we were sitting by our pool drinking a cold beer today. It is late fall after all and at 60 degrees they would probably start talking about their weird American neighbors. Ok, they probably already talk about the weird American neighbors, but this would really give them something to talk about.
This holiday has brought a bit of a disconnect from the U.S. and our lives there that Easter just didn't bring. The Chilean people celebrate Easter (in a big way) and they celebrate Christmas and New Years, but that is about all the holiday's we will have in common. We will celebrate a type of Memorial Day and we had Labor Day last month but they are not celebrated in the same way and forget Thanksgiving and Fourth of July, much less Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, Cinqo de Mayo... And if the holiday happens to fall on a weekend day, well then you can just wait until it falls on a weekday to get a day off. There is no Friday before or Monday after off business. And no matter what day the holiday falls on the world just ceases to operate outside of the house. Everything is closed. Let me repeat - Everything is closed. Need gas, you can get it tomorrow. Forget something from the store that you need for the BBQ you are having today, sorry. Wanna get away from it all and just go to the zoo on a glorious day off - not a chance. And this happens at every national holiday (And don't get me started on why half of the country is closed on Sundays...)
I think they have the right idea. Think about it - it's not only some people who are deemed lucky enough to work somewhere that allows them to have the day off. It is everyone. They respect their workers enough to treat them all equally (at least in respect to national holidays) and don't expect the ones who happen to work in service industries to be the only people having to go in to work and once again serve when everyone else gets to spend time with family and friends. It's a great idea but selfishly, I would like just one store, one restaurant, one gas station to be open. It is because I am used to 24 hour access to almost anything I need. I have gotten used to instant gratification so I think this will be good for me. It will force me to slow down. It will make me plan ahead on the gas and groceries and it will force me to just enjoy the time off with my family, even if it is no more than a once a month or so.
It won't help with the disconnect. The fact that 99% of the people I know are celebrating a holiday and I am going about my day the same as usual, will probably be a little weird for awhile. I am celebrating in spirit and pretending that my hot tea that is currently keeping me warm is a nice cold beer and that my blanket is a pool towel and I am soaking up some rays. Have a happy and safe day off everyone!!!
(And it is posted a day late because I forgot to hit publish yesterday afternoon after finishing!)
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