Soooo it's Uno de mayo and this is an official Holiday.. or so I've been told.  Everyone is off from work and school today and tomorrow, including myself. Now, I've been asking what is the significance to Uno de mayo, as I am most certain that it isn't an early celebration of Cinco de mayo and the Independence Day of Mexico. Most often the answer to my question is "No se", and the one partial answer I got was "I think it is a day for the workers...?" I questioned further, "You mean the hardworking laborers?"... "Mmm, no. Those that work and for those who are lazy. It's just a day off." - As you can see that left me with absolutely no significant answer to why I am not doing my ritual of going into the city and verbally tripping ALL over myself with the locals for the next two days. And why is it a 2 day Holiday????

Well folks, Google didn't give me any answers (er maybe that was user error), so I decide to look into the #1 English magazine online, In-madrid.com. And what do you know on the very first page it tells me that we're not celebrating Uno de mayo, it's DOS de mayo (and no, I'm not grammatically challenged.. all of the months and days of the week are written in lower case letters... just part of the lingo)! And this day is to celebrate Spain's rise against France in 1808! Their Independence day after a six year long war against the French! Now, I can't really knock the Spanish for not knowing this as it did happen two centuries ago, and I'm sure there are MANY historical facts I do not know about the United States as my historical interest have just recently been peaked. And now you too, have a little tid bit of knowledge that you can use in the next worldly conversation you have. Your welcome.. it was my pleasure- insert smart ass symbol-.

Ok, now lets talk about the Metro and all it's diversity! I love the Metro.. it gets me where I need to be, on time and is more efficient than any public transportation I have ever experienced and quite entertaining I might add. On any given day I can see businessmen suited up in their dark or med gray checkered suits with a white pinstripe, navy dress shirt and a red tie with diagonal navy and gray stripes (needless to say I could NOT stop staring), to lovers who think that the train is actually a private room (I TRIED to stop staring), to homeless people yelling something I couldn't understand except for the word "molestas".. Ummm, did he just say "molest"???? I'm looking around hoping that each every mother is grabbing their child as close as possible. Mmm, nope not a one person made one move... for their child or their wallet/purse. As I soon found out the word molest = to bother/interrupt. Wow! I had to calm my inner Jacki Chan for a minute and put things into perspective. Ok, Ok.... I'm good. But yesterday was one of those days where you have an experience and again, you're just not sure about what to do.... so read on.

Yesterday I go into Madrid as I do have class, even though the majority of the country is taking this opportunity to have a 5 day wknd. And as I soon found out I was the only one at the school... out of all my other classmates (all of 2 others) I was the only one to show. So a couple hours of one on one with my profesora ~no, you little perverts... Speaking Spanish.. jeesh!~ and I was done. I hop on the Metro to head home and it's jammed... so jammed that the last people that rush on physically push the crowd to the point where I'm temporarily lifted off the ground and pushed back a few inches. The people rushing on were 3 young (mmm, 20-26 yrs old) fellas, and two older ladies that had suitcases. As the one lady just barely squeezed in her luggage, she dropped her wallet. The one of the fella who looked to be about 20 years old bent down, and what seemed to be helping her. But he didn't even make it to the ground before she started yelling at him in what I think was German. He looked at her and just shook his head. And then OUT of NOWHERE this hand grabs this kid by the middle of his chest and starts shaking him like a rag doll!! It turns out to be this older lady's friend who looks like Mrs. Clause with about 40 lbs of toys on her. She keeps saying "C'moooon, c'moooon" in this voice. The kid does absolutely nothing and tells her (in what I think is Spanish) that he doesn't have anything. At the same time the 1st old lady starts digging through this kid's pockets. Mind you, this is all happening in front of me, there is not one person in b/n me and the "molestation" that is going on. So finally, Mrs. Clause let's go and says more words that make sounds as if she's hocking a luegie and adds, "C'moooon, sexto...je-je.. C'MOOOOON SEXTO....!" So Mr. Sexto is trying to explain that he didn't do anything while Mrs. Molester does a body search and exclaims "POLICIA!, POLICIA!"... with some more luegie sound effects. One stop comes and another guy that had got on the bus at the same time slipped out, and someone else screams "what about that guy".. or something to that effect as I don't know what the HELL this people are literally saying. Mr. Sexto tries to say it could've been el chico that just hopped off. And Mrs. Clause starts laughing, saying something to the effect that she's got Mr. Sexto and she's taking him to the police. Mr. Sexto and Mrs. Clause throw darts of fire at each other while mumbling insults. I'm sure along the lines of, "crazy old lady... I've been a good boy and Santa will bring me what I want." to "little punk, wait til hubby hears about this". The next stop was mine, so I gave the fella an apologetic look and squeeeezed my way out, all the while hearing the hairball sound effects as the doors closed behind me.

Can't wait for the next ride, lol!