Work to live not live to work

It dumbfoundes me sometimes at the switch of mentalities here. Everyone seems to be at peace, always happy, never in a rush, enjoying the day, always positive. Why is it that is such a strange thing to me? Born and raised in the USA is something I think I take for granted. Everything I wanted at my fingertips if I worked hard enough. But that's just it, you have to work, and work hard. You workyour fingers down to the bone, work until you have just enough to enjoy a week long vacation, and maybe a few holidays, but then it's back to it. Shops are open 24/7, the world never stops turning, never a chance to relax and take a break from all the work.

I was actually a little annoyed, kind of angry when I went out on a Sunday to enjoy my weekend, and everything was closed. No exaggeration, everything. No cafés, no supermarkets, no book stores or museums. All closed on Sundays. When I asked why, the response I always get "It's family day, you relax and have a nice day with your family." Sounds nice to me! But now I want to go to the zoo with my family: nope, closed. How about go to the park and enjoy a ice cream: closed. This is my only day off because I worked Saturday at the restauant and I need a new pair of shoes or food to cook for dinner: sorry, grocery store and all the shops in the mall are closed. Just go barefoot and starve.

Maybe it's because I was born with a commercial mindset, but isn't "Family Day" when you WANT to be open? All of these people with nothing to do but spend money at your establishment? I could probably run a business only open on Sundays and live quite well! (My idea! Don't steal it!)

It is days like today that I think I get it though. No need to be open on Sundays when the entire country works to live. They can take off any day during the week and run errands, roam the streets, spend a day at the mall. With a country that mandates you get almost a month of vacation days, you can literally take 2 weeks off in the middle of summer to invest in the economy  (what else is shopping, drinking, eating, etc?) and still have plenty to spare for the I-don't-feel-like-going-to-work-today days. You can see what I mean by walking into town on a Tuesday afternoon. It doesn't matter that it is the middle of the week, or it's cold, or raining, people are walking around, selling produce, drinking coffee, laughing, and shopping.

I could get used to this.